Composers

Phillip Hammond was born in Belfast in 1951. He graduated from Queen's University Belfast in 1974 as a Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts. He was awarded a Doctorate of Music from Queen's in July 2003 - and he became the first person ever to graduate as a composer at this level in the University.

He retired from the Arts Council of Northern Island in 2009 after twenty years as a direcctor there. Before that his career encompassed teaching, performing and writing. His work as a broadcastor and composer continues to bring him regularly before public attention either on radio or on the concert platform.

Phillip Hammond has been regularly commissioned by individuals and groups in Ireland and in Britain. He has written works for among others, the Ulster Orchestra, the contempory ensemble Lontano, the Brodsky String Quartet and for individual musicians such as JAMES GALWAY, SARAH WALKER, SUZANNE MURPHY, TASMIN LITTLE, BARRY DOUGLAS, NIKOLAI DEMIDENKO and ANN MURRAY.

He is often commissioned as an "occasional" composer and his WATERFRONT FANFARES (1997) were written to open the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

His "...THE STARRY DYNAMO IN THE MACHINERY OF THE NIGHT..." was specially commissioned by Queens University to celebrate the visit of President Clinton in May 2001 and was subsequently toured around the USA by Camerata Ireland.

The National Youth Orchestra of Ireland commissioned and performed his "CARNALVALESQUE" for Double Orchestra and Percussion in July 2003 which was subsequently toured around Europe.

Many of his works have a strong literary association. His orchestral piece "DIE ERSTEN BLUMEN" (1996) was aresponse to a poem by Herman Hesse.

"THE WHITE LAKE" (1999) was a choral and orchestral setting of a specially commissioned poem by Michael Longly and one of his most recent large scale compositions "PSALMS AND SONGS FROM THE HEBREW" (2000) for chorus and orchestra, was a setting of mediaevil Jewish poetry from Spain.

His work, "...WHILE THE SUN SHINES" was commissioned by BBC Radio Three for performance in September 2005 and celbrates the music of the great irish conductor and composer Sir Hamilton Harty (in 1979 , Phillip Hammond contributed two biographical chapters to a book on Sir Hamiltion Harty. (publisher, Blackstaff)

Currently, Philip Hammond is working on a series of piano pieces written for the young Irish pianist Cathel Breslin to premiere in his debut recital in the Carnegie Hall, New York, in June 2009

Awards and Prizes (selected recent)

Ireland/Romania Scholarship 2009

Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris – Artist in Residence Award 2008

Birmingham Conservatoire Research Fellowship 2004 - 2008

Tactus Composers Forum (Belgium) 2006 – 1st Prize for Ausland for orchestra.

PRSF Composers Scholarship (2005 and 2006)

Arts Council of N. Ireland Individual Artist Award (2004)

Arts Council of Ireland Composers Award (2001-2002)

Residence Category, Bourges International Competition for Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art (2002)

Professional Commissions (selected recent)

Noise Machine for ensemble, electronics and video – Ars Nova Ensemble (Sweden) / Integra Project Commission (2008)

Bad Disco – Ulster Orchestra (UK) / BBC Radio 3 (2008)

for James Ferrada – Con Tempo Quartet (Romania) / Arts Council of Ireland Commission (2007)

for Marcel Dzama – Fidelio Trio (UK) / Bromsgrove Concerts Commission (2007)

Shrigley – Orkest de ereprijs (Netherlands) / Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst (2006)

Breath – Concorde (Ireland) / Arts Council of Ireland Commission (2006)

Clockwork Monkey Machine – Pedro Carneiro (Portugal) / Music Network Tour Commission (2006)

All of this used to be trees – Ulster Orchestra (UK) / BBC Radio 3 Commission (2005)

Excavation – Garth Knox (UK/ France) / Arts Council of Ireland Commission (2004)

Reaching - Ulster Youth Orchestra (Ireland) / Arts Council Lottery Fund Commission (2003)

Major Performances (selected orchestras, ensembles and festivals)

Con Tempo Quartet / Carnegie Hall, New York (2008)

BBC Symphony Orchestra / Ryan Wigglesworth cond. / for BBC Radio 3, London (2008)

RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland / Portrait concert for RTE, NCH, Dublin (2007)

BMIC Cutting Edge Series / Frequently featured by various performers, London (2004-08)

National Symphony Orchestra of Belgium / Reinbert de Leeuw cond. Beaux Arts, Brussels (2006)

Orkest de ereprijs / Tour of the Netherlands (2006/07)

London Sinfonietta / News from the UK, LSO St. Lukes, London (2006)

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / James MacMillan cond. / for BBC Radio 3, Manchester (2005)

Ulster Orchestra / Philippe Nahon cond. / for BBC Radio 3, Belfast (2005)

Garth Knox / Irish Cultural Institute, Paris (2005)

Huddersfield Festival (2004)

Insulae Electronica / Milan, Italy (2003)

Gaudeamus Festival / Amsterdam, Netherlands (2003)

Ulster Youth Orchestra Tour / Ireland, various venues. Included BBC broadcast and recording (2003)

Homecoming Chamber Music Festival / Moscow Conservatoire, Russia (2002)

Cycle de Musique par Ordinateur / Paris, France (2002, 2003)

Broadcasts and Recordings - Works have been broadcast on national and international radio and have been recorded for commercial release by NMC, Quartz, Lorelt, FMR and CMC labels. Music is published and represented by the Irish Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin (www.cmc.ie).

Music for Television

UEFA Champions League ITV + 40 countries Worldwide

Composed the music for 97-98, 98-99 and 99-2000 seasons (More than 60 tracks)

Live and Kicking BBC

Composed the menu music for these series 1999-2000

Felix - Ein Hase auf Weltreise (animated series)

Co-composed theme tune and various songs for the series

The Nimbols

Co-composed theme tune and various songs for the series

Music for Film

Felix - Ein Hase auf Weltreise (Feature Film)

Co-composed theme tune and 8 songs for the film, which went to number one in the German box office beating “The Aviator"

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