Irish World Academy of Music and Dance
Irish World Academy vocal ensemble-in-residence Cantoral in concert in Glenstal Abbey, Spring 2010. Photograph Š Maurice Gunning
Spring 2010 at the Irish World Academy
Spring & Summer 2010 at the Irish World Academy
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Photograph from left: Dr Valerie Preston-Dunlop (TrinityLaban, London), Dr Catherine Foley (University of Limerick and Chair, Dance Research Forum Ireland), and Dr Egil Bakka (University of Trondheim, International Association for
Dance Research Forum Ireland 3rd International Conference Dance Research Forum Ireland’s 3rd International Conference took place at the Firkin Crane, Cork, 24th – 27th June, 2010. Established by Dr Catherine Foley of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in 2003, this international and inclusive society of dance has developed to become the leading forum for dance research in Ireland. Funded by the European Cultural Contact Point the conference included academic papers, practice-based presentations, workshops, and lecture demonstrations on the theme, ‘Capturing Composition: Improvisation in Dance Research and Practice’. The keynote address of the conference was presented by Dr Valerie Preston-Dunlop, consultant with TrinityLaban, London.
International Association for Music & Medicine Website Launch The International Association for Music & Medicine (IAMM) have launched their official web site at www.iammonline.com IAMM was founded in 2009 at the inaugural meeting in Limerick, Ireland, hosted by the Irish World Academy and the Graduate Medicine School of the University of Limerick. Professor Jane Edwards, Director of the Music & Health Research Group at UL was elected President of this diverse international body at the inaugural meeting. IAMM has 35 founding members with an Executive Board elected from the founders. The organisation supports a journal Music & Medicine with Co-Editors in Chief Dr Joanne Loewy and Dr Ralph Spingte. The journal is published by SAGE 4 times per annum;
IAMM promotes an integrative perspective to applied music in health care. Pursuing an ambitious vision including the dissemination of high level research through the IAMM journal Music & Medicine and gathering a worldwide membership base, the IAMM offers immense capacity for directing attention towards the integration of a wide range of research initiatives and contemporary practices in the uses of music in the healthcare arena. The association also hosts regular conferences. The next conference Mozart & Science III will be held in Krems, Austrian in November 2010; http://www.mozart-science.at/ The IAMM promotes sharing and capacity building across a wide range of fields including arts medicine, music performance, performance arts medicine, music psychology, medical humanities, ethnomusicology, music cognition, music neurology, music therapy, music in hospitals, infant stimulation, and music medicine. The IAMM is a community with expertise to support the development of arts based initiatives in all health care arenas, promoting the further potential for research, practice and knowledge about music and medicine.
INBHEAR On-line Journal of Irish Music and Dance Launched at the Academy The Inbhear on-line Journal of Irish Music and Dance was launched by Irish World Academy Faculty in May 2010. It will be a yearly journal, free-to-access, concerned with arts practices relevant to Ireland, the Irish (wherever they may be) or perceived to be of Ireland or the Irish. The journal is also intended to be relevant to the areas of arts practice and academic research
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201929
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engaged at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, reflecting and augmenting the Academy’s activities and providing ties to the communities of practice that develop resources for university and arts communities. A regular criticism, particularly among the traditional arts community in Ireland, is that the University does not deliver the fruits of its research back to the people that nourish it. There is certainly an element of truth in this critique and this is one platform to counter it. This first issue is made up of five invited papers, mostly from faculty at the Academy. For future editions, submissions are invited from any relevant discipline and from the community generally (the traditional music community, for example, has produced much fine scholarship outside of the academic world). A media review section will also be developed. Submissions are invited from across a wider cross-section of media than the internet encourages. Many of the papers contain graphics, audio and video and this is a trend we would like to encourage. There is no reason why compositions, choreographies and performances could not appear in future issues. Indeed anything which presents critically appraised and presented knowledge across a number of different sensory and artistic modes, unifying text, performance, music and dance, must be the future for performance studies in the widest possible sense. See www.inbhear.ie
Association of Irish Choirs Summer School
Association of Irish Choirs Coral Conducting Summer School
Spring 2010 at the Irish World Academy
The Association of Irish Choirs presented its 30th Annual Choral Conducting Summer School, attended by 60 conductors, teachers, students, choral enthusiasts and musicians at the newly opened Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. The course was delivered on 5 levels, beginner to advanced designed to address the needs of conductors of all levels. AOIC also presented a number of workshops and masterclasses as part of the Annual Choral Conducting Summer School.
MA Contemporary Dance Performance student, BuĂon event, Spring 2010. Photograph Š Maurice Gunning
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FÍS Exhibition Launch
FIS | Passion | Rhythm | Spirit Exhibiton Launched at the Academy
specializing in performing arts photography, Maurice has worked with many of the leading traditional & classical musicians and contemporary dancers in Ireland and internationally.
FIS | Passion | Rhythm | Spirit is a photographic exhibition celebrating 15 years of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. The exhibition offers a glimpse into the rich and diverse history of the Academy celebrated throughout the walls of the spectacular new Irish World Academy Building on the banks of the Shannon on the UL campus.
A photographic approach that works to accentuate the natural nuances and tone of the performing artist, Maurice creates an intimately honest portrait of his subjects. Maurice received his MFA from the University of Wales in 2009. This was made possible with funding from the Irish Arts Council. Before this, Maurice spent time documenting the Argentine Irish community of Buenos Aires. This work has been exhibited in the UK, and will be exhibited in Buenos Aires in 2010. Maurice’s photography features through this brochure.
The exhibition consists of selected works by the Academy’s long-time Photographer-in-Residence, Maurice Gunning, and marks the first publicly specially curated showing of his work at the Academy. Irish World Academy Director Professor Micheal O Súilleabháin says “it demonstrates Maurice's artistry in capturing the arts in action. His intimate knowledge of the students, faculty and visiting specialists in our community has allowed him to explore behind the mundane into the essence of the singing and dancing body, into the cut and thrust of academic discourse, into the life of musical instruments and of those who breathe life into them”. Maurice Gunning, from Clancy Strand Limerick, has been Photographer-in-Residence at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at University of Limerick since 2004. He first approached the Academy as early as 1999, while completing his degree at the Limerick School of Art and Design, to request permission to photograph classes and concerts there, as part of his final year project. He has remained the chief documenter of all of the Academy’s events ever since. With a concentration on fine art documentary photography as well as
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Paul Brady Scholarship Launch
Paul Brady Blas Summer School Scholarship Launched In March 2010 at the annual UL Chancellor’s Dinner, one of Ireland’s most enduringly popular singer-songwriters, Paul Brady, announced his first-ever music scholarship, the Paul Brady Blas Scholarship, in association with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance. The Paul Brady Blas Scholarship provides €20,000 in funds over three years, providing 25 places for deserving musicians on the Blas programme where they will benefit from master classes and tuition from some of Ireland’s most respected traditional musicians and dancers. Paul Brady celebrated the launch of his eponymous music scholarship by performing an intimate gig on Wednesday March 24th with UL music students at the University Of Limerick Chancellor’s Concert, an exclusive gala black-tie
event, hosted by UL Chancellor Peter Malone, and attended by 100 friends and patrons of the University and UL Foundation. Announcing his music scholarship fund, Paul Brady said, “I am delighted to be associated in this way with the University of Limerick and in particular with the Irish World Academy, which is such an innovative and imaginative facility, under Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s inspired direction. It’s my hope that the Paul Brady Blas Scholarships will allow students who wouldn’t otherwise get the opportunity, to experience the Blas Summer School and to access the expertise of some of our finest traditional musicians, singers and dancers.” The first Paul Brady Blas Scholarships were awarded in June 2010 where recipients spent two weeks at the Academy, receiving tuition from tutors including Dónal Lunny, Martin Hayes, John Carty, Derek Hickey, Colin Dunne, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Siobhán Peoples, Ernestine Healy, Niall Keegan, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and many more. Applications are invited in writing for Blas 2011 and should be made to Ernestine Healy, Director, Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance, Irish World Academy, University of Limerick or email ernestine.healy@ul.ie. Applicants should be over 17 and should include a sample recording of their music and/or dance. See www.blas.ie for further information. For more information please contact: Ellen Byrne, Press Officer, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick Phone: + 353 61 202917