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Fergus O'Carroll was born in Waterford, Ireland, into a musical family, settled on the French Horn after trying his luck on the violin and trumpet. He studied with Victor Malirsh in the Royal Irish Academy of Music under a scholarship from the Irish Youth Orchestra while finishing his schooling at St Finian's College, Mullingar, home of the Schola Cantorum. He then joined the RTE Symphony Orchestra as fourth horn until 1977, when he was appointed 1st Horn with the RTE Concert Orchestra. In the meantime, Fergus studied horn with Niko Gruger of the Munich Conservatoire of Music and Dale Clevenger of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He returned to the RTE Symphony Orchestra in 1985 (then re-named the National Symphony Orchestra) and has since been Co-Principal First Horn as well as performing as soloist with most of the orchestras in the country. Through his association with wind bands, he developed a passion for conducting and has conducted many bands in Dublin but, particularly, St James's Brass and Reed Band. He has conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Irish Sinfonia, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Orchestra of St Cecilia. Now he is the Musical Director of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Irish Academy Wind Ensembles, Senior and Junior, where he also teaches French Horn. His introduction to choral conducting came when he was invited to be founding conductor of the Ulysses Choir, Dublin. He is now Musical Director of Mullingar Choral Society and Dun Laoire Choral Society. This year marks his third as assistant to the conductor (Franz Paul Decker) of the Annalivia Festival of Opera which had its inaugural season in Dublin in June 2000. In his "spare time", Fergus publishes Irish music for bands and is the Irish representative for the Editions Marc Reift band music catalogue from Switzerland. As a dealer for the Sibelius notation computer programme, he is recognised nationally as an expert in the area of computer music notation. His orchestration of Donal Luney's work "Dúiseacht" (Awakening) was performed at the Hanover Exhibition in June 2000 and his composition "Capricious Celts" was recently recorded by the Irish Police Band, the Band of the Garda Síochána and has received many performances, both in Ireland and in the USA. His "5 Mood Swings" for Brass Quintet has been well received worldwide by players and audiences alike. [Music]
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