AIC Member - Fergal Dowling

Fergal Dowling is a composer of electro-acoustic and instrumental music. Born in Dublin, he studied composition with Kevin O’Connell and Donnacha Dennehy at Trinity College Dublin. With the assistance of the Elizabeth Maconchy Composition Fellowship, awarded by the Arts Council of Ireland, he completed a PhD in composition at the University of York in 2006. He lectured in music technology at Dundalk Institute of Technology (2006–2008) and his work as a researcher has produced software-based compositional aids and audio processing tools dealing mainly with sound spatialisation and real-time interactive strategies.

Many of his works make use of computer-mediated performance strategies to combine electronic parts with instrumental or vocal forces. Since 2001 he has employed ‘granular spatialisation’ to render multichannel works for large, three-dimensional loudspeaker arrays.

His works have been presented in concert and as installations in Ireland, England, Germany, Sweden, Canada, the USA, Spain, Brazil and Japan. He has performed his own computer-based interactive music throughout Europe with various groups such as Ex-Machina, Concorde,Ensemble Chimera, Projektgruppe Neue Musik Bremen, EAR Ensemble, Grup XXI, Improvised Device and Dublin Sound Lab.

With Electroacoustic Revue (EAR) he organised a series of international electroacoustic music festivals in Dublin (2005–07) and was represented in their Composers Choice concert at the National Concert Hall, Dublin (2006). Together with the organist Michael Quinn, he co-founded Dublin Sound Lab in 2008, a group specialising in computer-mediated music performance.

Sound Bites

Listen

Stops (2008) for organ, violin, double bass and computer This is an extract of performance by Dublin Sound Lab at St. Teresa's Church, Clarendon Street, Dublin (21/11/08). The organ at St. Teresa's Church has a MIDI-enabled keyboard (the only such church organ in Ireland – I believe). In Stops I used the MIDI interface to capture accurate performance timings from the organ pedals. The MIDI events then trigger recording and replay of the live performance of organ and strings.

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