About
Linda Buckley is an Irish composer who has written extensively for orchestra (BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dresdner Sinfoniker Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Orchestra), and has a particular interest in merging her classical training with the worlds of post punk, folk and electronica. She is “one of the leading figures in the thriving Irish new music scene” (Christopher Fox, Tempo) with her work being described as “sublime and brilliant” (Tom Service, BBC Radio 3) “strange and beautiful” (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe), “fantastically brutal, reminiscent of the glitch music of acts such as Autechre” (Liam Cagney, Composing the Island) and “engaging with an area of experience that new music is generally shy of, which, simplified and reduced to a single word, I’d call ecstasy” (Bob Gilmore, Journal of Music).
Music for theatre includes work by Enda Walsh (Bedbound), film by Pat Collins (Living in a Coded Land, Henry Glassie: Field Work at Toronto Film Festival) and Tadhg O’Sullivan (Solas Céad Bliain, To The Moon), dance by Liz Roche Company (I/Thou) and installation with Clare Langan (The Human Flock). Awards include a Fulbright scholarship to New York University, a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, the Frankfurt Visual Music Award (for Silk Chroma) and Gold at the New York Festivals Radio Awards (for Mother’s Blood, Sister Songs documentary with Athena Media).
Recent collaborations include work with experimental folk duo Anna & Elizabeth, poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa as well as premieres by Irish National Opera, Contempo Quartet, Nordic Viola, Iarla O’Lionaird, Joby Burgess (Barbican commission), Ensemble Mise-En and Crash Ensemble. In 2019 she was invited by John Schaefer’s New Sounds Live (WNYC) to present the New York premiere of a new live score to the silent horror film Nosferatu (co-composed with Irene Buckley) at Brookfield Place. Linda holds a Music Degree from University College Cork, a Masters in Music and Media Technologies and PhD in Composition from Trinity College Dublin, and lectures in Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In September 2020 her NMC record, From Ocean’s Floor was released: “The Irish composer combines traditional séan-nos singing with an electronic soundscape, connecting past and future … It’s clear how much Buckley deeply connects her past to her present, opening up possibilities for our mutual musical futures.” Guardian – Album of the Month, ‘a masterpiece in connecting the past and future.’ Evening Standard
Past events
- June 2021
- Electronic score for show – A Ghost in the Throat
Commissioned by Cork Midsummer Festival, in collaboration with Doireann Ní Ghríofa (text) and Tadhg O’Sullivan (film)
- June 2021
- The Finite Air – Song Cycle for Rachel Kelly & Fiachra Garvey
Commissioned by West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival with funds from the Arts Council of Ireland, setting text by D.A. Powell
- March 2021
- To the Moon – Irish Premiere at Dublin Film Festival
To the Moon (co-scored) will have its Irish premiere in March at the Dublin International Film Festival: ‘Tadhg O’Sullivan’s joyful documentary is a cinematic love letter to the moon, celebrating the night sky over the course of a lunar month. There’s a mesmerizing quality to the film, which along with extraordinary footage from around the globe, looks at the moon’s place in literature, culture and storytelling. Aided and abetted by a remarkable score, To The Moon is contemplative, poetic and sincere.’
- January 2021
- Glaoch commissioned for 20 Shots of Opera – Irish National Opera, “moving and expressive” (JM)
Glaoch performed by Sarah Shine (soprano) & Gemma Ni Bhriain (mezzo), string ensemble from the RTE Concert Orchestra, conducted by Elaine Kelly, text by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- September 2020
New Album Out September 25th on NMC
- February 2020
- Performance – voice/electronics for Imagining Ireland
Performing with Kate Ellis and Eliza McCarthy alongside Irish singers and writers, for Imagining Ireland – Barbican London