Dave Flynn - General Bio
'Dave Flynn occupies a unique position in the world of music: his work reflects an intimate and respectful knowledge of the Irish folk tradition along with deep insight and skill in the world of modern classical composition.' - Martin Hayes (Internationally renowned Irish musician)
With critical and audience acclaim following him from his native Dublin
to the world's cultural capitals, including London, Prague and New
York, Dave Flynn has become one of the leading Irish composers and
performers of his generation.
In his compositions Flynn has spellbound audiences with his ability to bring the seemingly disparate worlds of traditional Irish and contemporary classical music together. Flynn's compositions for string quartet, 'The Cranning' and 'The Keening' have drawn particular praise for their raw emotional power.
"The Cranning was one of the most memorable works for me in my many years of
producing Summergarden"
- Melanie Monios, (Producer of the Summergarden Concert Series, Museum of Modern Art, New York)
"Irish music is this Dublin composer’s passion and main inspiration, and at times he has the quartet’s two violinists digging into their instruments with the kind of power and grittiness you hear from Celtic fiddlers at their most raucous." - Alan Kozinn, (The NewYork Times)
'the piece (The Keening) is notable for evoking the ancient via relatively modern string techniques that remain new sounding. Flynn has successfully appropriated something from Irish traditional music without any hint of "Celtic twilight" crossover style.' -Michael Dungan (The Irish Times)
Performances in recent years have seen Dave travel internationally where his music has featured at the Summergarden Festival, New York, Prague Premieres in the Czech Republic, the City of London Festival and numerous festivals in Ireland including the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry where his ground-breaking work for Irish fiddle, classical violin and guitar 'Music for the Departed' was premiered to an enthusiastic capacity audience by Martin Hayes, Ioana Petcu-Colan and Dennis Cahill. This work received its US Premiere in April 2010 with three performances in the Irish Arts Center in New York
'Dennis Cahill and I had the great privilege of performing a commissioned piece by Dave called "Music For The Departed". Playing Dave's music allowed us the comfort of a familiar musical vocabulary while challenging us to take it to another level. In this composition he pulled two worlds together to create a beautiful and unique piece of music.' - Martin Hayes
Following this Dave was commissioned by RTÉ to compose Aontacht a concerto for Martin Hayes and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra which was premiered to a rapturous reception at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in November 2010. The concert also featured premieres of a number of Dave’s other works.
Flynn has received commissions from West Cork Music, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, RTÉ Lyric FM and Music for Galway. With performances by artists including the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Concorde, the Smith Quartet, the Contempo Quartet, Craig Ogden, John Feeley and the Dublin Guitar Quartet, a group he co-founded. His guitar pieces Four Études for Five Fingers were published by Mel Bay Publications in 2009. Also in 2009 Dave had a special edition of the acclaimed New York radio show 'New Sounds' dedicated to his music. For this show Dave joined the renowned broadcaster John Schaefer in studio for an interview which was broadcast throughout the USA by WNYC.
Dave is also one of the leading Irish guitarists. He has developed a unique style which draws on his experience in many different music styles from classical to folk to jazz and popular music. He is a prize-winning classical guitarist and keen chamber musician having performed with such groups as The Crash Ensemble, The Neurtingen Guitar Orchestra and the Dublin Guitar Quartet, a group he co-founded. In this capacity he has premiered works by composers including Michael Gordon, Roland Dyens, Kevin Volans and Philip Glass. His arrangement of Glass’ String Quartet No.3 Mishima for the Dublin Guitar Quartet received praise from the composer himself when the work was performed in the composers’ presence in 2008.
‘This is a very special arrangement. Arranging for guitars is a very tricky business and you really have to know what you are doing, so i have never done it, but Dave Flynn and Brian Bolger [Dublin Guitar Quartet] have made these arrangements and they’re really quite beautiful” - Philip Glass
Dave studied classical guitar with Dr. John Feeley at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. He has received master-class tuition from classical guitarists including Sergio Assad, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Cobo, William Kanengiser and Fabio Zanon, jazz guitarists Hugh Buckley and Louis Stewart and Celtic guitarists Dennis Cahill and Tony MacManus.
Flynn’s most recent CD release, Contemporary Traditional Irish Guitar showcases his skills a guitarist and interpreter of traditional Irish music. It is comprised entirely of tunes written in the last 50 years by composers including Paddy Fahey, Ed Reavy, Charlie Lennon and Tommy Peoples. It has received wide critical acclaim.
‘In an era dominated by fret-burning virtuosity, gently persuasive releases such as this are a rare and precious resource’ – Paul Fowles, (Classical Guitar Magazine).
‘Listening to his light and sensitive touch, it becomes clear that he is a very fine player who has thorough understanding of the subtle nuances of Irish fiddle tunes. Dave Flynn is a masterful guitarist.’ - Tom Druckenmiller (Sing Out! Magazine)
Dave has performed at festivals including The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Secret Festival; Sweden, The Nuertingen International Guitar Festival, The Dundee Guitar Festival, The Guitar Festival of Ireland, The Masters of Tradition Festival, the Feakle Traditional Music Festival and the Return to Camden Festival. In 2011 he performed for President Bill Clinton at an event honouring the philanthropist Loretta Brennan Glucksman.
Dave is also a highly regarded academic, he received a PhD in 2011 for his dissertation Traditional Irish Music: A Path to New Music. He undertook his PhD studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Jane O'Leary. Dave is the first person to complete a composition based Phd at the DIT. Prior to this Dave became the first
person from the Republic of Ireland to receive a Masters Degree in Composition from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied with Prof. Malcolm Singer. Dave gained his Batchelor Degree in Music from the DIT where he studied composition with Dr. Grainne Mulvey and guitar with Dr. John Feeley.
Dave's work and studies have been grant funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, Galway County Council, the Guildhall Trust, the Bliss Trust, IMRO and the Michael Collins Memorial Foundation.
In his compositions Flynn has spellbound audiences with his ability to bring the seemingly disparate worlds of traditional Irish and contemporary classical music together. Flynn's compositions for string quartet, 'The Cranning' and 'The Keening' have drawn particular praise for their raw emotional power.
"The Cranning was one of the most memorable works for me in my many years of
producing Summergarden"
- Melanie Monios, (Producer of the Summergarden Concert Series, Museum of Modern Art, New York)
"Irish music is this Dublin composer’s passion and main inspiration, and at times he has the quartet’s two violinists digging into their instruments with the kind of power and grittiness you hear from Celtic fiddlers at their most raucous." - Alan Kozinn, (The NewYork Times)
'the piece (The Keening) is notable for evoking the ancient via relatively modern string techniques that remain new sounding. Flynn has successfully appropriated something from Irish traditional music without any hint of "Celtic twilight" crossover style.' -Michael Dungan (The Irish Times)
Performances in recent years have seen Dave travel internationally where his music has featured at the Summergarden Festival, New York, Prague Premieres in the Czech Republic, the City of London Festival and numerous festivals in Ireland including the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry where his ground-breaking work for Irish fiddle, classical violin and guitar 'Music for the Departed' was premiered to an enthusiastic capacity audience by Martin Hayes, Ioana Petcu-Colan and Dennis Cahill. This work received its US Premiere in April 2010 with three performances in the Irish Arts Center in New York
'Dennis Cahill and I had the great privilege of performing a commissioned piece by Dave called "Music For The Departed". Playing Dave's music allowed us the comfort of a familiar musical vocabulary while challenging us to take it to another level. In this composition he pulled two worlds together to create a beautiful and unique piece of music.' - Martin Hayes
Following this Dave was commissioned by RTÉ to compose Aontacht a concerto for Martin Hayes and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra which was premiered to a rapturous reception at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in November 2010. The concert also featured premieres of a number of Dave’s other works.
Flynn has received commissions from West Cork Music, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, RTÉ Lyric FM and Music for Galway. With performances by artists including the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Concorde, the Smith Quartet, the Contempo Quartet, Craig Ogden, John Feeley and the Dublin Guitar Quartet, a group he co-founded. His guitar pieces Four Études for Five Fingers were published by Mel Bay Publications in 2009. Also in 2009 Dave had a special edition of the acclaimed New York radio show 'New Sounds' dedicated to his music. For this show Dave joined the renowned broadcaster John Schaefer in studio for an interview which was broadcast throughout the USA by WNYC.
Dave is also one of the leading Irish guitarists. He has developed a unique style which draws on his experience in many different music styles from classical to folk to jazz and popular music. He is a prize-winning classical guitarist and keen chamber musician having performed with such groups as The Crash Ensemble, The Neurtingen Guitar Orchestra and the Dublin Guitar Quartet, a group he co-founded. In this capacity he has premiered works by composers including Michael Gordon, Roland Dyens, Kevin Volans and Philip Glass. His arrangement of Glass’ String Quartet No.3 Mishima for the Dublin Guitar Quartet received praise from the composer himself when the work was performed in the composers’ presence in 2008.
‘This is a very special arrangement. Arranging for guitars is a very tricky business and you really have to know what you are doing, so i have never done it, but Dave Flynn and Brian Bolger [Dublin Guitar Quartet] have made these arrangements and they’re really quite beautiful” - Philip Glass
Dave studied classical guitar with Dr. John Feeley at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. He has received master-class tuition from classical guitarists including Sergio Assad, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Cobo, William Kanengiser and Fabio Zanon, jazz guitarists Hugh Buckley and Louis Stewart and Celtic guitarists Dennis Cahill and Tony MacManus.
Flynn’s most recent CD release, Contemporary Traditional Irish Guitar showcases his skills a guitarist and interpreter of traditional Irish music. It is comprised entirely of tunes written in the last 50 years by composers including Paddy Fahey, Ed Reavy, Charlie Lennon and Tommy Peoples. It has received wide critical acclaim.
‘In an era dominated by fret-burning virtuosity, gently persuasive releases such as this are a rare and precious resource’ – Paul Fowles, (Classical Guitar Magazine).
‘Listening to his light and sensitive touch, it becomes clear that he is a very fine player who has thorough understanding of the subtle nuances of Irish fiddle tunes. Dave Flynn is a masterful guitarist.’ - Tom Druckenmiller (Sing Out! Magazine)
Dave has performed at festivals including The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Secret Festival; Sweden, The Nuertingen International Guitar Festival, The Dundee Guitar Festival, The Guitar Festival of Ireland, The Masters of Tradition Festival, the Feakle Traditional Music Festival and the Return to Camden Festival. In 2011 he performed for President Bill Clinton at an event honouring the philanthropist Loretta Brennan Glucksman.
Dave is also a highly regarded academic, he received a PhD in 2011 for his dissertation Traditional Irish Music: A Path to New Music. He undertook his PhD studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Jane O'Leary. Dave is the first person to complete a composition based Phd at the DIT. Prior to this Dave became the first
person from the Republic of Ireland to receive a Masters Degree in Composition from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied with Prof. Malcolm Singer. Dave gained his Batchelor Degree in Music from the DIT where he studied composition with Dr. Grainne Mulvey and guitar with Dr. John Feeley.
Dave's work and studies have been grant funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, Galway County Council, the Guildhall Trust, the Bliss Trust, IMRO and the Michael Collins Memorial Foundation.
