With almost 30 years of international experience in the recording industry, film/TV, and orchestral music, award winning composer, arranger and producer Michael Keeney has built a career across multiple genres and roles. In this seminar, he reflects on the balancing act of freelance life - where creativity, survival, and constant adaptation go hand in hand.

Michael Keeney is a Donegal-born composer, arranger, and record producer based in Northern Ireland who has worked internationally across the music and film industries for over 25 years. His diverse credits include work with Snow Patrol, Foy Vance, INXS, SOAK, Van Morrison, Lisa Hannigan, Villagers, Duke Special, Luke Sital-Singh, And So I Watch You From Afar, Altan, Beoga, Hannah Peel and many others, as well as orchestral collaborations with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Ulster Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. 

Michael is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Huddersfield Composers Award, a Hot Press Award, an Irish Meteor Award nomination, two Royal Television Society Award nominations, and a British Animation Award nomination for Score of the Year (2021). He has received four Northern Ireland Music Prize nominations as a producer—winning Album of the Year (2013)—and was also nominated as an artist in 2020 for his work with The Darkling Air. He is a two-time UKMPG “Score Recording of the Year” winner, recognised in 2021 and again in 2023 for his work with Hannah Peel.

Michael has composed, mixed, and produced soundtracks for major clients including Disney, Sky, HBO, Paramount, Lionsgate, BBC, Netflix, ITV, and RTÉ. In 2025, he will release a new EP of original compositions entitled Tenalach, written for string orchestra, clarinet, and electronics, featuring the Budapest Scoring Orchestra and Ben Castle. Michael is a member of the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland, serves on the Ivors Academy All-Ireland Council, is Artist in Residence/Industry Professional at the Music Department of Queen’s University Belfast, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Ulster Orchestra.

Photo credit: @philsharp