Biography
Fergus Johnston was born in 1959 and graduated from TCD with an Honours degree in Music in 1982. He was elected to membership of Áosdana, Ireland's state-supported artistic academy, in 1992, and was a board member of the National Concert Hall from 1996 until 2001.
He has been active as a composer since 1981, and his works have been widely performed both in Ireland and abroad. He has written for a wide variety of genres, including dance, and has collaborated on a number of successful projects with Rubato Dance.
His many works include "Binn an tSíorsholais" (The Peak of Eternal Light) (2004) and Samsara (1991) for orchestra, commissioned by RTÉ for the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Kaleidophone (1992) for string quartet, harp and percussion, commissioned by Young European Strings, Cusp (1992) for violin and piano, commissioned by Rubato Dance, and "Je goute le jeu..." (1997) for strings, commissioned by the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He has also written a short opera, Bitter Fruit (1992) commissioned by Opera Theatre Company, and a flute concerto (1996) commissioned by RTÉ for the NSOI.
In 1999 he completed a Master's Degree in Music and Media Technology at TCD (1999). Since then has devoted some of his compositional activities to producing music in which the computer plays an integral role, both during the compositional process as a compositional assistant, and in a live context as a determining factor in performance.
He is currently writing an opera on the subject of Thomas FitzGerald's abortive Irish rebellion against the power of King Henry VIII in 1535.
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