Biography:

David Flynn (b.1977)

David Flynn is a composer and musician from Dublin, Ireland. He is active as a composer and musician in many fields of music from classical to rock to jazz to folk/traditional music. He is mostly self taught as a musician, but at the age of 21 he began formal classical guitar studies with Ireland's leading guitar virtuoso John Feeley. David then enrolled on the BMus degree course at the D.I.T. Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin, Ireland, where he studied classical guitar with Dr. Feeley and composition with Dr. Gráinne Mulvey, graduating in 2003 with a BMus (Composition). David is currently completing a Masters Degree in Composition with Malcolm Singer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

David has received a number of awards for his composition and performance. He was won awards for composition and performance at Ireland's most important annual classical music competition, the Feis Ceóil, including the prestigious IMRO Award for Composition (2002). As a member of the Dublin Guitar Quartet, David won the 2002 Dorothy Moulton-Mayer Inter-Collegiate Chamber Music Competition. He has also received study bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland, The Guildhall Trust and The Michael Collins Memorial Foundation.

David has received masterclass tuition from some of the worlds finest composers and performers. He has received composition masterclasses with the likes of Louis Andriessen, Dusan Bogdanovic, Alexander Goehr and Jonathan Harvey; classical guitar masterclasses with the likes of David Russel, Manuel Barrueco, Sergio Assad and William Kanengiser; jazz guitar tuition from some of Europe's finest jazz guitarists including Louis Stewart, Hugh Buckley and Heiner Franz; and Irish folk music tuition from leading Irish musicians including Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Paddy Glackin and Kieran Hanrahan.

David has written numerous compositions in many styles and, as well as performing his own music throughout Ireland and the UK, he has had his music workshopped and performed by artists including David Alberman, Rolf Hind, the Concorde Ensemble and the Dublin Guitar Quartet. These performances have occurred in venues including the National Concert Hall, Dublin; The Place Theatre, London; The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London; The Mermaid Arts Centre, Wicklow; and festivals including The City of London Festival; The Dundee International Guitar Festival, Scotland; Waterford New Music Week; Carlow Arts Festival and The Mostly Modern Festival, Dublin. He has been broadcast as a composer and performer on national Irish television and radio stations RTE1, TG4 and Lyric FM.

As a performer David has appeared in World Premiere performances of many of his own works, as well as the premiere's of 'Van Gogh Video Opera' by cult New York composer Michael Gordon in the Project Arts Centre, Dublin and the 'Suite Polymorphe' by Roland Dyens at the 2000 Neurtingen Guitar Festival, Germany. In August 2004, David will return to this festival where he will perform in the world premiere of Dyen's 'Concierto de Nuertingen', again under the direction of the composer.

In 2003 David formed his own ensemble, the David Flynn Collective. This ensemble features some of the finest young musicians in London. The ensemble is truly multi-cultural in its outlook, with performers coming from all over the world including Europe, Africa, Asia, The US and Australia. The music they perform reflects this diversity with music drawn from different classical, folk and popular traditions. A typical concert will include David's own polystylistic works alongside contemporary music classics, folk arrangements and unusual arrangements of J.S.Bach. The ensemble has plans to expand into a multi-media ensemble, incorporating artists from different art forms. The first fruits of this activity are seen in the groups recent collaboration with the Gerd Kaisa Vorren Dance Company. Their first collaboration, 'Manipulations', was received enthusiastically by capacity audiences at the Place Theatre, London in March 2004. Further performances are planned in London and Dublin.

David is a member of the Irish Musicians Rights Organisation (IMRO), the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM) and Artists Without Frontiers. In 2004 he instigated the foundation the Young Composer's Collective of Ireland, an organisation to promote and give a much needed voice to young composers in Ireland.

Outside of his classically based music activities, David is a prolific songwriter. He has performed his own songs in many of Ireland's leading venues, sharing a stage with internationally renowned songwriters including Christy Moore, Paul Brady, Luka Bloom and Damien Rice. He also regularly performs traditional Irish music and has played throughout Ireland at festivals including the Willie Clancy Festival, Clare and the Frankie Kennedy Winter School, Donegal. As a session musician David has recorded and performed with artists including Seán Needham, Shay Cotter, Ann Scott and Ciarán Mitchell. David is adept at almost all plucked string instruments and this versatility is soon to be reflected in his debut solo CD 'Plucking Irish Music', a CD containing David's own compositions, songs and arrangements of folk music from Ireland and beoyond. On this CD, David performs on an array of instruments including guitars, mandolin/mandola, bouzouki, turkish banjo, quatro and charango. It is scheduled for Autumn 2004 release. David is also currently completing a demo CD of his pop/rock songs, recorded with his band The Freeloaders. He has a website currently under construction www.daveflynn.com, it is due to be launched in July 2004.