Composer: Gerald Barry

Read more about Gerald Barry

Gerald Barry was born in Ireland in 1952 and first came to public attention in 1979 with his radical ensemble works '__________' and Ø (recorded on NMC D022).

Many of his works have been commissioned by the BBC, including Chevaux-de-frise for the1988 Proms, Hard D for Orkest de Volharding, The Conquest of Ireland for the BBCSO, and The Eternal Recurrence, a setting of Nietzsche for voice and orchestra.  His first opera The Intelligence Park was first performed at the 1990 Almeida Festival, and a second opera, The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit (recorded on LARGO), was written for Channel 4 Television. The stage premiere opened the 2002 Aldeburgh Festival followed by performances in London and the Berliner Festwochen.

In 1997 The Road was written for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Bavarian RSO gave the German première of The Conquest of Ireland in 1998. Wiener Blut - described by Tempo as "...like a barn dance devised by a chaos theorist" - and Dead March were commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group for concerts in England and France and God Save The Queen, for choir and chamber orchestra (the London Sinfonietta), was written for the fiftieth birthday of the Royal Festival Hall in 2001. Barry was featured composer at the 2002 Aldeburgh, Almeida and Huddersfield Festivals.

In 2005 the stage premiere of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (recorded on RTE) was given at English National Opera and the German language premiere will be given at the Basle Opera in 2008. Recent works include La Plus Forte (The Stronger), commissioned by Radio France for the 2007 Festival Presences.

Barry's orchestral and chamber music has been recorded on the NMC, Black Box, Marco Polo and Challenge labels.

Ivan Hewett interviews Gerald Barry for The Telegraph

Gerald Barry on The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (The Guardian, September 2005)

An interview with Gerald Barry for the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin

Performance listings from the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin

NMC releases on which this composer appears:

NMC D022 Gerald Barry Chamber Music

NMC D031 Pastures New Sampler

NMC D075 a white room Schubert Ensemble

NMC D100 New Stock Sampler

NMC D107 Trio Fibonacci Independence Quadrilles

NMC D122 Gerald Barry The Intelligence Park

NMC D150 NMC Songbook Songs commissioned for the 20th Anniversary of NMC