Jane O'Leary


Jane O'Leary is an American-born Irish musician and composer who has been living in Ireland since 1972.

Biography

Jane O'Leary was born in Hartford, Connecticut. She graduated summa com laude from Vassar College and studied with Milton Babbitt at Princeton University, where she received a Ph.D. in composition. She lectured at Swarthmore College for a year and moved to Ireland in 1972, where she became a resident of Galway.
O'Leary's music has been performed internationally at concert venues including, in the U.S., the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, Chicago Cultural Center and Carnegie Hall. She is the founder, artistic director and pianist of the ensemble Concorde, which regularly performs contemporary music. In 1981, she was one of the founders of the organisation 'Music for Galway' and served as its chairperson from 1984 to 1992. Other honorary positions included membership of the Board of Directors of the National Concert Hall, Dublin, member of the Irish Arts Council, chairperson of the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin, and others. Since 1981 she has been a member of Aosdána, Ireland's academy for creative artists. Since 2006, O'Leary teaches composition at the Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin. She received the Marten Toonder Award in 1994 and received an honorary doctorate from NUI Galway in 2007.

Selected compositions

Orchestral
Chamber music
Solo instrumental
Vocal