David Flynn - Formal Studies

Formal Studies

In 1998 Flynn began formal classical music studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology (D.I.T.) College of Music, initially studying classical guitar on a part-time basis with Dr. John Feeley. In 1999 he enrolled in the full-time music degree course at the College of Music, continuing his guitar studies with Feeley while majoring in composition. Now fully committed to composing, Flynn won the IMRO Composition Award in 2002 at the Feis Ceoil in Dublin for his String Orchestra Piece "Mesh".

While in the D.I.T. he co-founded the Dublin Guitar Quartet with fellow students. He graduated from the D.I.T. in 2003 at which time he left the Dublin Guitar Quartet in order to move to London where he became the first person from the Republic of Ireland to be accepted onto the Masters Degree in Composition course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, UK. He was awarded bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland, Guildhall Trust and Michael Collins Memorial Foundation in order to fund these studies. At Guildhall he studied composition with Malcolm Singer and electro-acoustic music with Dr. Nye Parry and he formed his own ensemble, the David Flynn Collective. He graduated from the Guildhall in 2004.

He returned to the D.I.T. in 2006 where he undertook a research PhD entitled 'Traditional Irish Music: A Path to New Music'. He completed his PhD in 2010.