Eoghan Desmond

Eoghan Desmond is a bass-baritone, composer and conductor from Cork, currently resident in Dublin, Ireland. He is a member of Chamber Choir Ireland, and a Lay Vicar Choral in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Aberdeen, studying Composition of Sacred Choral Music with Dr Phillip Cooke.

Eoghan’s music has been performed all over Ireland, by Chamber Choir Ireland, ConTempo String Quartet, Ensemble Avalon, New Dublin Voices, Claire Duff, Malachy Robinson, the Gentlemen of St Patrick’s Cathedral and is in demand in various countries across the globe, including the US, the UK and most recently Scandinavia. He has placed highly in numerous competitions, and in 2015 was awarded the Seán Ó Riada prize for Choral Composition for his piece, Mother Goose’s Melodies. MGM and its sequel, More Mother Goose’s Melodies are published by Sulasol. He is also the recipient of the 2015 Jerome Hynes Young Composer’s Award, for which he composed a setting of Rimbaud’s Phrases, which was premiered by Gemma Ní Bhriain in her Bernadette Greevy Bursary recital. Among others, he has been commissioned by Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, the Chapel Royal of HM Tower of London and the UCD Choral Scholars.

As a choral singer, Eoghan has toured France, Russia, Switzerland, Japan and the UK, in addition to having sung all over Ireland, with such renowned choirs as St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir, Chamber Choir Ireland, Resurgam, Anúna (with whom he also appears on the award-winning soundtrack of Diablo III), New Dublin Voices and others. He has also appeared in the opera choruses of Dorset Opera (Aïda, Il Trovatore, Der Fliegende Holländer, Fidelio, La Traviata), Wide Open Opera (Tristan und Isolde, Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Opera Theatre Company (Don Giovanni) and Northern Ireland Opera (Turandot).

In addition to this, he is an accomplished soloist and recitalist, having sung baritone or bass solos in such classic works as the Requiems of Verdi, Brahms, Mozart, Faure and Duruflé, both the St Matthew and St John passions, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan-Williams’ Hodie and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, in addition to less common works such as Vaughan-Williams Willow-Wood (Irish première). His song repertoire is extensive and covers everything from 16th century lute songs to song cycles composed especially for him, though he specialises in 20th century English song. He is a student of Judith Mok.

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