Jennifer Walshe
Jennifer Walshe is an Irish composer, vocalist and artist.
Biography
Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1974. She studied composition with John Maxwell Geddes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Kevin Volans in Dublin and graduated from Northwestern University with a doctoral degree in composition in June 2002. Her chief teachers at Northwestern were Amnon Wolman and Michael Pisaro. In 2003–04 Walshe was a fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart; during 2004–05 she lived in Berlin as a guest of the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm. From 2006 to 2008 she was the composer-in-residence in South Dublin County for In Context 3. Walshe received a 2007 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. In 2008 she was awarded the Praetorius Music Prize for Composition by the Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur. In 2014 she was invited as guest curator for the Danish music and sound art festival SPOR festival.
Walshe's work has been performed all over the world by ensembles such as Alter Ego, ensemble recherche, Ensemble Resonanz, Apartment House, ensemble Intégrales, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Schlagquartett Köln, Crash Ensemble, Con Tempo Quartet, Trio Scordatura, Ensemble Ascolta, Champ d'Action, ensemble laboratorium, ensemble surplus, the Rilke Ensemble, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, Bozzini Quartet, Callino Quartet, Ensemble 2000, Concorde, Kaleidoscop, Black Hair, Continuum, Musica Nova Consort, ensemble chronophonie, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Quintet, the Hebrides Ensemble, Psappha, and Q-02 among others.
She has received commissions from organisations including Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Südwest Rundfunk, the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Darmstadt, MaerzMusik, Musik der Jahrhundert, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Dresdener Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik, Wien Modern, the Dresden Semperoper, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, the Project Arts Centre and the National Concert Hall, Ireland, as well as commission awards from the New Music Scheme of the Arts Council of Ireland and the Scottish Arts Council.
In 2003–04 Walshe was composer-in-residence at the National Sculpture Factory, Cork. In 2000 she won the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, and received first prize in the SCI/ASCAP 2002 Commission Competition. In July 2002 she returned to Darmstadt to lecture in composition at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. Her work was shortlisted for the 2002 and 2003 Gaudeamus Foundation composition prizes.
In addition to her activities as a composer, Walshe frequently performs as a vocalist, specialising in extended techniques. Many of her recent compositions were commissioned for her voice in conjunction with other instruments, and her works have been performed by her and others at festivals such as RTÉ Living Music, Båstad Kammarmusik Festival, Ultraschall, Ars Musica, Steirischer Herbst, Wien Modern, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Late Music Festival, Hamburger Klangwerktage, Gaida, BMIC Cutting Edge, Composer's Choice, SoundField the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, Stockholm New Music, BELEF, Traiettorie, Lucerne Festival, SPOR, Frau musica nova, Performa, Electric Eclectics, Reihe 0, Ergodos, Music at the Anthology and the 17th edition of the Sonic Acts Festival: The Noise of Being. Walshe is also active as an improviser, performing regularly with musicians in Europe and the US.
Recent projects of note include Grúpat, a two-year project in which Walshe assumed nine different alter egos – all members of art collective Grúpat – and created compositions, installations, graphic scores, films, photography, sculptures and fashion under these alter egos. Pieces by Grúpat members have been performed and exhibited all over the world, most notably at the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival; Kilkenny Arts Festival; the Museum of Arts & Design, New York; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; New Langton Arts, San Francisco; Ultrasound Festival, Tel Aviv and Festival Rümlingen, Switzerland. In February 2009 Grúpat were the feature of a retrospective at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, which coincided with the launch of the book Grúpat by Project Press and the release of two CDs featuring Walshe's music written under her Grúpat alter egos. Walshe is part of the first edition of the Monheim Triennale.
Since 2016, Walshe has been Professor at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. She has taught, held lectures, and performed workshops within the framework of conferences and festivals, and has acted as a mentor at the Forecast program in Berlin. In 2019, The Guardian ranked XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! the 25th greatest work of art music since 2000, with Kate Molleson stating that "she yanks off the plastic veneer of commercial culture by parodying then systematically dismembering the archetypes."
As of 2021, Walshe is Professor of Composition at the University of Oxford.
Works
A Girl's Book of Song for girls' choirEVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT for voice, string quartet and film AN GLÉACHT for 1+ performers1984 IT'S O.K. for violin, cello and percussion VOLUNTEER CHORUS for 5 or more performers13 Vices for string trio, three improvisers and voice; written in collaboration with IrvineHistorical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde Zusammen ii for seven performersThe Chimes Hours for ensemble, four soloists, quartet of improvisers, multiple installations and film; written in collaboration with Lee Patterson and Peter MeanwellZusammen i for ten performers, from The Chimes HoursTHE TOTAL MOUNTAIN for voice and film THE SIGNING shadow opera for voice, violin, shadow puppets and film; written in collaboration with Tony ConradTRAINING IS THE OPPOSITE chamber opera for soprano, string quartet, electronics and filmTHEY LEFT HIM IN THE OCEAN for string quartet and DVDDORDÁN for clarinet, trombone, guitar, cello, double bass and DVDWASH ME WHITER THAN SNOW for violin, cello and DVDDURATION & ITS SIMPLE MODES for solo voice and 16 voice choirLANGUAGE RUINS EVERYTHING for counter-tenor, piano, volunteer chorus and DVDEVERYTHING YOU OWN HAS BEEN TAKEN TO A DEPOT SOMEWHERE for three performersHistorical Documents of the Irish Avant-garde Vol. 1: Dada for voice and electronics The White Noisery for 16 voices and CDSILENTLY & VERY FAST for any number of performersLook, Stranger on this Island for voice and electronicsDie Taktik opera for 4 voices, chorus, 3 dancers, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello and electronicsAtlanta 2089 for voice, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion, piano, guitar, cello and DVDMETTA for flute, clarinet, trombone, tuba, piano, percussion, violin, cello and voiceFlor Hartigan's to Damhnait Brixius for voice and ensembleA Folk Song Collection for three voicesALL THE MANY PEOPLES for solo voice, DVD and electronicsThe Soft Menagerie for three voicesWATCHED OVER LOVINGLY BY SILENT MACHINES for five voices and DVDJulian & Kanye for three voicesHYGIENE for violin, viola or cello, 8 performers and DVDlashings of the old ultra-v for four male voices and electronicsThe Church of Frequency & Protein for voice, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion, piano, guitar, cello and DVDStuttgart 2089 for voice, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion, piano, guitar, cello and DVDFreya Birren's The Faerie Queene for voice, guitar and DVDWilhelm vs. Bruce for 16-channel soundHotel Chelsea for organ and symphony orchestraThe Geometry opera for 4 actors, voice, clarinet, guitar, live electronics Performat #2 for voice and electronicsFreya Birren's Libris Solar for voice and orchestraMARLOWE S. for string quartet, tape recorder and CDThelma Mansfield for flute, percussion and piano with DVDVioletta Mahon's Dream Diaries, 1988–2008 for trumpet, trombone, cello, two percussionists, piano, cello and CDPADDY REILLY RUNS WITH THE DEVIL for five vocalists with mp3 playershe was she was for four performers and CDThe Dowager Marchylove's The Wasistas of Thereswhere for voice, tin whistle, kazoo and live electronicsbecher for solo pianoTurf Boon's Community Choir Drawing 8291: lámh for voice, chamber ensemble and laptopDetleva Verens' Scintillia for solo voice, with film canister and combFlor Hartigan's Conturador for solo or ensemblei: same person/ii: not the same person for solo voice, instruments and laptop, or for solo voice and electronicsFlor Hartigan's whives: trio and solo My Extensive Relationship with Mr. Stephen Patrick M. for oboe, clarinet, accordion, percussion, voice, cello and CD"The Blue Room" for piano, from FASTER, FASTER, PUSSYCAT – KILL KILL KILL!Ukeoirn O'Connor's Three Songs for voice and ukulelePhysics for the Girl in the Street for voice and percussion quartetelephant for harp and gunspassenger for string orchestra22’30” for a singer for voice and laptopdub/ber/vie for voice, 4-channel sound projection and live electronicsThe Procedure for Smoothing Air for trombone, voice, piano, cello and CDMotel Abandon for voice, actor, cello, DVD and multiple CDsThe Book of Tamworth for any forces for voice, violin and videoG.L.O.R.I.- for solo voicemeanwhile, back at the ranch... for seven performers and image controller#214: the son and heir for voice, clarinet and cellonature data for voice and dictaphonesA Fyne Prospeckte: Jim and Christine Sheenan's Chateau Tamworth for four performersx=dative case for French hornset phasers on KILL! for three female voices and two male voices, trombone, two percussionists, prepared piano, viola, cello, video, slides and CDCooking with Stone open score#132: the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat for voice, cello and viola/percussion#112: dear hero imprison'd for two voices and celloTHIS IS WHY PEOPLE O.D. ON PILLS /AND JUMP FROM THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE for solo or ensemblea sensitive number for the laydeez for viola, saxophone, percussion, piano and videoXXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! for two female vocalists, clarinet, trombone, accordion, cello, two puppeteers, two camera operators and CDminard/nithsdale for string quartet and two boomboxesbeen in a room and a room and a room and a room for twelve voicestheme from for violin and piano with walkie-talkieshere we are now for voice, cello, trombone and percussionunbreakable line. hinged waist. for flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cellomovement v: presto giocose for chamber orchestraná déan NÍL CEAD for voice and string ensembledirty white fields for voice and violinNOW WASH YOUR HANDS for voice, cello and two djssmall small big for wind ensemblemoving in/love song/city front garden with old men for tenor voice and pianolike glass in a mirror on a windowpane for wind quintetas mo cheann for voice and violin