City of Dublin Chamber Orchestra
One of Ireland's leading
voluntary chamber orchestras
Conductor
Biography
Gavin Maloney is one of Ireland’s foremost musicians. He is
Associate Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and has
a long-standing relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra
Ireland and NCH Choirs.
Training and Career
After training at the Royal Northern College of Music in
Manchester and the Mozarteum, Salzburg, at the age of 21, Gavin
successfully competed for the position of Assistant Conductor of the
then RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. He was the inaugural
beneficiary of the Bryden Thomson Trust, through whose support he
studied at the Danish National Opera, and the Lucerne Festival
Academy of Pierre Boulez. He has conducted all the leading
orchestras and ensembles in Ireland as well as conducting in
Germany, France, Italy, and the UK.
Collaborations and Irish Music
His distinguished collaborations with classical artists include
Gabriela Montero, Tara Erraught, Barry Douglas, Ailish Tynan, John
O’Conor, Chloë Hanslip, Hugh Tinney, Finghin Collins and Alban
Gerhardt. In the NCH International Concert Series in 2017, he
appeared with Maxim Vengerov, who has described him as ‘a great maestro’.
Gavin has for several years been bringing Irish music to new audiences, including conducting
the world premiere of Bill Whelan’s Linen and Lace with soloist Sir James Galway in 2014. He
made a major contribution to Composing the Island in 2016, an RTÉ/NCH festival exploring a
century of Irish music and in 2019 he conducted RTÉ lyric Fm’s 20th Birthday Gala celebration.
Contemporary Repertoire, Broadcasts and Reocordings
Gavin formerly directed the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland’s signature contemporary
music series, Horizons. In recent months he conducted world premieres of works by composers
Deirdre Gribbin and Raymond Deane, and significant Irish premieres of music by John Rutter and
Kaija Saariaho. His recordings on the NMC and RTÉ lyric Fm labels have earned critical acclaim,
including that of Gramophone magazine, and his concerts have been broadcast by the BBC, RTÉ, the
European Broadcasting Union, Shanghai East Radio, and radio stations in North America and
Australia.