Gerald Barry (composer)
He went on to study music at University College Dublin, in Amsterdam with Peter Schat, in Cologne with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel, and in Vienna with Friedrich Cerha.
The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit (1991–92)[10] With a libretto by Meredith Oakes, it was commissioned by Channel 4 Television with the Composers Ensemble conducted by Diego Masson.
Acts 1, 3 and 4 were the basis of Barry’s Piano Concerto commissioned by Musica Viva, Munich, and performed by Nicholas Hodges and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Peter Rundel.
In 2022 the Berlin Philharmonic commissioned a version of Act 2 as a Double Bass concerto played by Matthew McDonald and conducted by John Storgards.
La Plus Forte (2007) To the text by Strindberg, this one-woman opera was commissioned by Radio France for the 2007 Festival Présence in Paris and sung by Barbara Hannigan with the CBSO conducted by Thomas Adès.
It will be recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2024 at Alexandra Palace, London, and semi-staged at Nouvel Opéra Fribourg in 2024 with Alison Scherzer, soprano, and conducted by Jerome Kuhn.
The Importance of Being Earnest (2010)[11] To a libretto by Gerald Barry based on Oscar Wilde’s text, it was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Barbican.
It was performed in concert in Los Angeles, London and Dublin, and received its world premiere staging by Antony McDonald at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2020, conducted by Thomas Adés and Finnegan Downy Dear.
To a libretto by Gerald Barry based on Oscar Wilde's text, it was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, and Southbank Centre London.
Mauricio Kagel, Barry's former teacher chose the piece “_________” (1979) to represent the younger generation at a Musique Vivant concert in Paris conducted by Vinko Globokar.
[4] "I've never craved a new work like I have The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (2005) after my first experience of it at the ENO, or wanted to hunt down a CD so quickly.
"[18] (Igor Toronyi-Lalic - The Arts Desk) "Then again the genius of Barry’s “Alice” is how he keeps you completely surprised, amused, bemused, amazed yet also moved without you knowing why.
In The Times Paul Griffiths wrote: "Gerald Barry has said he has no “fixed ideas” as to what his opera The Intelligence Park is about, and it would be rash of anyone else at this stage to tell him.
"[21] (Michael Finnissy - NMC Recordings) "If the second half of the 20th century saw opera throttled by existential crises, and left composers wondering whether the only future for the art form was for it to be hung out to dry, or to become an arcane intellectualised annex for the musical games then in vogue, Gerald Barry's one-act opera, La Plus Forte (2007) - receiving its UK premiere in a concert performance last night - marks the end of hostilities.
So effortlessly does Barry seem to rise above the tangled, stagnant realities of recent operatic and musical convention, and return and restore the art form to the business of psychological entrapment, that it's hard not to see his small, 20-minute work as one of the most significant operas of the past decade.
Check him out: The Guardian published the full note a day before the performance, which is only right because a Gerald Barry world première really ought to be national news.
‘By his expression I knew he was mourning the loss of atonality.”[23] (Richard Bratby - The Spectator) “In his programme note, Barry told us his piece was inspired by memories of snoozing in bed when he should have been playing the organ, and being woken by the angry sacristan.
Certainly, there has been no Irish premiere that has made the impression of The Conquest of Ireland (heard in the festival's opening concert las Wednesday) since Barry's opera The Intelligence Park was seen at the Gate Theatre in 1990".
[25] In a 2013 guide to Barry's musical output, Tom Service of The Guardian praised Chevaux-de-frise (1988), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (2005), Lisbon (2006), Beethoven (2008), and The Importance of Being Earnest (2012).
