Dominic Muldowney
Encyclopedia
Dominic Muldowney is a British
composer
.
(with Jonathan Harvey
) and York
(with Bernard Rands
and David Blake
), and took private lessons with Harrison Birtwistle
. From 1974 to 1976 he was composer-in-residence to the Southern Arts Association. From 1976 he worked with the Royal National Theatre
in London
, and succeeded Birtwistle as its music director, a post he held from 1981 to 1997. He also composed the music for its production of Paul
.
Muldowney is perhaps best known for his film and television scores, radio works and incidental music for the theatre. Film and television credits include music for Loose Connections (1983), some of the music for 1984
(1984), he wrote scores for Sharpe's Eagle (1993) and King Lear
(1997) and Stella Street (2004). His concert works include a large-scale oboe
concerto
, which has been recorded by NMC, but he has written and arranged for David Bowie
and Sting. Muldowney has worked on two projects for artistic director Kevin Spacey
at the Old Vic Theatre
, including Eugene O'Neill
's A Moon for the Misbegotten
, directed by Howard Davies. He is published by Carlin Music Corporation.
Until 2006, he was a composition teacher at the Royal Academy of Music
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
He studied at the universities of SouthamptonUniversity of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
(with Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey (composer)
Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...
) and York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
(with Bernard Rands
Bernard Rands
Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...
and David Blake
David Blake (composer)
David Blake is a British composer born in London in 1936. Following National Service Blake learnt Mandarin Chinese and spent one year in Hong Kong. He went on to read music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where his teachers were Patrick Hadley, Peter Tranchell and Raymond Leppard...
), and took private lessons with Harrison Birtwistle
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
. From 1974 to 1976 he was composer-in-residence to the Southern Arts Association. From 1976 he worked with the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and succeeded Birtwistle as its music director, a post he held from 1981 to 1997. He also composed the music for its production of Paul
Paul (play)
Paul is a 2005 play by Howard Brenton, which portrays the life and career of Paul the Apostle. It was first performed in the Cottesloe auditorium of the National Theatre, London from 30 September 2005 – 4 February 2006, in modern dress....
.
Muldowney is perhaps best known for his film and television scores, radio works and incidental music for the theatre. Film and television credits include music for Loose Connections (1983), some of the music for 1984
Nineteen Eighty-Four (film)
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1984 British science fiction film, based upon George Orwell's novel of the same name, following the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government...
(1984), he wrote scores for Sharpe's Eagle (1993) and King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
(1997) and Stella Street (2004). His concert works include a large-scale oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
, which has been recorded by NMC, but he has written and arranged for David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Sting. Muldowney has worked on two projects for artistic director Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
at the Old Vic Theatre
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
, including Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten is a play by Eugene O'Neill. The play can be thought of as a sequel to the autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night...
, directed by Howard Davies. He is published by Carlin Music Corporation.
Until 2006, he was a composition teacher at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
.
Television and film credits
- BetrayalBetrayal (play)Betrayal is a play written by Harold Pinter in 1978. Critically regarded as one of the English playwright's major dramatic works, it features his characteristically economical dialogue, characters' hidden emotions and veiled motivations, and their self-absorbed competitive one-upmanship,...
(Spiegel/Pinter - Horizon Films) - Producer: Sam SpiegelSam SpiegelSam Spiegel was an Austrian-born American independent film producer.-Life and career:Spiegel was born in Jarosław, Galicia, Austria-Hungary as Samuel P. Spiegel to a German-Jewish father and Polish mother and educated at the University of Vienna. His brother was Shalom Spiegel, a professor of...
- Director: Hugh David Jones - The Ploughman's LunchThe Ploughman's LunchThe Ploughman's Lunch is a 1983 film written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre which featuring Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and Rosemary Harris.The film looks at the media world in Margaret Thatcher's Britain during the time of the Falklands War...
- Director: Richard EyreRichard EyreSir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University... - Loose Connections (Umbrella) - Director: Richard Eyre
- 1984Nineteen Eighty-Four (film)Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1984 British science fiction film, based upon George Orwell's novel of the same name, following the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government...
(Virgin Films) - Director: Michael RadfordMichael RadfordMichael Radford is an English film director and screenwriter.-Early life and career:Radford was born on 24 February 1946, in New Delhi, India, to a British father and an Austrian Jewish mother. He was educated at Bedford School before attending Worcester College, Oxford... - Singleton's Pluck - Director: Richard Eyre
- The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
(Alan Ladd CompanyThe Ladd CompanyThe Ladd Company is a film production and distribution company founded by Alan Ladd, Jr. in 1979, after ending his job as President of 20th Century Fox. Under Warner Bros...
) - Director: Richard Eyre - Defence of the RealmDefence of the RealmDefence of the Realm is a 1985 political thriller directed by David Drury. Starring Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi and Denholm Elliott...
(Enigma) - Director: David Drury - BaalBaal (play)Baal was the first full-length play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It concerns a wastrel youth who becomes involved in several sexual affairs and at least one murder...
- Directors: Alan ClarkeAlan ClarkeAlan Clarke was a television and film director, producer and writer, born in Wallasey, Merseyside, England.Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands The Wednesday Play and Play for Today...
/David BowieDavid BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s... - The Black Candle - Director: Roy Battersby
- Tales From Hollywood - Director: Howard Davies
- Black Daisies For The Bride - Director: Peter Symes - Prix Italia Prize Winner
- The Peacock Spring - Director: Christopher Morahan
- Emma - Director: Richard Eyre
- The Moth - Director: Roy Battersby
- The Fix - Director: Paul GreengrassPaul GreengrassPaul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
- Sharpe’s Enemy/Sharpe’s Company/Sharpe’s Honour Sharpe’s Return/Sharpe’s Revenge/Sharpe’s Waterloo Sharpe’s Rifles /Sharpe’s EagleSharpe (TV series)Sharpe is a British series of television dramas starring Sean Bean about Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe is the hero of a number of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books...
(Central TV) - Director: Tom Clegg - After Eskimo Day - Director: Piers HaggardPiers HaggardPiers Inigo Haggard is a British film and television director, although he has worked mostly in the latter medium.He is the great grandnephew of H...
- King LearKing LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
- Director: Richard Eyre - Bloody Sunday (GranadaGranada TelevisionGranada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
) - Director: Paul Greengrass - CopenhagenCopenhagen (film)Copenhagen is a 2002 British TV film adapted by director Howard Davies from Michael Frayn's 1998 play of the same name, and starring Francesca Annis, Daniel Craig and Stephen Rea...
- Director: Howard Davies
Orchestral music and opera
- Piano Concerto (Peter Donohoe - BBC Symphony OrchestraBBC Symphony OrchestraThe BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
) (Released on EMI) - Piano Concerto No. 2 (Angela HewittAngela HewittAngela Hewitt, OC, OBE is a Canadian classical pianist. She holds British nationality through her father, Godfrey, who was the organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario for almost fifty years.-Career:...
- BBC Symphony OrchestraBBC Symphony OrchestraThe BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
) - Saxophone Concerto (John HarleJohn HarleJohn Harle is an English saxophonist and composer.-Biography:John Harle - SaxophonistJohn Harle is one of the world’s leading saxophonists, and the most significant performer of the saxophone in the concert hall today...
- London SinfoniettaLondon SinfoniettaThe London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
) (Released on EMI) - Oboe Concerto (Roy CarterRoy CarterRoy Carter, an English oboist, began playing the oboe at the age of 10. He won scholarships to study with Margaret Eliot at the Royal Academy of Music and later under Terence McDonough at the Royal College of Music , where he won the Joy Boughton Memorial Prize in only his second year of study.-...
- LSOLondon Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
) (Released on NMC) - The Fall Of Jerusalem (OratorioOratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
) - The Voluptuous Tango - Prize Winner Prix ItaliaPrix ItaliaThe Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...