Jennifer Walshe facts for kids

Jennifer Walshe on stage in 2024

Jennifer Walshe (born 1 June 1974) is an Irish composer, singer, and artist. She creates unique and exciting music, often mixing sounds, visuals, and performance art.

About Jennifer Walshe

Her Early Life and Studies

Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1974. She loved music and decided to study composition. She went to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and also studied in Dublin. Later, she earned a special degree in composition from Northwestern University in the USA in 2002.

After her studies, Jennifer lived in different places like Stuttgart and Berlin. She was invited to be a special artist in these cities. From 2006 to 2008, she was a composer-in-residence in South Dublin County. This means she worked there creating music for the community. She has also won several awards for her amazing work, like the Praetorius Music Prize in 2008. In 2014, she was a guest curator for a music festival in Denmark called SPOR festival.

Her Music Around the World

Jennifer Walshe's music has been played by many different groups all over the world. These groups include Alter Ego, ensemble recherche, Ensemble Resonanz, and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Her music has been heard in many countries, showing how popular and unique her style is.

She has also been asked to create music by big organizations like Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in Ireland and various radio stations in Germany. She has also received commissions from famous music festivals like the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

In 2000, Jennifer won the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis, a big award at a music festival in Darmstadt. She also won first prize in the SCI/ASCAP 2002 Commission Competition. She even went back to Darmstadt in 2002 to teach about composition.

Jennifer as a Performer

Besides writing music, Jennifer Walshe is also a talented singer. She uses special singing techniques that make her voice sound very unique. Many of her recent pieces are written for her own voice, combined with other instruments. She has performed her works at many festivals around the world, including RTÉ Living Music in Dublin, Ultraschall in Berlin, and the Donaueschinger Musiktage.

Jennifer is also an improviser. This means she creates music on the spot with other musicians. She often performs with artists in Europe and the USA, making new sounds together.

Creative Projects

One of Jennifer's most interesting projects was called Grúpat. For two years, she pretended to be nine different artists, each with their own style. These artists were all part of a made-up art collective called Grúpat. Under these different names, she created music, art installations, drawings for music, films, photos, sculptures, and even fashion!

Pieces by the Grúpat "members" have been shown and performed all over the world. They were featured at the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival and the Museum of Arts & Design in New York. In 2009, there was a special show about Grúpat in Dublin. Books and CDs were also released, featuring the music Jennifer wrote as her Grúpat characters.

Since 2016, Jennifer Walshe has been a Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. She teaches, gives talks, and leads workshops. In 2019, a famous newspaper, The Guardian, said her piece XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! (from 2003) was one of the greatest art music works since 2000. They said she "yanks off the plastic veneer of commercial culture" by making fun of and then taking apart common ideas.

As of 2021, Jennifer Walshe is a Professor of Composition at the University of Oxford.

Her Musical Works

Jennifer Walshe has created many different musical pieces. Here are some of them:

• A Girl's Book of Song (2016) for a girls' choir
• EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT (2016) for voice, string quartet, and film
• AN GLÉACHT (2015) for one or more performers
• 1984 IT'S O.K. (2015) for violin, cello, and percussion
• VOLUNTEER CHORUS (2015) for five or more performers
• 13 Vices (2015) for string trio, three improvisers, and voice; created with Irvine
• Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde (2015)
• Zusammen ii (2015) for seven performers
• The Chimes Hours (2014) for ensemble, four soloists, quartet of improvisers, installations, and film; created with Lee Patterson and Peter Meanwell
• Zusammen i (2014) for ten performers, from The Chimes Hours
• THE TOTAL MOUNTAIN (2014) for voice and film
• THE SIGNING (2014) a shadow opera for voice, violin, shadow puppets, and film; created with Tony Conrad
• TRAINING IS THE OPPOSITE (2014) a chamber opera for soprano, string quartet, electronics, and film
• THEY LEFT HIM IN THE OCEAN (2014) for string quartet and DVD
• DORDÁN (2013) for clarinet, trombone, guitar, cello, double bass, and DVD
• WASH ME WHITER THAN SNOW (2013) for violin, cello, and DVD
• DURATION & ITS SIMPLE MODES (2013) for solo voice and 16-voice choir
• LANGUAGE RUINS EVERYTHING (2013) for counter-tenor, piano, volunteer chorus, and DVD
• EVERYTHING YOU OWN HAS BEEN TAKEN TO A DEPOT SOMEWHERE (2013) for three performers
• Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-garde Vol. 1: Dada for voice and electronics (2012)
• The White Noisery (2012) for 16 voices (with objects) and CD
• SILENTLY & VERY FAST (2012) for any number of performers
• Look, Stranger on this Island (2012) for voice and electronics
• Die Taktik (2012) opera for 4 voices, chorus, 3 dancers, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello, and electronics
• Atlanta 2089 (2011) for voice, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion, piano, guitar, cello, and DVD
• METTA (2011) for flute, clarinet, trombone, tuba, piano, percussion, violin, cello, and voice
• Flor Hartigan's to Damhnait Brixius (2011) for voice and ensemble
• A Folk Song Collection (2011) for three voices
• ALL THE MANY PEOPLES (2011) for solo voice, DVD, and electronics
• The Soft Menagerie (2011) for three voices
• WATCHED OVER LOVINGLY BY SILENT MACHINES (2011) for five voices (with objects) and DVD
• Julian & Kanye (2011) for three voices
• HYGIENE (2011) for violin, viola or cello, 8 performers, and DVD
• lashings of the old ultra-v (2010) for four male voices and electronics
• The Church of Frequency & Protein (2010) for voice, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion, piano, guitar, cello, and DVD
• Stuttgart 2089 (2010) for voice, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion, piano, guitar, cello, and DVD
• Freya Birren's The Faerie Queene (2010) for voice, guitar, and DVD
• Wilhelm vs. Bruce (Fists of Fury!) (2010) for 16-channel sound
• Hotel Chelsea (2010) for organ and symphony orchestra
• The Geometry (2009) opera for 4 actors, voice, clarinet, guitar, live electronics
• Performat #2 (2009) for voice and electronics
• Freya Birren's Libris Solar (2009) for voice and orchestra
• MARLOWE S. (2009) for string quartet, tape recorder, and CD
• Thelma Mansfield (2008) for flute, percussion, and piano with DVD
• Violetta Mahon's Dream Diaries, 1988–2008 (2008) for trumpet, trombone, cello, two percussionists, piano, cello, and CD
• PADDY REILLY RUNS WITH THE DEVIL (2008) for five vocalists with mp3 players
• he was she was (2008) for four performers and CD
• The Dowager Marchylove's The Wasistas of Thereswhere (2008) for voice, tin whistle, kazoo, and live electronics
• becher (2008) for solo piano
• Turf Boon's Community Choir Drawing 8291: lámh (2008) for voice, chamber ensemble, and laptop
• Detleva Verens' Scintillia (2008) for solo voice, with film canister and comb
• Flor Hartigan's Conturador (2008) for solo or ensemble
• i: same person/ii: not the same person (2007) for solo voice (with psaltery), instruments and laptop, or for solo voice (with psalter) and electronics
• Flor Hartigan's whives: trio and solo (2007)
• My Extensive Relationship with Mr. Stephen Patrick M. (2007) for oboe, clarinet, accordion, percussion, voice, cello, and CD
• "The Blue Room" (2007) for piano, from FASTER, FASTER, PUSSYCAT – KILL KILL KILL!
• Ukeoirn O'Connor's Three Songs (2007) for voice and ukulele
• Physics for the Girl in the Street (2007) for voice and percussion quartet
• elephant (2006) for harp and guns
• passenger (2006) for string orchestra
• 22’30” (2006) for a singer for voice and laptop
• dub/ber/vie (2006) for voice, 4-channel sound projection, and live electronics
• The Procedure for Smoothing Air (2005) for trombone, voice, piano, cello, and CD
• Motel Abandon (2005) for voice, actor, cello, DVD, and multiple CDs
• The Book of Tamworth (2005) for any forces
• (your name here) (2005) for voice, violin, and video
• G.L.O.R.I.- (2005) for solo voice
• meanwhile, back at the ranch... (2005) for seven performers and image controller
• #214: the son and heir (2004) for voice, clarinet, and cello
• nature data (2004) for voice and dictaphones
• A Fyne Prospeckte: Jim and Christine Sheenan's Chateau Tamworth (2004) for four performers
• x=dative case (2004) for French horn
• set phasers on KILL! (2004) for three female voices and two male voices, trombone, two percussionists, prepared piano, viola, cello, video, slides, and CD
• Cooking with Stone (2004) open score
• #132: the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat (2004) for voice, cello, and viola/percussion
• #112: dear hero imprison'd (2004) for two voices and cello
• THIS IS WHY PEOPLE O.D. ON PILLS /AND JUMP FROM THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE (2004) for solo or ensemble
• a sensitive number for the laydeez (2004) for viola, saxophone, percussion, piano, and video
• XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! (2003) for two female vocalists, clarinet, trombone, accordion, cello, two puppeteers, two camera operators, and CD
• minard/nithsdale (2003) for string quartet and two boomboxes
• been in a room and a room and a room and a room (2002) for twelve voices
• theme from (2002) for violin and piano with walkie-talkies
• here we are now (2002) for voice, cello, trombone, and percussion
• unbreakable line. hinged waist. (2002) for flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, and cello
• movement v: presto giocose (2002) for chamber orchestra
• ná déan NÍL CEAD (2001) for voice and string ensemble
• dirty white fields (2001) for voice and violin
• NOW WASH YOUR HANDS (2001) for voice, cello, and two djs
• small small big (2001) for wind ensemble
• moving in/love song/city front garden with old men (2001) for tenor voice and piano
• like glass in a mirror on a windowpane (2000) for wind quintet
• as mo cheann (2000) for voice and violin