JANE O'LEARY 

About

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Jane O’Leary has been resident in Ireland since 1972. A founding member of Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists, she is a graduate of Vassar College and holds a PhD in composition from Princeton University, where she studied with Milton Babbitt among others. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree by the National University of Ireland in 2007.

As artistic director and pianist of Concorde ensemble, Jane O’Leary has been nurturing the development of new music in Ireland and promoting its performance worldwide since 1976. She was a founding member of Music for Galway and is currently a Director of The Galway Music Residency and a member of Udarás na hOllscoile Gaillimh.  

O’Leary’s music has been selected on several occasions for performance at the ISCM World New Music Days and has been performed at prestigious international festivals and venues, including the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, NY; the Chicago Cultural Center; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris; Spitalfields Festival, London; West Cork Chamber Music Festival. The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra featured her music on their debut tour of the USA in 2003. 

Following international competition, her music was recently selected for performance in NY with mise-en ensemble and at the Parma Music Festival 2015. Recent performances have also included Sydney, Chicago, Paris, Bucharest, Passau and Tallinn.

A CD of O’Leary’s chamber music was released on the Capstone label in 2007 featuring performances by the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, ConTempo Quartet, Concorde, Paul Roe and Garth Knox. Her music features on CDs released in recent years with performances by Paul Roe and ConTempo Quartet (Quartz), Amstel Quartet, Concorde (Parma), Isabelle O'Connell (Diatribe), John Feeley and Laura Chislett. (Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland)

More about Jane O'Leary on CMC's web site.