“It's always fascinating to hear a composer in his own music, especially when he's as accomplished an instrumentalist as Dwyer, who plays with a charismatic blend of explosive panache and evocative lyricism.” – Fanfare Magazine

 

Benjamin Dwyer’s music is forged from an intensive amalgamation of technical, improvisatory and interpretative elements. Experienced at the intersection of performance, gesture and compositional praxis, his music is further enriched through its deep immersion in ritual and symbol. His works have been performed worldwide by renowned musicians and ensembles. As a classical guitarist and a major exponent of contemporary music and free jazz, Dwyer performs worldwide, appearing as soloist with all the Irish orchestras, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic (Germany), the Santos Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), VOX21, the Callino Quartet (UK), the Vogler String Quartet (Germany) and Barry Guy’s Blue Shroud Band.

 

Recent compositions and performances include: Umbilical, written for Maya Homburger, Barry Guy and David Adams, which is a nine-movement version of Oedipus Rex. Scenes from Crow, after Ted Hughes’s Crow sequence, appears on Diatribe Records. Twelve Études for guitar (recorded by the composer on Gamelan Records) has been described by Fabio Zanon as the ‘summation of an entire guitar epoch’. Imagines obesae et aspectui ingratae was written for violist Garth Knox – a recording appears alongside a limited edition lithograph publication of the score by New Dublin Press. The Fidelio Trio premièred Nocturnal at King’s Place London in October 2015. Dwyer featured as a performer in the Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival 2014 as a soloist and in small ensembles, as well as with the Barry Guy Blue Shroud Band.

 

Dwyer is an elected member of Aosdána, the Irish government-sponsored academy of creative artists that honours those whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts. He was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London (ARAM), an honour bestowed upon those deemed to have made 'a significant contribution to the music profession'. Benjamin Dwyer is Professor of Music at Middlesex University's School of Media and Performing Arts.