Donal Rafferty

Born in 1982, Dónal Rafferty studied piano and music theory at The College of Music and voice and aural training with The Palestrina Choir from the age of 7. He also plays clarinet.

In 2007, Dónal graduated first place in the Bachelor of Music degree at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, specialising in composition with Martin O’Leary. During this time, he gained a piano performance diploma from The London College of Music (ALCM) and a music theory diploma from Trinity College London (AMusTCL). In 2006, Dónal was chosen as a finalist in the Neerpelt European Music Festival for Young People Composition Competition for his composition Unresolved Tension for symphonic band. Following his graduation from Maynooth, Dónal participated in the 2007 IMRO Irish Composition Summer School, studying with Kevin O’Connell (Royal Irish Academy of Music) and Nicola Lefanu (University of York). During the same year, Dónal was engaged to arrange Irish traditional music for the South Carolina fiddle group Na Fidléirí and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

Dónal commenced postgraduate studies in 2008 at King’s College London for the degree of Master in Music. He specialised in composition with Robert Keeley and George Benjamin, and studied analysis with Arnold Whittall, and musicology with John Deathridge and Christopher Wintle. He graduated with distinction in January 2010. Since July 2009, Dónal has worked with the London Chamber Orchestra, managing the LCO New: Explore composition competition scheme. He is a member of the Irish Composers’ Collective.

Dónal has composed works for a range of solo, chamber ensembles, and orchestra as well as writing a short film score and arranging and recomposing traditional Irish music. He is a composer with a constantly evolving style, his aim being to create new music which is semantically rich, musically original and aurally engaging to a wide range of listeners.