The composer Vincent Kennedy was recently named as the top Irish Composer in the Lyric FM Top 100 poll as voted on by listeners to Lyric FM. It rounds of a very busy year for the composer which included the premiere of Dublin – Overture to my City with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by David Brophy and live performances of his music to over 10,000 people in venues from Wexford to Donegal. Vincent is currently preparing the Donegal Youth Orchestra to accompany Altan in the Errigal Arts Festival on Sunday July 11th. http://www.eaf.ie/
After this he plans a short break before embarking on another year centred around new compositions and commissions and performances of his works at home and abroad, some of the performances he will conduct himself.
Vincent previously won the RTÉ prize for music to commemorate the life of the broadcaster Michael O’Hehir and the work Soliloquy and March was performed on All Ireland Final day in Croke Park. He completed 3 other major works in recent years. The Winds of Change was written as part of the peace process for young people from different communities in Donegal and Derry and has been performed a number of times including twice in the National Concert Hall the most recent, February 2010. The Hook – A Place and People is a 40 minute work consisting of 9 movements concerning the people and place and history of the Hook Peninsula and was commissioned by Wexford County Council. Both this and The Winds of Change were the subject of documentaries on RTÉ radio 1. Dreams a substantial work for Solo Violin and Orchestra was greeted with standing ovations in virtuous performances given by Cora Venus Lunny in concerts conducted by Colman Pearce across the USA in 2009.
See http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/top100/1340164.html for full details on the LyricFM poll
