The Creative Conductor

Ideas, Projects & Curation
from Concept to Completion,
On and Beyond the Podium

Classical Music Project Creation & Curation

We devise and guide innovative and engaging classical music projects and concerts, working with professional ensembles, organisations and schools to engage with existing and new audiences through storytelling, creativity and more, working outwards from excellent performances. Projects around contemporary music are a particular strength.
Recent projects include Peaceline Perspectives with Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble, an Anthony Braxton documentary at Darmstadt and Community Opera Paper Boat (€100k budget) with Irish National Opera & Music for Galway.

Locative Audio SoundWalks & Site Specific Performances

We anchor music, stories and new compositions in outdoor and indoor locations, bringing new perspectives and audiences to the intersection of music & literature/spoken word. Our latest projects include bringing pop up performances to the Ulster Museum with Hard Rain Ensemble and bringing James Joyce's Ulysses to life through spoken word, sound design and original composition. We are keen to work with architects and other creatives, crafting bespoke indoor musical experienced tailored to specific buildings and spaces.

New Perspectives on Classical Music

Our Creative Conductor Substack is a jumping off point for deep dives into the masters and masterpieces of classical music.
From violin improvisations based on classical and contemporary pieces, to in-depth analyses of the rehearsals of the great conductors, to adventures into the intersections of folk/classical and contemporary music, we find innovative pathways for engagement with classical music for musicians and audience members alike.

Visit Sinead's Conducting Website

About...

The Creative Conductor Musical Atelier has evolved from Ivernia Arts, founded in September 2020 by Galway conductor/musician Sinead Hayes. 

Based on the idea of a creative workshop, the Musical Atelier is a unique space where high level classical music experience and training meets ideas, creativity and a broad range of practical knowledge.  Drawing on and complementing Sinead’s work as a conductor of classical and contemporary music, as well as her background as a structural engineer, we bring unique skills, creativity and an open minded approach to our musical collaborations.

We are like a musical architectural design studio, creatively bringing your musical projects from concept through to completion. We work with carefully selected creative collaborators from across a range of musical and design disciplines to bring brilliant musical ideas, rooted in excellent performance, to life.

 Get in touch today to find out how we can work together.

Recent Projects from the The Creative Conductor...

This 30minute curated concert features 3 pieces by Belfast composers, interwoven with sound pieces featuring the voices and stories of Belfast peacebuilders and community. Designed with flexibility at its core, the concert can be expanded to include additional pieces and sound works.

For this project we are collaborating with Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble. We are creating the sound pieces with two composers from SARC: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Sound and Music, Belfast

The project was chosen for a showcase concert at Classical:NEXT in Berlin 2024

The Creative Conductor Atelier curated the concert pieces, created the project pitch material, and also led the shaping of the narratives in the sound pieces, carrying out interviews with a diverse range of voices from Belfast.

At the age of 78, US composer and musician Anthony Braxton was featured at Darmstadt 2023. Sinead Hayes sat in on his rehearsals with the very first Darmstadt Creative Orchestra, recording interviews and the music, for a unique insight into a historic few days.

As part of her work as a participant in the Words on Music course at Darmstadt, Sinead created a 15 minute audio documentary, interviewing the young musicians of the Creative Orchestra, Kobe van Cauwenberghe, and Anthony Braxton himself. 

The work would not have been possible without the help of the team at Darmstadt, who gave permission for use of the final performance recordings. The final narrative was crafted with the help of deft guidance from Peter Meanwell, who was the tutor on the Words on Music course.

The audio documentary is just the tiniest of glimpses into the original and mind blowing musical universe that Anthony Braxton has created. Discover his work as a composer, theorist, thinker and everything else at the Tricentric Foundation.

Have a listen to the audio documentary here.

TangleTrad, and the TangleBox were  invented by  Sinead Hayes during the Darmstadt Summer Course 2023, as a way to move the needle of our reverence for Irish Traditional Music.

Performers and composers from outside the silo of Irish Traditional music can now feel they have permission to engage with the music and use it as a catalyst for, and component of, their own creative practice.

The TangleBox uses the Irish Traditional pub session as a starting point, amplifying and specifying the micro musical practices that players of all levels engage in during a ‘normal’ session at some point in their development!

It’s a tricky one to summarise. Probably best to dive in here and read for yourself!

It sounds a bit like….this!

Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

This Arts Council funded project was create to allow musicians and singers aged 14- 101 a chance to try out conducting, and improve their conducting skills.

10 participants per workshop had a 2 hour introduction to conducting with conductor Sinead Hayes, followed by a 2 hour session with a local professional string quartet (10 minutes per participant). Repertoire was eine kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart) and The Capriol Suite (Warlock)

 

Participants all submitted an application form and a short video of themselves either playing their instrument/singing or conducting. They ranged from secondary school students to experienced music teachers aiming to improve their conducting skills.

Places were subsidised by the Irish Arts Council and Galway County Council. Cost to participants was €20 each.

Ivernia Arts devised and delivered all aspects of the project concept, from application materials through to conducting scores and performance materials for the string quartet. Athenry Music School provided administration resources and support on the days of the workshops.

Information Pack (Click for PDF)

Participants Information (Click for PDF) 

We would love to deliver more Sandbox Conducting Sessions all over Ireland. If you are interested in bringing the workshop to your music school or festival, please get in touch for costings, budget and availability.

Click HERE for a sample project page with information on repertoire etc.

Walking in ULysses is a 45 minute locative audio soundwalk piece bringing the listener/walker into the swirling world of James Joyce’s Uysses. 

Influenced by John Cage’s Roaratorio, Walking in Ulysses was created by Galway musician and composer Sinead Hayes (solstrek). The work features an original soundtrack and score composed and performed by Sinead, and features the voices of local Tuam legends Midie Corcoran, Ronan Lardner & Padraig Stevens. Also featured are voices of local Tuam residents and students from St. Jarlath’s College.

Whether you have read the book, or have added it to your bookshelf for..ahem…a rainy day, this piece with bring you to the core of the book, introducing you to the main characters, with fabulous original music…and each episode is only around 2 minutes long!!

Absolutely yes – the walk is hosted on the brilliant SonicMaps platform, and can be experienced online. Visit www.solstrekmusic.com to hear the walk remotely – listen with headphones for all the spatial effects!

We successfully applied for funding, coordinated all insurance, and were on site with our project team on Culture Night 2022 to help and guide our walk participants.

www.solstrekmusic.com

Over 25 young musicians worked on music by Mozart and Katharina Baker with ConTempo Quartet and conductor Sinead Hayes over three days in Galway. All participants also got an individual private lesson with a member of the ConTempo Quartet.

We worked on a Mozart string quartet (1st movement: advanced musicians & 3rd movement: intermediate musicians) in large groups, in sectionals, and then in individual quartets. We also explored contemporary techniques and improvisation, as well as rhythmic development.

As a conductor, the dream is that the ensemble has its own musical autonomy, collective artistic identity, sense of pulse, aesthetic etc. These are best developed by playing chamber music – hence the Ensemble Skills course, where participants learn these by watching and playing alongside ConTempo Quartet. A conductor can then come and really add something musically!

Young musicians have some fantastic ensemble opportunities, but they don’t usually get the chance to work on the original music (NOT arrangements) of the ‘great’ composers. By having a chance to get their hands on this music, a lifelong spark of interest will ignite – inspiring and building our audience for the future…

We worked with Galway Music Residency and ConTempo Quartet to choose the repertoire, create the fairly complicated timetable so that each participant had maximum benefit from the tutors. We were also onsite to help deliver the three days of participation.

Paper Boat was a major community opera project, featuring over 140 performers, project managed by Ivernia Arts, working in collaboration with Music for Galway and Irish National Opera.

Following numerous COVID related delays, performances were planned for April 2022, and Ivernia Arts were brought in as project managers in late January 2022. Although the soloists, orchestra and score/libretto were already in place, the youth string ensemble, and youth chorus, as well as all aspects of production had yet to be coordinated.There was a lot to get done!

Together with our freelance team we coordinated all project meetings, updated budget, keeping a handle on all costs, scheduled and project managed all rehearsals, coordinated a studio recording of the opera before the performances. We also recruited and coordinated a team of apprentices who assisted with stage management, surtitling etc.

We coordinated the production design, lighting, extra toilets for the facilities, as well as writing the press release, and oversaw all audio edits for the final recording.

We also coordinated the creation of a documentary on the making of the opera, working with Alan Meaney to schedule visits etc. This was broadcast on RTE Lyric FM on Christmas Eve 2022.

To hear the whole dramatic story of the making of Paper Boat, listen to the Lyric FM broadcast here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/lyricfm/clips/22195530/

 

Thanks to our collaborators:

Elaine Agnew

Coole Music & Arts

Athenry Music School

Irish National Opera

Galway 2020

Music for Galway

Mark Duley (legend!)

St. Nicholas’ Church

Paul Ashe Brown (another legend)

Our brilliant team of trainees

This Arts Council funded project created the first video recording of Raymond Deane’s A Baroque Session (with Carolan & Friends) 

The orchestra was Athenry Sinfonietta – 20 young musicians from Athenry Music School, with guest cellists from Coole Music & Arts, as well as 6 invited local professional players.

Violins: Séamus McGuire & Niamh Crowley

Viola: Kenneth Rice

Cello: Adrian Mantu

Conductor: Sinead Hayes

  • Funding Application
  • Creation of production team
  • Project Management
  • Soloists & Production team briefing and liaising
  • Orchestra management on recording day.
  • Creation of GPS music trail in Athenry with audio from the recording.

www.baroquesession.com

Working with over 100 young musicians from Coole Music & Arts, we discovered the life and music of 17th century Irish harper and composer Turlough Carolan.

We worked via Zoom with 7 groups – 4 orchestras, 1 choir, 1 recorder group and 1 group of pianists. Each group learned a tune by Carolan and an Irish traditional tune.

Each group used a tailor made activity book, creating stories, artworks, poetry and new original compositions inspired by Carolan’s extraordinary life.

We worked with Coole Music founder Katharina Baker to choose appropriate music for each group.

  • creation of sheet music and backing tracks
  • collection and collation of all creative responses into 2 eBooks
  • creation of a montage video of all the performances and creative responses
  • creation of a GPS story and music walk in Gort, Co. Galway

www.carolansrambles.com

Working with Galway Music Residency, we created an online version of their annual Apprentice Ensemble Scheme. Over 20 young musicians worked with the players of the ConTempo String Quartet on music by Mozart and Beethoven.

As part of the project, the musicians were encouraged to creatively engage with the lives of Haydn and Mozart, and discover more of their music. They were also coached in ensemble and quartet playing, focussing on musical and technical details.

  • Devising the format and timetable for the two days of workshops.
  • Choosing appropriate music for Junior and Senior musicians.
  • Creation of Activity books
  • Creation of slideshow materials for the opening “Chamber Music Skills” workshop.
  • Facilitation of the opening workshop.

http://galwaymusicresidency.ie/newElements/education.php

Together with fellow musicians and groups, we set out to play, video and share free sheet music for a traditional tune a day, in the run up to Christmas 2020. The aim was to raise money for Tuam Cancer Care.

All these musicians and groups gave their time for free in aid of this great cause.

Katharine Mac Mághnuis The Donnellan Family Mark Redmond Pádraic Keane Naomi Berrill Belclare Comhaltas Anne-Marie O’Farrell Michael Walsh Nuala Hayes-Roche Patrick Davey & Clare Galway Ciara Finan Aibhlin & Aisling Stewart Dave Flynn.

This was the first project of its kind, using traditional music in this way. We hope the idea catches on and that Tradvent spreads across the world! Together we raised over €1000 for Tuam Cancer Care.

  • Project concept
  • Creation of iDonate page
  • Invitation to musicians to take part
  • Creation of the sheet music
  • Video and audio editing
  • Graphic design

Tradvent Youtube Video

Get in Touch...

We’d love to hear your feedback and ideas… Get in touch to find out how we can work together.