Dr. Frank Lyons (Music)   General   Dr. Lyons was born in Lisburn and spent the early part of his career as an active freelance musician, working in the areas of performance, composition and popular music production. After taking his BMus at the University of Ulster he worked in management with the Drake Music Project, a charity specialising in Music Technology and Disability Arts. Since gaining his PhD in Music Composition at UU he has lectured in Composition, Music Technology and Popular Music, firstly at Jordanstown and since 2003 at the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts on the Magee Campus. He has developed an international profile as a composer and researcher with performances of his works having been given in Australia, the US, Europe, the UK and Ireland by artists such as Ensemble Noszferatu, Darragh Morgan, Carlos Bonell and Alan Banks. His most recent work, an audio-visual installation in collaboration with the poet Tom Morgan and the painter Catherine McWilliams, Ballintrillick, was featured in the Ormeau Baths Gallery as part of the Visonic Festival 2005. He has also lectured extensively on contemporary composition and has been invited composer-in-residence at Share Music Summer School in Hjo, Sweden and the Shell Darwin International Guitar Festival in Darwin, Australia. He is recognised as an innovator in the application of technology in his compositions, particularly in regard to his work with the Wired Ensemble which includes musicians with disabilities. A groundbreaking piece, Rush, for violin and live electronics featuring the Wired Ensemble and Darragh Morgan, premiered in 2004 at the Sonorities Festival, was recently shortlisted for a British Composer Award. CD releases include Mnemonics for solo guitar played by Alan Banks (Oct 2005) and Blitzed, Dazed by the Haze and Rush, all for violin and electronics, played by Darragh Morgan (forthcoming).     Academic Background   1995: BMus (Hons) UUJ 1996: LTCL 1999: PhD (Music Composition) UUJ   Professional Affiliations   Member of Association of Irish Composers Board Member of City of Derry Guitar Festival Board Member of Visonic Festival         Research Areas   Composition (acoustic and electroacoustic) Popular Musicology Music Technology and Disability 20th and 21st Century Musicology   Public Output (Selected)   2005   ·         Broadcast of Mnemonics, ABCFM (Australia) November 11 ·         CD release of Mnemonics, October 31, performed by Alan Banks ·         Performances of Go Between (2002) for guitar and electronics by Brian Keenan, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, September 2; Foyle Arts Building, Derry, August 29; Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin, June 8; and by Brian Bolger, Harty Room, Belfast, June 13 ·         Invited composer-in-residence at Shell Darwin International Guitar Festival, Darwin, Australia, July 6-16 ·         Performance of Mnemonics (2004) by Alan Banks (guitar) at Shell Darwin International Guitar Festival, Darwin, Australia, July 8 ·         Invited presentation on the Solo Guitar Music of Toru Takemitsu at Shell Darwin International Guitar Festival, Darwin, Australia, July 8 ·         Invited composer-in-residence at Share Music Summer School, Hjo, Sweden, June 10-19 ·         Ballintrillick – a collaborative audio-visual installation by Frank Lyons (composer), Tom Morgan (poet) and Catherine McWilliams (painter), Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, March 17-31. Commissioned by Visonic Festival. ·         Invited presentation on the collaborations between Mark-Anthony Turnage and John Scofield, Leeds International Jazz Conference, Leeds, March 12.   2004 ·         Performance of Mnemonics (2004) for solo guitar by Carlos Bonell (guitar) at Foyle Arts Building, Derry, August 27th . Commissioned by the Irish Guitar Festival with Arts Council Lottery funds. ·         Invited composer-in-residence at Share Music Summer School, Lisnaskea, July 24-31 ·         Performance of Rush (2004) for violin and electronics by Darragh Morgan and the Wired Ensemble, Whitla Hall, Belfast, April 26. Commissioned by Darragh Morgan.   2003 ·         Option Anxiety (2003) for digital graphics, electric guitar and live electronics – performed by the Wired Ensemble at Whitla Hall, Belfast, May 1 ·         Dazed by the Haze (2002) for violin and electronics performed by Darragh Morgan  and Noszferatu at Cheltenham International Festival of Music, July 4 ·         Dazed by the Haze (2002) broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on July 19   2002 ·         Dazed by the Haze (2002) for violin and tape performed by Darragh Morgan on April 20 at Electric Spring Festival, Huddersfield ·         Go Between (2002) for guitar and tape performed by Brian Keenan on April 26 at Sonorities Festival, Belfast and on 30th April at UUJ ·         Sound in the City (2002) a real-time interactive installation for live electronics, commissioned by the Belfast Festival at Queens, performed by the Wired Ensemble, Great Hall, QUB on September 18; broadcast on UTV Live  and BBC NI on September 18 ·         Blitzed! (1998) for violin and tape performed by Darragh Morgan – broadcast on Resonance FM, November 11 ·         Dazed by the Haze (2002) for violin and tape performed by Darragh Morgan – broadcast on Resonance FM, November 12   2001 ·         Blitzed! (1998) for violin and tape performed by Darragh Morgan on January 28 at Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin; February 1 at The Tabernacle, London; February 6 at The JazzPodium, Utrecht; May 9 at Sonorities Festival, Belfast ·         The Rhythm of Life (2001) for tape; commissioned by Rhythm of Life Festival, performance at Rhythm of Life Carnival, Omagh on 23rd June; broadcast on UTV Live, 25th June   Teaching   Composition Music Technology Jazz and Popular Music   Administrative Duties   Course Director for MMus     Contact   email: fr.lyons@ulster.ac.uk 044 2871375138

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