Garrett SHoldice

about

Garrett Sholdice is an Irish composer. He has studied with Donnacha Dennehy, Nicola LeFanu and William Brooks. In 2012 he completed a PhD in composition at the University of York under the supervision of William Brooks. More recently, he has received some private lessons from Kevin Volans. His music has been described as possessing an 'exquisite delicacy' (The Irish Times). His music is featured on the Ergodos Musicians album, I Call to You, described by RTÉ Ten as ‘perhaps the most important record of new Irish music released this year.’

His work has been performed by, amongst others, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, violinist Ioana Petcu-Colan, Maya Homburger/Barry Guy duo, and pianist Aki Takahashi. His music has been performed in Europe, North America and Japan, in venues/spaces including the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Issue Project Room in New York and Tsukuba Nova Hall in Japan.

During spring 2011 he was composer-in-residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris. In April 2011, and again in April 2012, he received Bursary Awards from the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. He is a co-director of Ergodos, a Dublin-based production company, record label and music distributor that he founded with Benedict Schlepper-Connolly in 2006. Sholdice and Schlepper-Connolly co-curate and co-produce all Ergodos projects.

Notable recent performances include the first performances of a piano concerto for pianist Michael McHale and the Irish Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Gábor Tákacs-Nagy), commissioned by ICO with funds from the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, and the first performances of a new madrigal for UK vocal ensemble EXAUDI.

2015 saw the premiere of his third string quartet, Das Blaue Licht, as part of David Lang’s Festival of Music at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. 2016 will see the premiere of a new work for Crash Ensemble, commissioned for their Free State 9 showcase, which he will also co-curate. (Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland)

Performance materials for his works are distributed by Ergodos.

garrettsholdice.ie

More about Garrett Sholdice on CMC's web site 

Selected recordings

Weihnachtliche Musik means “Christmas Music” in German. The title refers both to the Christmas period of 2012, when I wrote the piece (completing it in Berlin on New Year’s Day 2013), and to the music that inspired it: an organum for Christmas Day by the French Medieval composer, Léonin. The piece was written for the Ergodos Musicians "All the Ends of the Earth" project, a celebration of, and meditation on this particular organum of Léonin – "Viderunt Omnes". This piano piece, like so much of my music, is an attempt to slow the heart-rate, to engender calm, focus, and concentration. Material from the very end of Léonin’s organum is remembered, transformed, atomized, isolated, heard and re-heard. More info on the piece here: http://garrettsholdice.ie/weihnachtliche-musik Taken from the Ergodos Musicians release, 'All the ends of the earth'. (https://ergodos.ie/shop/all-the-ends-of-the-earth/) The pianist is Garrett Sholdice. ///////////////////// www.garrettsholdice.ie

"Song for Magister Léonin" is now the third in a series of similarly titled chamber pieces that pay homage to the suave and muscular music of the Medieval composer Léonin. And yet another in much larger family of pieces that are about a very personal approach to counterpoint – my involvement with Mies van der Rohe’s iconic statement: “Architecture begins when two bricks are placed carefully together”. More obsession, more searching. More turning the object over and over, tracing its grain… And another vigil for a ghost. More info on the piece here: http://garrettsholdice.ie/451 Taken from the Ergodos Musicians release, "All the ends of the earth". (https://ergodos.ie/shop/all-the-ends-of-the-earth/) Ergodos Musicians Michelle O’Rourke – voice Jonathan Sage – clarinet Kate Ellis – cello Garrett Sholdice – piano ///////////////////// www.garrettsholdice.ie