Derry-based Ulster University professor Dr Brian Irvine shortlisted for Ivor Novello Award 2022

Professor of Music at Ulster University and composer Dr Brian Irvine has been nominated and shortlisted for the most prestigious music composition award in the UK.

The Ivor Novello Composer Awards is the UK's foremost celebration of creative excellence in contemporary classical, jazz and sound arts.

His work for violin and orchestra, ‘À Mon Seul Désir’ was written for, and dedicated to, the internationally acclaimed violinist Darragh Morgan and current PHD student at Ulster University.

It was commissioned by the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and received its UK premiere in January 2022 with Darragh Morgan (violin), the Ulster Orchestra and conductor Jac Van Steen as part of BBC Radio 3’s New Music Programme.

The work is a sonic response to a series of six medieval tapestries collectively called The Lady and The Unicorn.

The tapestries reside in Musee de Cluny in Paris. Five of the tapestries are commonly interpreted as depicting the five senses: taste, hearing, sight, smell, and touch. The sixth displays the words "À mon seul désir".

The work combines fragments from medieval plainchant, 1970s television marketing campaigns and the American post-hardcore band At the Drive In.

It sets out to embrace a timeless notion of “desire” by incorporating these opposing cultural syntaxes and reimagining the relationship between soloist and (morphing) orchestra far beyond the context of concerto.

The shortlist of five composers includes works by some of the world’s most renowned contemporary composers including Julian Anderson, George Benjamin, Rebecca Saunders and Edmund Finnis.

The awards will take place at the British Museum, London on Tuesday, November 15.

The awards are named after Welsh actor, singer, composer and dramatist Ivor Novello, who lived from 1893 to 1951.

Ivor rose to prominence as a gifted entertainer during his career, with major hits including Keep the Home Fires Burning’, which was released in 1914 during the First World War.

He also wrote several operetta style musical works and acted in numerous films and stage productions, among them two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.