David Bremner
David Bremner is the composer of a diverse range of innovative works which have been performed frequently in Ireland and abroad. Originally from West Cumbria, UK, he moved to Ireland in 1999. He is currently completing a PhD in Composition at TU Dublin with Gráinne Mulvey. His compositions share a focus on the concept of line. This concept is explored in a range of diverse instrumentations (orchestra, choral, solo instrument/voice, chamber ensemble, electronics) and diverse compositional methods (fully-notated scores, graphic scores, devised improvised schemes). Another constant is an interest in mathematical structures and how they can be used to create original musical structures.
David has had works performed by, amongst others, Ensemble ICC, Paul Roe, Elizabeth Hilliard, Quasars Ensemble and avantgarde tirol, and has featured in festivals such as Béal Festival, Ostrava New Music Days 2011, Hilltown Festival, CNMC York, and avantgarde tirol. David is a member of the Irish Composers' Collective. He is the co-director of the music/text production company Béal, who have mounted two successful festivals featuring new Irish and international work. He founded the innovative music/theatre collective TheOpenRehearsals. His music is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre.
As a performer he is Assistant Organist at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, and has played with ensembles such as the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, and Opera Theatre Company. In 2012 he received an Arts Council Bursary award in order to further develop the work of TheOpenRehearsals, and to compose a new work for banjo and live electronics. Other current projects include a collection of new works for uilleann pipes and pipe organ, a work for Clarion Trio, and a song-cycle setting poems by leading Irish experimental poet Billy Mills. Loop Walks, a work of scored poetry (produced in collaboration with Mills) is to be published in 2013 by hardPressed Poetry.
http://davidbremner.wordpress.com/
http://www.theopenrehearsals.blogspot.com/
http://bealfestival.wordpress.com/
Recent Performances
March 2013: Pool, performed by Anne-Marie O'Farrell (Irish harp) at Vorstadttheater, Tübingen, Germany
December 2012: Interior designs, performed by David Bremner (organ) at St. Werburgh's Church, as part of ReSounding Dublin; Eleven types of minute, video score with electronics screened at the Contemporary Music Centre
November 2012: Paper Places (3 settings of Billy Mills), performed by Andreea Banciu (vla), Elizabeth Hilliard (sop) at Smock Alley Theatre as part of Béal 2012; Round, performed by ensembÉal (conducted by Orla Flanagan) at Smock Alley Theatre as part of Béal 2012; Loop Walks, a work of scored poetry, produced in collaboration with poet Billy Mills; performed by ensembÉal vocal ensemble (conducted by Orla Flanagan) at Smock Alley Theatre as part of Béal 2012
July 2012: 3 Songs, performed by David Bremner (pf) and Elizabeth Hilliard (sop) as part of Walled City Music Festival, Derry; The bright kids (logic ballad), performed by Elizabeth Hilliard (sop) at Hilltown Music Festival, Co. Westmeath
May 2012: Driving through the waste territories: (Winter), performed by Vox Merus brass quintet as part of the Irish Composers' Collective monthly series at the National Concert Hall
February 2012: excerpt from Stream Line, performed by DIT Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Brophy at Gleeson Hall, DIT; Ungettable, performed by Aidan McWatt (violin), Mark Redmond (uilleann pipes) and David Bremner (live electronics) at Picturing the Soul, a multi-disciplinary event at the Back Loft, Dublin; Turning, Commissioned by Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Performed by David Bremner (organ) and Mark Redmond (uilleann pipes) at the cathedral at a high-profile occasion attended by the President of Ireland, and on two more occasions subsequently
January 2012: We Hesitate, performed by Sue Rynhart (soprano) as part of the Irish Composers' Collective series at the National Concert Hall, Dublin
August 2011: Out here on Cottage Grove it matters, performed by Quasars Ensemble (vla, vc, db, perc) at the Ostrava New Music Days, Czech Republic
June 2011: Christ Church Mass, performed by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, at the cathedral
June 2010: Pool, commissioned and performed by Anne-Marie O'Farrell (Irish harp) in the National Concert Hall, Dublin
April 2010: Composure, graphic score, commissioned by Paul Roe with Arts Council funding. Performed by Paul Roe (bcl) at the University of Ulster, Derry and the National Concert Hall, Dublin
November 2009: The unimpressive music, performed by Ensemble ICC (Kate Ellis (vcl), Maeve O'Hara (vib), Elizabeth Hilliard (Sop)) at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, as part of the Irish Composers' Collective series
November 2008: Mud, performed by Ensemble ICC (Enda Collins (hn), Rachel Factor (hpd)) as part of the CMC Salon series at the Goethe Institut, Dublin
September 2007: With damaged precision, performed by Michael Cede (fl), Joszef Hars (hn), Frank Stadler (vn) and Slawomir Zubrzycki (pf) at der Sprungschanze, Seefeld, Austria as part of avantgarde tirol 2007
