Michael Alcorn’s compositional interests lie at the intersection between instrumental, electroacoustic music and areas of new media creative practice. His music has been performed and broadcast in the UK, Europe, North and South America and the Far East and featured at leading new music festivals in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland and the US. He has received commissions from the BBC, The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Nash Ensemble, Singcircle, the Smith Quartet, Darragh Morgan, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Opera Theatre Company and the Ulster Orchestra.

Future Research

In 2015 he launched a new research project looking at the history and impact of brass bands in Ireland since 1850.  The work includes the development of a major archive of photographs, audio recordings and an oral history project of banding in the 20th Century.  Practice-based work is currently focused on developing new repertoire for brass bands and brass band instruments, combining instrumental writing with computer-manipulated sounds.

Michael Alcorn undertook postgraduate studies in composition with John Casken at University of Durham in the mid-1980s before joining the School of Music at Queen’s in 1989 as Composer-in-Residence. He devised and developed the Music Technology pathway at Queen’s and led the successful bid to develop the Sonic Arts Research Centre at the University. He was Director of SARC from its inception in 2001 until it joined forces with the School of Music in 2005. He is now Professor of Composition and Head of the School of Music & Sonic Arts at Queen’s, in addition to the following external roles:

Music Co-ordinator, International Computer Music Association (2003 - 2007)
At Large Director, International Computer Music Association (2003 - 2008 )
Director of Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annamakerrig (2002-2012)
External examining at Glasgow, Manchester, Lancaster, City, Maynooth, Trinity College Dublin