Desmond Earley
Hailed by The Irish Times as ‘enterprising and wide-ranging’, Desmond Earley, Artistic Director of the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, has established a reputation as one of Ireland's foremost choral directors and early-keyboard specialists.
Desmond is a lecturer in Performance Studies at University College Dublin (UCD) and serves as rotating Artistic Director of the UCD Ad Astra Academy. In 2017-2018 he was Visiting Scholar at Lewis & Clark College, Oregon (USA) and Guest Conductor/Scholar at Bowdoin College, Maine (USA).
As a concert instrumentalist and director, Desmond works with many of the world's finest orchestras including the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, European Union Chamber Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. Desmond has also collaborated with some of the world's great musicians including Sir James Galway, Roy Goodman, Christopher Hogwood, Monica Huggett, and Konrad Junghaenel.
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As a celebrated composer and arranger, Desmond has published works with Music Sales (UK), Hal Leonard Corporation (USA), Alliance Music (USA) and with Seolta Music (IRL) where he serves as editor of the international ‘College Choral Series’.
His acclaimed work Body of the Moon (2017) based on a setting of texts by Galileo Galilei, was commissioned by All Classical Portland Radio (USA) for the total solar eclipse across the United States of America. He has created special arrangements for renowned ensembles including the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine, USA), Tenebrae (UK), and the Irish Baroque Orchestra.
