Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album, Grá agus Bás, has made NPR Music's list of its 50 Favorite Albums of 2011. "Dennehy infuses hallowed Irish texts, from the esoteric sean-nós vocal tradition to the plaintive poetry of fellow countryman W.B. Yeats, with a shimmering and kaleidoscopic array of minimalist colorations," says NPR. "The result, masterfully performed by Crash Ensemble under Alan Pierson and featuring vocalists Iarla Ó Lionáird and Dawn Upshaw, is a compelling, meditative walk through time and terrain. It studies an Ireland rooted in reverence for its past, but which also brims with curiosity for its future."

Alarm Will Sound will be the Artists-in-Residence at the third annual Mizzou New Music Summer Music Festival, held in July at the University of Missouri. Eight composers from around the world will be selected through a portfolio application process to compose a work to be performed by Alarm Will Sound. The application deadline is November 1. Donnacha Dennehy will be a guest composer, participating in discussions and master classes.

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, whose Nonesuch debut album, Grá agus Bás, was released earlier this year, is in Chicago for the performance of his 2002 piece To Herbert Brun. Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Cliff Colnot, kick off the 2011/12 season of the CSO's MusicNOW new-music series with tonight's concert, held at the Harris Theater. Dennehy's piece features guest soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw. The program also include works by John Corigliano, Kirsten Broberg, Alejandro Viñao, and Paula Matthusen.

Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album, Grá agus Bás, has been named one of NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums of the 2011 (So Far). NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas calls it "a revelation." She describes the title piece as "haunting and utterly bracing"; the second piece, That the Night Come, was set for "Upshaw and her silvery, glistening voice in bracing, rich, complex and just plain gorgeous displays." Tsioulcas will "be listening to this for a long time to come."

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Grá agus Bás receives a perfect five stars from the Guardian, which calls the title piece "remarkable ... a piece of startling freshness." That the Night Come, also on the new album and sung by Dawn Upshaw, "is exquisitely shaped and perfectly conceived for Upshaw's voice." Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed calls the title piece "rapturous" and says "Upshaw gets at the heart of Yeats’ sad, haunted beauty" of That the Night Come.

Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album, Grá agus Bás, is "a serious exploration of an Irish folk-music idiom, teased out into a range of fresh sounds," says the Washington Post, which describes the title piece as "an ecstatic vision set in a dreamscape of sound" and says Dawn Upshaw, featured on the song cycle That the Night Come, "has another winner here."Audiophile Audition gives the album four-and-a-half stars, calling it "an absolutely mesmerizing introduction" to Dennehy's music. "This music is nearly impossible to describe. You simply must experience it ..."

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut, Grá agus Bás, was released last week. The album includes the title piece, which was inspired by sean-nós "old style" Irish vocal music, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come, comprising six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats. Dennehy spoke with the Irish Times about his music, which, the Times says, "is predicated on classical training, but very much a hybrid of new classical and experimental," and the inspirations behind the works on the new album.

Donnacha Dennehy's Grá agus Bás is due out tomorrow. The album—which includes the title piece, inspired by sean-nós "old style" Irish vocal music, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come, comprising six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats—was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. "The singer's plaintive cries sound very much like phrases from Irish folk music," says NPR of the title piece, "while the accompaniment features a kind of pulsating minimalist shimmer." Hear the inspirations behind the album pieces and writing for singers Iarla O’Lionáird and Dawn Upshaw.

With a week to go before the May 3 release of Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Grá agus Bás, you can now listen to the album in its entirety till release day on npr.org as an NPR First Listen. The title piece "is full of sounds and textures that are at once haunting and exhilarating," says NPR, with a performance by Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird that creates "one of the best and most satisfying listening experiences of the year so far." Dawn Upshaw's performance of Dennehy's "ravishing song cycle" That the Night Come "shows off her tremendous range."

Next week, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, in partnership with The Bard College Conservatory of Music, will present a Professional Training Workshop led by Dawn Upshaw and composer Donnacha Dennehy, who will mentor four composers and ten singers in creating new vocal music. The participants will premiere their new works in Zankel Hall, led by conductor Alan Pierson. Nonesuch releases its first recording of music by Dennehy, Grá agus Bás, on May 3, featuring the title piece and the song cycle That the Night Come, the latter sung by Upshaw. This week, she performs three concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center.

Nonesuch releases its first recording of music by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, Grá agus Bás, on May 3. The album includes the title piece, which translates as Love and Death, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come. The Dublin–based Crash Ensemble—which Dennehy co-founded—performs both works, conducted by Alan Pierson. Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird is the soloist for Grá agus Bás; Dawn Upshaw is featured on That the Night Come. The album is currently available to pre-order here.