The Irish composer Greg Caffrey read music at Queen’s University Belfast where he studied composition under Piers Hellawell and James Clarke. He was awarded a B.Mus. in 1995 and completed a PhD in 2002. He has won a number of awards and scholarships that include the Hamilton Harty Scholarship, May Turtle Award and an award from the Harrison Foundation. He was a finalist in the ISME- IVME 2nd International Composition Contest in Brussels in 2008, in the Taukay Edizioni Musicali International Composition Prize in 2012, the Musica Domani International Composition Prize (USA) and he took first prize at the Concorso Counterpoint, Italy in May 2012.
His compositions have been performed in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Estonia, U.S. Bangkok, China and Brazil receiving critical acclaim. His music has been recorded on the Meridian, Naturalstudio, Cactus, CMC, Diatribe, Zay Records and RTE Lyric FM record labels. The formation of his own ensemble, “Greg Caffrey Circle”, in 2000, allowed him to release an album of his own compositions entitled “Child’s Play”. His latest album, “Ogden Caffrey – First Construction in Nylon”, is a collection of his music for guitar performed by Australian guitarist [Ogden] and it has met with much critical acclaim, described as “contemporary music at its very best”[1]
Greg Caffrey has received commissions from many performers and ensembles at home and abroad as well as from BBC Radio 3, the Irish national broadcasting station RTE and The Ulster Orchestra. His music has been represented at important international festivals: [Nova Fesitval] in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Zwischen den Horizonten, Germany, Forfest Festival, Czech Republic and the 45th Parallele, Valence, France, to name a few.
More recently Greg Caffrey has been responsible for the foundation and artistic directorship of [Rain SoloistEnsemble], Northern Ireland’s only ensemble entirely devoted to contemporary and 20th Century music repertoire. Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble is a charitable not for profit organization that seeks to promote Irish new music at home and abroad. http://www.hardrainensemble.com
Greg is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin and is a member of the Association of Irish Composers
- ^ Classical Guitar Magazine