| Biography | Proinnsías Ó Duinn was born in Dublin Ireland. He studied cello, piano and orchestration privately and at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the College of Music in Dublin. His first professional conducting engagement was at the age of sixteen. Two years later he was appointed Music Director of the Gaiety Theatre and the following year was invited to conduct the RTE Symphony Orchestra (now called the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland). He still maintains a close relationship with them.
1961 awarded a Fellowship by the Irish Arts Council. 1963 appointed Principal Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra
1965 appointed Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional del Ecuador.
1971 returned to Ireland to work with the National Symphony Orchestra, the RTECO (Orchestra of the Irish Radio/Television,) the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC. He also conducted extensively in various countries of Europe
1974 appointed Vocal Advisor to the Irish Radio and Conductor of their Chamber Choir. Two years later he received the Radio and Television critics prize for the quality of his work and his inventive approach to programming.
1978 Proinnsías Ó Duinn was appointed Principal Conductor of the RTECO and held that position until 2003. (www.rte.ie)
1979 appointed Music Director and Conductor of OLCS, (Dublins leading Choral Society) a position he still holds. (www.olcs.ie) His season of Messiah performances in the National Concert Hall each Christmas has become a focal point of the music calendar in Dublin. Since 2002 he has conducted the annual Handel Birthday Celebration performance in the Handel Concert Hall in Halle, Germany, with the orchestra of the Halle Opera House. (www.happy-birthday-handel.org)
1984 founder Director and first Music Director of Opera Theatre Company in Ireland.
1986 Appointed to Board of Directors of Cork City Opera.
2003 Appointed to Board of Directors of the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland. (www.cmc.ie)
2003 became the first Conductor Laureate ever appointed in the history of the Irish Radio/Television. During his tenure with the orchestra Ó Duinn was the prime mover in them becoming one of the most versatile orchestras of its kind in Europe, with a vast repertoire covering almost every genre. He toured extensively with his orchestra throughout Ireland, Great Britain and the United States and has recorded with them on Marco Polo and Naxos, among others. During this period he has conducted and recorded many National and World Premieres in repertoire as diverse as the music of Bill Whelan (River Dance and Seville Suite) to the symphonies of John Kinsella. Apart from his conducting career, Proinnsías is also known as a composer and orchestrator. His musical Stuff & Nonsense (based on the life of Edward Lear) was premiered in 2001. The seven hour TV drama Strumpet City, for which he composed and conducted the soundtrack, was heard again in 2005 when it was released in DVD after successful international TV acclaim. He has composed for Orchestra, Chamber Music, Theatre and TV. |