Dr. Aiveen Gallagher

Dr. Aiveen Gallagher

540-568-6648

Instructor

Aiveen Gallagher is a string artist from Ireland, and has performed extensively in Europe, the UK, and the USA. She has been a featured soloist on several occasions at the International Viola Congress and the American Viola Society Congress. An advocate for the contemporary arts, Gallagher is the co-founder of Siren, an international network of musicians dedicated to the cultivation, promotion, and performance of new music. She is a three-time international prize-winner in chamber music and has been the recipient of bursaries and awards from violinist Ivry Gitlis and violist Bruno Giuranna. Gallagher was awarded 2nd prize in her category of the 2022 Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the performance of American Music, and her viola and percussion ensemble, Duo Schembri-Gallagher, was awarded 2nd prize in the chamber music category of the 2022 American Prize for Excellence in the Arts. Gallagher has collaborated with leading artists including Massimo Quarta, Helena Wood, Toby Hoffman, Illaria Loatelli, and Stefano Bollani, for the Livorno Music Festival, the National String Quartet Foundation of Ireland, and the European Foundation for Support of Culture.

Gallagher has worked with many professional orchestras including the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hulencourt Soloists Orchestra, Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, the London Film Orchestra, and the Petrozavodsk Symphony Orchestra, performing in historic venues including the Berlin Concert House and the Berliner Philharmonie, Musikverein Vienna, Moscow State Conservatory, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Kimmel Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Gallagher has delivered masterclasses and workshops at third-level institutions such as NYU Steinhardt School of Music, the University of Illinois, and the University of Central Florida and served as string adjudicator for the European String Teachers Association and the Illinois Grade School Association. She is also a certified teacher of "A New American School of String Playing," trained directly by its author and founder, Grammy-Award winning American violinist Mark O'Connor.

In 2019, Gallagher relocated to Virginia to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature at James Madison University. As part of her doctoral dissertation Gallagher composed three original caprices for solo viola, the Trinity Caprices. These works were the recipient of the JMU Graduate School Innovation Award for outstanding innovation and creativity. Gallagher’s previous studies took place with Ivo-Jan van der Werff at the Royal College of Music, London, Constantin Zanidache at the Munster Technological University, István Szabó at Western Illinois University, and Michael Klotz at Florida International University. Gallagher has recently joined the string faculty at James Madison University.