Born in Belfast in 1974 Darragh Morgan currently resides in south east London. Following two sellout performances at his Wien Modern debut in 1998 he quickly has established himself a soloist of new music giving numerous recitals at Sonorities Festival, as well as in  Prague, Malta, Nicosia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, USA and throughout the UK & Ireland. Darragh regularly performs at international festivals including Warsaw Autumn, Ars Musica Brussels, Klangspuren Scwaz, Darmstadt, Aldeburgh, Spitalfields, Cheltenham, OCM, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, New Music Evenings Bratislava, BBC Proms Chamber Music, National Arts Festival Grahamstown, South Africa, Cutting Edge London, Festival D'Automne Paris, Besancon Festival de Musique, Lucerne Festival and Jazz sur les Pommiers, Coutances.

He has performed with many of the worlds leading contemporary music groups including Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Musik Fabrik, Icebreaker, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Remix Ensemble, Jane's Minstrels and Topologies. He has recently joined The Smith Quartet. Darragh broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 3, has been chosen as BBC Radio 4's Pick of the Week and also appeared on The South Bank Show, SABC, CYBC, RTHK, WDR and Lyric FM.

As a recording artist he has worked with The Spice Girls, The Corrs, Jamiroquai, Paul McCartney, The Divine Comedy, The Lemon Heads, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Travis, Incognito, Brian Kennedy and David Bowie. In the world of Irish Traditional Music Darragh has worked closely with Micheal O Suilleabhain, Noirin Ni Riain and the late Derek Bell of The Chieftains. His CD Cusp for Black Box is due out shortly, his CD Opera for NMC due out early in 2006 and other recording projects have included Metier and Sargasso. He has also recorded for Nimbus and DG.

From 1999-2001 Darragh was leader of the Cyprus State Orchestra and throughout 2004 was Concertmaster of the KZN Philharmonic in Durban, South Africa. During that year he also became Director of Baroque 2000 South Africa's acclaimed period instrument orchestra. He also regularly leads English Touring Opera, and was recently featured as leader of the orchestra in BBC 2's acclaimed TV series 'The Genius of Beethoven'. He appears regularly as soloist with The Ulster Orchestra most recently in the world premiere of Sir John Tavener's Hymn of Dawn. His piano trio The Fidelio Trio recently gave the European premiere of Michael Nyman's The Photography of Chance. Darragh is a faculty member of Apple Hill Chamber Music, New Hampshire, USA, regularly coaches at the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme and has worked closely with The Mostar Sinfonietta, Bosnia and given workshops for Buskaid in Soweto. He regularly gives lecture-recitals on extended violin techniques recently at Queens University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and Kings College London. Darragh teaches at Goldsmiths College, University of London and was recently appointed 'Musician in Residence' at The University of Ulster. He also regularly leads English Touring Opera and has recently appeared as Guest Leader of The Macau Orchestra. He has recently been working at Royal College of Music (chamber music) Royal Northern College of Music (chamber music) and Royal Academy of Music (composition).

Darragh has participated in masterclasses with Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zukerman, Nigel Kennedy, Mauricio Fuks, Pierre Amoyal and Paul Zukofsky. He plays a fine violin by Peter Boardman after a Peter Guarnerius, Venice 1735 and a classical violin by Thomas Perry of Dublin 1765.


return to top