Roger Doyle

Roger Doyle (born 17 July 1949) is an Irish composer best known for his electro-acoustic work and for his piano music for theatre. He was born in Malahide, County Dublin.

Education

Doyle studied piano from the age of nine. After leaving school he attended the Royal Irish Academy of Music for three years, studying composing, during which time he was awarded two composition scholarships. He also studied at the Institute of Sonology at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and the Finnish Radio Experimental Music Studio on scholarships.

Early Work

Doyle began as a drummer with Supply Demand and Curve and Jazz Therapy, playing free improvisatory and fusion music. He composed the album Rapid Eye Movements, including the work Fin-estra, as his attempt at a "masterpiece before the age of thirty". He released his first LP, Oizzo No, in 1975, and his second, Thalia, in 1978 on CBS Classics. Rapid Eye Movements was his third LP.

Electro-acoustic and other work

Doyle began his magnum opus, Babel, in 1989 – a 5-CD set that took ten years to compose. Each track corresponds to a 'room' or place within an imagined giant tower city, a kind of aural virtual reality. It celebrates the multiplicity of musical language. 103 pieces of music were composed for it and he worked with 48 collaborators. From 2002 to 2007 he worked on the three-volume electronic work Passades. 21 albums of his music have been released.