July 5th - Vincent Kennedy (MA Humanities, 2009)
Vincent Kennedy (MA Humanities, 2009)
As we build up to the launch of the 2021 edition of the DCU Voices Magazine this summer, we are taking a look back at some of the wonderful alumni profiles from the 2020 magazine.
For the week of July 5th, we are delighted to feature Vincent Kennedy as our Alumni Profile of the Week. Vincent is a graduate of the MA in Humanities and currently works as a music Composer and Conductor.
What are your recollections of campus life when you were a student?
"The friendliness and co-operation of my fellow students and the niceness and professionalism of our tutors."
What’s your favourite memory of your time as a DCU student?
"Having fun with my fellow students and learning about the different paths of life that brought us together for these moments in time."
What is your current role?
"Position: Composer and Conductor
Organisation: Freelance and also Musical director of the Rathfarnham Concert Band Society and the Donegal Youth Orchestra."
My current role involves:
"Listening for the unheard melodies that are sweet and writing them down in my compositions. Rehearsing and preparation for concerts. Because of my other experiences and skills in Information Security and Cybercrime, Data Protection and emergency management I am also a member of the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning where I represent one of the Government Departments. And for the last 6 years I also have been a member of the National Co-Ordination Committee on Severe Weather."
Provide a brief summary of your career since graduating?
"I have composed over 100 new works from concertos to cantatas including a setting of the Canticle of Creation by St Francis or Harp, Soprano and Trumpet commissioned by the Franciscan Order in Ireland. I have toured Ireland with this work with Marina Cassidy (Soprano and Harpist) and with me playing Trumpet. We have also released the 10 movements on CD. In America my music for Symphonic Wind Band “Whatsa’ Heaven For?” has become part of the school curriculum in Clarke County of over 2 million people consequent to a concert I did in Las Vegas in 2018. I was commissioned to write IRISHMEN and IRISHWOMEN for Orchestra as part of the 1916 celebrations and the work has been released on CD and received many performances at home and abroad. I was on the international Jury of the Flicorno d’Oro the largest wind band festival competition in Europe held in Riva del Garda every year in 2018 and also on the international Jury for the Marie Cantagrill International Violin Competition in France the same year."
Career highlights or achievements you would like to share?
"Conducting my work for Harp Ensemble “The Chronicles of Meath” at the World Harp Congress in Sydney in 2014 and also conducting the European premier of my Violin work “Dreams” (written as part of my MA) with the National Symphony Orchestra in Tirana Albania in 2016, in a concert later broadcast across Eastern Europe. Working with the brilliant French Violinist Marie Cantagrill on my 2nd Violin Concerto “Grá, Dóchas, Grá agus Suaimhneas, Saoirse” and attending the world premiere in Foix, France with Marie Cantagrill and Orchestre de Chambre d'Ariege. Also attending the USA premiere in Las Vegas in October 2018 was wonderful. Receiving a Creative Ireland Award in 2018 from which I wrote “Legends and Lore” a multi movement piece for Symphonic Band, SSAA Choir, Solo Soprano, Solo Cello and Narrator which was premiered to a sold out Civic Theatre in March 2019."
What are the key skills you learned at DCU that have influenced your career?
"Organisation. Time management for a busy life. Enhanced belief in myself. How to conduct research. How to deal with opposing viewpoints. How to mediate to an agreed point. How to hold my tongue when upset and reply in a restrained manner after further consideration of all sides and issues."
What advice would you give to current DCU students?
"Believe in yourself. Work constantly; a little a day is far better than burning the midnight oil at the end. Exercise, eat well and sleep well. Speak early to people you trust about any issues you have. Look out and reach out to people who are isolated. The friends you make through the shared experience of DCU will be some of the best of your life so nurture the positive relationships. When things don’t go your way, don’t give up and ask for advice. Don’t be afraid to say to tutors you don’t understand early and ask. No matter what you might think most people are too busy with their own life and concerns to be worried about what you say, look like, do and wear so be yourself. Be kind. We never know the troubles our fellow travellers and tutors and administrators may have behind their own facades. Most people are nice."
Listen to some of Vincent's work "Dreams" here.