SHAUN DAVEY MUSIC

Shaun Davey was born in Belfast in 1948.  His family moved to Dublin in 1962.He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and at  the Courtauld Institute London. In 1973 he returned to Dublin to form an experimental band with Planxty's Donal Lunny. After doubling as lecturer in the History of Art , he began a full-time career in music in 1977.  Largely self-taught, for some years he earned a living writing and recording music for commercials. His first work in theatre was evocat the Abbey with songs for Stewart Parker's Catchpenny Twist . Early work in TV  included music for RTE series and documentaries. In 1979 he began work on The Brendan Voyage, a goundbreaking collaboration with uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn, the first draft performed with the RTE Concert Orchestra, conducted by Proinias O'Duinn in early Spring 1980.  Later that year, this evocative and celebrated musical retelling of Tim Severin's voyage across the Atlantic was conducted by Noel Kelehan and recorded as the first of seven albums produced by Davey for the Tara Record label.

Shaun Davey's concert work continues to explore common ground between 'traditional' and 'classical'musicians, creating frameworks whereby musicians from both aural and notated traditions share the same stage. Further ambitious collaborations followed, many featuring the voice of singer Rita Connolly; The Pilgrim, Granuaile and The Relief of Derry, which also established his readiness to employ langauges other than English in service of a narrative, eg Irish, Scots Gallic, Breton and Welsh. Later works demonstrate equal ease with Latin and Romanian.

From 1987 Shaun Davey has been in demand as composer for theatre, supplying many scores both for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin (The Silver Tassie, Observe the Sons of Ulster, Well of the Saints, Angels from America, The Crucible) and for The Royal Shakespeare Company where he worked with directors Trevor Nunn, Adrian Noble and Sam Mendez on productions including Fair Maid of the West, King Lear, A Winter's Tale, Troilus and Cressida, Pericles, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the U.S. his Broadway score for James Joyce's The Dead was nominated for a Tony and won the New York Critics Award; in 2011 his score for  Noble's The Tempest won the Critics Award in San Diego. In 2012 he collaborated with Romanian director Silviu Purcarete on Gulliver's Travels at the National Theatre, Sibiu which toured to Japan and the Edinburgh Festival. In 2016 his score for Trevor Nunn's producion of Pericles was nominated for a New York Drama Desk award.  

Davey's concurrent career in TV includes the score for  Nunn's Twelfth Night (Fineline) and Hallmark's David Copperfield, directed by Peter Medak. It has led to two nominations for a BAFTA (The Hanging Gale and Ballykissangel), an Ivor Novello Award (The Hanging Gale) and a TRIC award for best UK TV theme. His scores for feature films include Waking Ned Devine, and John Boorman's Tailor of Panama.

From 2000 Davey 's main focus has been on music for live performance, with occasional stints as band member on pedal harmonium. His concert music includes a suite for the Dublin Special Olympics, songs for the sean nós band Béal Tuinne (based on the poems of Caomhín ó Cinneide)  concert tours in Romania with Songs from The Merry Cemetery., Songs from the High Seas  (sea shanties), Christmas songs, Sunt Angelis (settings of Latin psalms performed with the RTECO in 2014), Hymn to a Viking Longship, Anthem for DCU, The Finest of Arts, (a tribute to Florence Nightingale),  Nora (songs based on the life of Nora Barnacle,) Hymn to a Setting Sun for pipes and orchestra, tribute to Liam O'Flynn, Refuge, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Saint Patrick's Overture, clarinet concerto Timerunning, and Concerto for Uilleann pipes and Wind Orchestra. His music has featured on the Irish schools' syllabus,  His setting of St Patrick's prayer for the protection of travellers, The Deer's Cry, remains his most-performed work.  Shaun Davey became a member of Aosdána in 2024 and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, He has four children and, after 40 years in Co. Wicklow, now lives near the mouth of the River Boyne, Co, Meath, with his wife, singer Rita Connolly.