The Musician That Is Me
US-born composer Jane O’Leary, who has lived in Ireland since 1972 and has made an immeasurable contribution to contemporary Irish classical music, looks back on her career. As a young child, she longed to play the piano, later going on study at Vassar College, where she was introduced to composition, and Princeton, where she developed her skills as a composer and met her Irish husband.
When she moved to Ireland in 1972, no one was playing contemporary music on a regular basis and women composers were practically unheard of. Jane set about changing that, and among her many achievements is founding Ireland’s first contemporary music group, the Concorde Ensemble. She is also a driving force behind Music for Galway where her work led to the appointment of the ConTempo Quartet as Galway Music Ensemble in Residence. We hear from musicians in both those ensembles about working with Jane and performing her music. We also get a glimpse at the composer at work with pianists Maria Sumareva and Andrew Rosenblum, who have commissioned her to write a piece for them. We also hear from Judith Ring, who has admired Jane’s work since she first heard it, and is grateful to Jane for the work she has done to promote and encourage younger composers.
Produced by Claire Cunningham (Rockfinch Ltd) and funded by Coimisiún na Meán and the RTÉ Independent Radio Productions Unit from the Television Licence Fee.
Series Producer : Eoin O Kelly.
Production Co-Ordinator: Michael O’Kane
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 20th October, 6pm-7pm
