Sebastian Adams
// bio
Sebastian Adams (b. 1991) is an Irish composer, performer and artistic director with wide-ranging interests that include experimental text pieces, exploring physical limitations and procedurally generated real-time music.
A significant aspect of Sebastian’s creative output is as an organiser, curator and advocate of new music. In 2012, he founded Kirkos, which has become a leading light of the Irish scene, providing a vital arena for the most exciting young composers in the country and exploring the gamut of the most experimental and striking music written in our time. Projects include Dublin’s first Fluxus Happening, multi-sensory concerts in total darkness, and many Irish premieres of important international works. Most recently, they have opened the DIY concert venue Unit 44 in Stoneybatter.
As a performer, Sebastian has created solo projects, premiered many solo and chamber works for viola, and enjoys working closely with composers on their new music. He has improvised in Dublin, Bern, La Chaux de-Fonds, New York and London, including in live theatre, and occasionally performs early music on viola and gamba.
Commissions include the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Kaleidoscope, Music Network, both RTÉ orchestras, and the West Wicklow, Beckett Chamber Music and East Cork Early Music festivals. His music is performed regularly by leading Irish musicians. Performances abroad include Paris, Montreal, Vienna, Cologne, Potsdam, Antwerp and Görlitz, and his music has been broadcast on radio across the European Union. He was Composer-in-Residence for RTÉ lyric fm in 2016/17 and represented Ireland in the International Rostrum of Composers in 2017.
Sebastian studied in Dublin (Kevin O’Connell & Jonathan Nangle), Paris (IRCAM) and Vienna (Karlheinz Essl). His most recent viola teacher was Simon Aspell (The Vanbrugh).