Thursday 23 August 2001, at 8.00 pm

Eric Sweeney

Eric Sweeney is head of the Music Department at Waterford Institute of Technology, and organist and choirmaster of Christ CHurch Cathedral, Waterford. His musical career began as a choirboy in ST Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin where he also took organ lessons with the late W. S. Grieg. He later studied in England, Belgium and Italy and his first compositions – songs, piano pieces and choral works – date from the late 1960s. In 1995 he was composer-in-residence at the Newport Music Festival, Rhode Island, USA and in 1998 at the University of Illinois, Urbana. He has given recitals throughout Ireland as well as in England, Italy and America, and his programmes reflect a special interest in contemporary music. He is a member of Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists, and was a member of the Arts Council between 1989 and 1993.