Ann Cleare is an Irish composer working in the areas of concert music, opera, extended sonic environments, and hybrid instrumental design. Her work explores the static and sculptural nature of sound, probing the extremities of timbre, texture, colour, and form. She creates highly psychological and corporeal sonic spaces that encourage a listener to contemplate the complexity of the lives we exist within, exploring poetries of communication, transformation, and perception. A recipient of a 2019 Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize, her work has been commissioned and presented by major broadcasters such as the BBC, NPR, ORF, RTÉ, SWR, WDR for festivals such as Gaudeamus Week, The Wittenertage fur Neue Kammermusik, International Music Institute Darmstadt, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, IMATRONIC Festival of Electronic Music at ZKM, MATA Festival, Taschenopernfestival, Sound Reasons Festival in India, Shanghai New Music Week, Transit Belgium, GAIDA, Totally Huge New Music in Perth, Trattorie Parma, Rainy Days in Luxembourg, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and Ultraschall. Through working with some of the most progressive musicians of our time, she has established a reputation for creating innovative forms of music, both in its presentation, and within the music itself. She has worked with groups such as Ensemble SurPlus, The Crash Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, The International Contemporary Ensemble, Collegium Novum Zürich, ELISION, The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Nikel, The Curious Chamber Players, Yarn/Wire, ensemble mosaik, The Experimental Ensemble of the SWR Studios, Talea Ensemble, österreichisches ensemble für neue music, The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, ensemble recherche, TAK, Ensemble Garage, Argento Chamber Ensemble, The Fidelio Trio, Distractfold, Longleash Trio, Riot Ensemble, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, Ensemble Contrechamps, Ensemblekollektiv, and WasteLAnd. Recent projects have focused on creating experiential environments where sound is given a visual as well as sonic dimension, such works include eyam i-v, a series of five attacca pieces, centred around clarinet and flute writing in various solo, ensemble, electronic, and orchestral settings, spanning just over two hours of music that is continuously transformed in shape, time, and motion around the listener; rinn, a time travel chamber opera involving a multichannel sonic sculpture that the singers and actors wear, interact with, and are amplified by; spatially choreographed chamber pieces such as I should live in wires for leaving you behind, anchor me to the land, and on magnetic fields; a newly-designed instrument that a musician simultaneously wears and plays in eöl. Current and future projects include a chamber piece & curated concert with Musikfabrik for the National Concert Hall of Ireland's Beethoven 2022 celebrations, a solo flute work for Claire Chase, an opera for Munich Biennale 2022, a large scale work for soloists, chorus, orchestra, and electronics for New Music Dublin 2023, a DVD of filmed works released by Kairos, and the creation of outdoor sonic sculptures with Lay of the Land, Crash Ensemble, and Fionnuala Conway. Ann studied at University College Cork, IRCAM, and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In October 2019, she received an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Ireland for her contribution to music. Her scores are published by Project Schott New York. She is Assistant Professor of Music and Media Technologies at Trinity College Dublin and is one of the first 40 members of the Young Academy Ireland (YAI) network. Ann is an artist-in-residence with Crash Ensemble.
