Gráinne Mulvey's music is timbrally and rhythmically complex—a legacy of her work in the electroacoustic field. Her microtonally-inflected language derives ultimately from the natural harmonic series, placing her somewhat in the spectral tradition. As she herself has written: My music is increasingly concerned with a sense of place – with the natural world and mankind’s relationship with that world. I don’t look for the easy way out – I enjoy solving musical problems and relish a challenge. A restless turbulence characterises much of her work, exploiting extremes of register, intricate polyrhythms and timbral exploration. Resolution, when eventually reached, is hard-won.
Career highlights
1994: Winner, Composers' Class of the RTÉ Musician of the Future Competition with Rational Option Insanity for oboe, clarinet, horn, violin and piano. 1994: Étude No 1 for piano chosen to represent Ireland at the International Rostrum of Young Composers 1997: Awarded the Adjudicator's Prize at the Arklow Music Festival for Relentless for violin and piano 1998: Awarded the Macaulay Fellowship by the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon 1999: Winner, New Music for Sligo with Maelstrom for string quartet. 1999: Sextet Uno and Rational Optional Insanity released on CD by Black Box Music 2001: Appointed Lecturer in Composition at Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of Music and Drama. Adjudicator, Composition section, Feis Ceol, Dublin 2003: Winner, St John Memorial University Composers' Competition with Latitude 50 for chamber orchestra. 2003: Appointed Head of Composition at DIT. Co-adjudicator, Markievicz Medal for Composition. Composer-in-residence, Mercy Convent, Waterford 2004: Jury member, Guido d'Arezzo International Composition Competition. 2004: Guest composer, Maynooth Composers' Summer School 2006: Scorched Earth chosen to represent Ireland at the ISCM International Rostrum of Composers 2007: Featured composer at RTÉ Horizons series - Scorched Earth, Akanos and Horizons Fanfare performed by Robert Houlihan and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, National Concert Hall, Dublin 2008: Akanos included on CD Contemporary Music from Ireland, Vol. 7 . 2008: Akanos selected for ISCM World Music Days 2008 in Vilnius - performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra cond. Robertas Šervenikas 2009: Akanos performed by the Filharmonie Hradec Králové, cond. Andreas S. Weiser as part of 2009 Prague Premières festival. 2009: Stabat Mater selected for 2009 ISCM World Music Days, Sweden 2010: Jury member, Guido d'Arezzo International Composition Competition 2011: Jury member, Guido d'Arezzo International Composition Competition
