Seán is a composer and performer from Kerry, Ireland currently finishing his doctoral degree in Composition at Stanford University’s Department of Music and the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). Seán holds a Bachelor of Music from the CIT Cork School of Music and a Master’s in Composition from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He has also completed the One-Year Program in Sonology in The Hague and will be doing the Ivy Plus Program at Harvard University’s Department of Composition in 2024, under the guidance of Professors Chaya Czernowin and Steven Takasugi. Before joining Stanford’s Music Department, Seán worked as a Lecturer on the Fine Art, Photography, Film, and Video program at the Limerick Institute for Art and Design.
Seán’s music centers on the materiality of instruments, the physicality of sound performance, and the acoustics of the performance space. He composes primarily chamber and orchestral music for acoustic and electro-acoustic ensembles. His work in music technology includes fixed-media and computer-assisted composition, and he is fluent in multiple music coding and production environments. His fixed-media works range from mono settings to diffusion over multi-channel systems such as ambisonics. He often works as a composer and sound designer for experimental theatre and dance. In recent times, his compositions depart from transcription across field recording, Irish traditional music, and medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.
He has worked closely with musicians, groups, and ensembles including Marco Fusi, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble Dal Niente, Carolina Santiago, Seth Parker Woods, Ensemble Linea, Alice Purton, Ensemble Distractfold, Richard Craig, Yumi Suehiro, Ensemble Schallfeld, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Nina Guo, The Irish National Symphony Orchestra, The Fidelio Trio, Darragh Morgan, The Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, The Nieuw Ensemble, The Crash Ensemble, Kirkos Ensemble, Zöllner-Roche Duo, Zafraan Ensemble, Meitar Ensemble, Kukuruz Quartet, Retro Disco and Maya Gaynor, among others. His music has been programmed at festivals such as the MISE-EN Festival (USA), Gaudeamus (NL), Mixtur (ES), and Music Currents (IE). Seán’s scholarly work has been recently published in the journal Riffs: Experimental Writing on Popular Music.