Ciaran Hope
Well, its me on everything!, unless someone comes in to track for me!
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
Composer Ciarán Hope divides his time between Los Angeles and Europe, writing music and running his production company Pangea Music Inc..
Having just been awarded the 2011 Tyrone Guthrie Centre Regional Bursary Award, he is heading off to the isolated retreat center to work on a violin concerto for violinist Cora Venus Lunny this summer.
With the kind support of an Arts Council of Ireland Project Bursary Award, he is dedicating a significant amount of time and effort this year to the creation of this monumental work.
In addition to fulfilling commissions for other prestigious cultural groups such as the Czech Clarinet Quartet and the Latvian Ministry of Arts, Hope has enjoyed working in the U.S. film and television industry as a composer for major entertainment companies such as Disney (Buena Vista Music Group), Trimark Pictures, TomandAndy, 143 Records and Alliance Atlantis. He has also served as an orchestrator for several film scores including working as part of the orchestration team for the Golden Globe nominated musical score of "The Insider", starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.
More recently, the original score for the new Stana Katic (ABC's Castle) movie TRUTH ABOUT KERRY is complete as well as the score for a new pilot by writer/director Conrad Jackson.
As an innovator in the field of electro-acoustic compositional tools and techniques, Hope's important work has been presented at international music symposiums and has been recognized by industry experts in the field. He has done seminal research in audio-acoustics and in particular his own software for Timbre or Audio morphing called Mongrel.
Finally, the new work SOLSTICE has been premiered in the Solstice Arts Centre in Ireland and at the famed Chautauqua Institution in New York, to very positive reviews.
A world-class composer, Hope's involvement is of immense value to practically any musical adventure.
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
No, I do play on my own scores though.. all the time. I love playing.
Your musical influences
Beethoven, Martinu, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Bach, Cole Porter, Transvision Vamp
What equipment do you use?
5.1 DTS surround sound rig running on a Digidesign Pro-Tools HD4 system with a 45" flat-screen monitor and 4 dedicated sample PC's. The live instruments are clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, recorder, piano and oboe. Electronics include Yamaha Motif, Roland 5080, and MASSIVE amounts of computer power!
Anything else?
I've developed a solid balance between my studio and my writing and performance. This has enabled me to create a variety of scores, ranging from electronic to full orchestral arrangements, based upon a movies character and tone.
