Gerald Barry was born in Clarehill, Clarecastle, County Clare, Ireland, in 1952, and studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel. His early music from 1979 includes _______ for ensemble, of which Kagel wrote: “ Gerald Barry is always sober but might as well always be drunk. His piece _______ is, on the contrary, not rectilineal, but ’a very wiggly line’”. Also from 1979 is Ø for two pianos, in which both instruments play identical music simultaneously.
Barry’s extensive orchestral catalogue includes several works commissioned by the BBC: Chevaux-de-frise (1988 BBC Proms), The Conquest of Ireland (1996), Day (2005/14), The Eternal Recurrence (2000, setting Nietzsche for voice and orchestra), and Hard D (1995) for Orkest de Volharding. No other people was presented at the 2013 Proms with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov. Canada (2017) was premiered at the 2017 Proms by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), tenor Allan Clayton, and conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, later receiving its US premiere at Tanglewood (2019). Humiliated and Insulted (2016) was co-commissioned by RTÉ and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
His growing body of concertos includes the Piano Concerto (2012), written for Nicolas Hodges and premiered in Munich in 2013, with subsequent performances by the CBSO, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, RTÉ NSO, and Cabrillo Festival under Cristian Măcelaru. The Organ Concerto (2018) premiered in March 2018 with the CBSO, followed by performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, RTÉ NSO, and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Duncan Ward. His Viola Concerto (2018—19) was premiered by Lawrence Power with Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Adès; the Cello Concerto was premiered by Adrian Brophy and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at Cellissimo 2022; and his concerto for double bassist Matthew MacDonald and the Berlin Philharmonic premiered in June 2022.
Notable chamber works include Wiener Blut (2000), Dead March (2007), and Beethoven (2008), written for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. God Save The Queen (2001) was commissioned by the Southbank Centre for London Sinfonietta. Other works include Le Vieux Sourd (2008) for piano, Feldman’s Six-Penny Editions (2008/9), and No people. (2013) for Ensemble 7Bridges.
In opera, his first work The Intelligence Park (1981—88) premiered at the 1990 Almeida Festival, with a Covent Garden production in 2019. The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit (1991) opened the 2002 Aldeburgh Festival under Thomas Adès. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (2001—4) premiered in Dublin, followed by English National Opera and Theater Basel. La Plus Forte (2007) was premiered by Barbara Hannigan in Paris and later adapted into English (2019) with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
His fifth opera, The Importance of Being Earnest (2009—10), won a 2013 RPS Award, received a 2016 Grammy nomination, and has been staged at Covent Garden and Lincoln Center. Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (2014—15) premiered in concert in 2016 and staged at Covent Garden in 2020. His opera Salome (2017—20) subverts traditional narrative by replacing Salome’s dance with typing dictation from Wilde’s De Profundis, receiving its staged premiere in Magdeburg in March 2025.
Barry’s music is recorded on NMC, Black Box, Marco Polo, BVHaast, Discovery and Collection QB.
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