“...music of great lyrical beauty” Musicweb
Composer Ed Bennett was born in Bangor, Co.Down, N.Ireland. His music, which has been described in the press as “anarchic” (Irish Times), “manic” (Classical Music), “brutal” (The Guardian) and “beautiful” (Gramophone) often combines acoustic, electronic and multimedia elements.
After several formative years working in his home town of Bangor as a self-taught musician, playing in rock bands and stacking supermarket shelves, he pursued composition studies with a diverse range of musical personalities and has lived in recent years in Birmingham, Berlin and London.
His work has been commissioned and performed internationally by many diverse artists, ensembles and organisations including the BBC, RTE, PRSF, Music Network, Moving On Music and the arts councils of England, Ireland and N.Ireland. Noted performers of his work include the BBC Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, the National Orchestra of Belgium, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Ulster Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta and Sound Intermedia, Ensemble SurPlus, Crash Ensemble, Ars Nova Ensemble (Sweden), Orkest de ereprijs, Fidelio Trio, Lontano, Concorde, the Smith Quartet, Berlin Percussion Ensemble, Reinbert de Leeuw, James MacMillan, Arturo Tamayo, Ulrich Mertin, Darragh Morgan, Damien Harron, Roman Mints, Paul Roe and Sarah Nicolls. He also performs with and directs his own ensemble, ‘decibel’, which is dedicated to the performance of new and experimental cross-discipline work.
He studied composition and electronic music in the music department of North Down College and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London and has also participated in international courses in Holland and Germany. He is currently based at Birmingham Conservatoire where he is the recipient of a research fellowship and active as a teacher in the composition department.
His works have been featured at many festivals including the Gaudeamus (Amsterdam), Huddersfield, Bath International, City of London, Homecoming (Moscow), Crash, Sonorities, Sonic Circuits, Bourges, the BMIC Cutting Edge Series, Park Lane Group (South Bank) and Concerto Fresco (Berlin).
Recent performances and commissions include a work for viola and ensemble for Garth Knox (Excavation - Arts council of Ireland commission), a work for the Portuguese percussionist Pedro Carneiro (Clockwork Monkey Machine - Music Network commission), a work for orchestra and electronics for the Ulster Orchestra (all of this used to be trees - BBC R3 Commission), a work for the Fidelio Trio (for Marcel Dzama - Bromsgrove Concerts commission) and a new work for ensemble, electronics, video and improvising saxophonist for the Ars Nova Ensemble and Paul Dunmall (Integra/NGA Commission). He was a finalist in the British Composer Awards and in 2007 he was a featured composer in the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland’s Horizons series where a portrait concert of his orchestral music was given. His work Ausland for orchestra was awarded the first prize in the Tactus Composers Forum in Brussels, Belgium in 2006. His music has been widely broadcast on radio and CD’s have been released on the Lorlelt, Enzyme, CMC and NMC labels.
Other awards include a 2004/05 and 2005/06 PRSF Scholarship, the Smith Quartet and Transfusions competitions, Holst and Hinrichsen Foundation Scholarships, and the Kilfedder award for artists working in North Down. String Factory for violin and electronics was selected for the residence category at the 2002 International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art at Bourges, France and El Tigre received an honourable mention in Insulae Electronicae 2003.
In the Autumn of 2008 Ed Bennett will be artist in residence at the Irish Cultural Institute in Paris.
Further information and scores are available from the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland