Celebrated Irish composer Seóirse Bodley dies aged 90

The celebrated composer Seóirse Bodley, whose music opened the National Concert Hall in the early 1980s, has died at the age of 90.

President Michael D Higgins said in tribute that his contribution to music composition was of “immense significance” and that his “unique legacy will endure for generations to come”.

“Seóirse was the first composer to be accorded the distinguished title of Saoi of Aosdána and his work was rightly recognised at home and abroad,” he said in a statement shortly after news of Mr Bodley’s death emerged on Friday.

“One of his many accomplishments was his commissioned work which opened our National Concert Hall in Dublin in 1981.”

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Robert Read, NCH chief executive, said Mr Bodley had left an “indelible impact” on Irish music.

“As a composer, he was fearless in exploring new musical frontiers and pioneering in combining the traditional with the avant-garde, with extraordinary dexterity,” he said.

Mr Bodley’s Choral Symphony No 3 Ceol opened the National Concert Hall in 1981 while earlier this year two of his works were performed at New Music Dublin to mark his 90th birthday.

Born in Dublin in 1933, he studied in Ireland and Germany and later taught at University College Dublin where he earned a doctorate in music.

According to Aosdána, the artists’ collective of which he was a founding member, Mr Bodley’s work reflected a range of influences from the European avant-garde to Irish traditional music, and he produced a wide range of orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber pieces.

His 1980 orchestral symphony I Have Loved the Lands of Ireland was commissioned by the State to commemorate the centenary of Pádraic Pearse’s birth.

He various recognitions included the Arts Council prize for composition in 1956; the Macaulay Fellowship in Music Composition in 1962; and the Marten Toonder Award in 1982.