David Fennessy

Born 1976 in Dublin/Ireland.

David Fennessy began his musical life as a guitarist in a school rock band and started his formal musical training at the age of fifteen when he decided to study classical guitar. During his undergraduate studies at the Dublin College of Music he became interested in composition. From he 1998 studied for his Master’s degree with James MacMillan at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

In 2006/07 Fennessy was awarded a scholarship by Ensemble Modern to study at their International Academy in Frankfurt am Main/Germany. He also received a Dewar Arts Award which enabled him to live in Germany for 12 months and to create several works with the musicians of the Academy. David Fennessy’s works have been performed, among others, by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Paragon Ensemble (Scotland), the Irish National Chamber Choir and have been broadcast by RTE and the BBC.

Selected works: »The Answer Machine« (2003), chamber opera in collaboration with the Scottish playwright Tom McGrath, »The Fault Between Us« (2006) and »room« (2003), an evening-length music theatre work.

Recent projects include a residency in the Pearl River Delta in 2009 where he wrote a new work for Ensemble Modern, a new work for the cellist Oliver Coates (2009) and participating in the Soundings festival organised by the Austrian Cultural Forum, London, 2009. He has also been commissioned to write a work for the national Symphony Orchestra of Ireland which will be premiered in 2010.

David Fennessy teaches composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and works as a freelance teacher and workshop leader.