DkIT Composing Science Opera with the Community

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) was absolutely delighted to recently welcome students from Castleblayney College to participate in a special workshop with composer Michael Gallen.

As part of an ongoing IRC-funded research project led by researchers at DkIT exploring the potential to develop a science theatre project, students from Castleblayney College attended a workshop with Monaghan-born opera composer Michael Gallen in the Íontas Theatre in April.

Dr Bridget Kelly and Dr Daithí Kearney, science and music academics from DkIT were awarded Irish Research Council (IRC) New Foundations Funding to develop a Science Opera project with community groups and Íontas Arts Centre in Castleblayney. As part of the project, they invited Michael, who has established himself as a composer with an international reputation, to discuss his creative process and facilitate a workshop.

Michael mostly experienced Irish traditional and folk music as a child but, having performed in popular music bands, he later pursued studies in composition and multidisciplinary performance creation in Paris. He is most comfortable meandering at the borders of different musical forms and his outputs includes symphonies and film scores.

For this workshop, he screened recorded excerpts from his opera Elsewhere and discussed his approach to creating the characters and how this is reflected in his musical composition.