KEITH ACHESON

Keith Acheson is a composer, orchestrator, arranger and conductor based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After obtaining a BMus (Hons) in 1996, majoring in composition, he was awarded a PhD in Composition from the Ulster University in 2002.

​

At home writing music ranging from the concert hall to podcasts, he has had work performed by the Ulster Orchestra, Gemini Ensemble, Arco String Quartet, HuuJ Ensemble, flautist Philippa Davies & harpist Anne-Marie O’Farrell, pianists Shaun Ryan & Jonathan Drennan, guitarist Brian Keenan, clarinetist & saxophonist Paul O'Reilly, sopranos Megan Mooney and Caroline Joy Clarke as well as the Ulster University, Sing For Life and Here4U choirs.

Recent works have included his hour-long work performed in Crumlin Road Gaol entitled18, for soprano, women’s choir, narrator, string quartet, piano and tape in 2018, Wretches a reworking of the same work for SATB choir performed at the Portico of Ards in  2020, Turf a 40 minute score for choreographer Eileen McClory (2018), Blight Sketches for string quartet (2019) and most recently Ellipses (2021), an hour-long setting of the poetry collection Ellipses by poet Maria McManus, for soprano and ensemble.