Ed Bennett

Ed Bennett was born in Bangor, Co.Down, N.Ireland. After several formative years  stacking supermarket shelves and working as a self-taught composer, he left his native Ireland and pursued composition studies with a diverse range of musical personalities. He has lived in recent years in Paris, Berlin, London and Birmingham. His music, which has been described in the press as "anarchic" (Irish Times), "manic" (Classical Music) "beautiful" (Gramophone) and "both terrifying and ridiculous at the same time" (Musical Criticism) is often characterized by its strong rhythmic energy, extreme contrasts and the combination of acoustic, electronic and multimedia elements. His music was recently described in the Guardian as "unclassifiable raw-nerve music of huge energy and imagination".

He has been commissioned and performed internationally by many diverse artists, ensembles and organisations including the BBC, RTE, PRSF, Music Network, Moving On Music, Integra and the arts councils of England, Ireland and N.Ireland. Noted collaborators and 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, Crash Ensemble, Orkest de ereprijs, Fidelio Trio, Berlin Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble SurPlus, Lontano, Concorde, the Smith Quartet, Noszferatu, Ensemble Ars Nova, Garth Knox, Pedro Carneiro, Reinbert de Leeuw, James MacMillan, Darragh Morgan, Mary Dullea, Roman Mints, Paul Roe, Sarah Nicolls and Paul Dunmall. He also performs with and directs his own ensemble, Decibel, which is dedicated to the performance of new and experimental cross-discipline work.

Ed has also enjoyed collaborations with visual artists and choreographers including those with Juneau Projects and the award-winning choreographer Ann Van den Broek.

His work has been featured in festivals such as Gaudeamus (Amsterdam), Huddersfield, Spitalfields, Bath, City of London, Homecoming (Moscow), Crash, Sonorities, Sonic Circuits (USA), Bourges, the BMIC Cutting Edge Series, Soundings (Vienna), News from the UK (South Bank), Miso Music (Portugal), Integra and at New Music/New Ireland in Carnegie Hall, New York.

His music has been widely broadcast on radio and released on the Lorlelt, Quartz, Diatribe, FMR and NMC labels.