In this workshop, QUB graduate and award-winning composer Deirdre Gribbin discusses her approach to composition and reflects on her experiences as a creative artist working in collaboration with scientists at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge.

Deirdre was born in Belfast. She completed her doctorate at Royal Holloway University, and was a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Sir Winston Churchill and Fulbright Fellow at Princeton University (USA). Her work has been performed widely in Europe, Japan, China, USA and Australia.

She has written operas, film and ballet scores, music for radio plays, orchestral, vocal and chamber music. Most recently, Deirdre has extended her collaborative interests to the world of science. Working with geneticist Sarah Teichmann, she wrote Hearing Your Genes Evolve for string quartet, which will open this year’s NI Science Festival. She is currently working on a commission with astrophysicist Priya Natarjan, for the Doric Quartet. Her new piano trio, After the Eagle, was commissioned by Belfast Music Society for the Amatis Trio and will be premiered at Queen’s on 1 March 2019.