Dave Flynn Biography

  • Dave Flynn

    Dave Flynn

    Composer & Conductor
  • Dave Flynn

    Dave Flynn

    Composer & Conductor
  • Dave Flynn

    Dave Flynn

    Composer & Conductor
  • “If you are like me, you welcome the rightness and musicality of the hybrid, and are glad for Dave Flynn’s imaginative music.”

    Gapplegate
  • “A thoroughly engaging and out of the ordinary listening experience.”

    Midwest Record
  • “Interesting, striking, and quite engaging”

    Cinemusical
  • “Flynn’s craft in combining traditional and contemporary music elements is always something to appreciate”

    Journal of Music
  • “Dave Flynn is a masterful guitarist”

    Sing Out! Magazine
  • “In an era dominated by fret-burning virtuosity, gently persuasive releases such as this are a rare and precious resource”

    Classical Guitar Magazine

    Celebrated by the New York Times for the “power and grittiness” of his music,  composer, conductor and guitarist Dave Flynn is a musician of international renown. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, he redefined orchestral music by creating the cross-genre Irish Memory Orchestra: a “formidable collective of musicians” (The Irish Times)—and the first and only orchestra in the Western world to perform exclusively by memory.

    Amalgamating orchestral, jazz, rock and folk elements with deft and deep understanding, his compositions have been performed by the likes of the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, New Juilliard Ensemble, Smith Quartet, New Zealand String Quartet, ConTempo Quartet, Vanbrugh Quartet, ConTempo Quartet, Dublin Guitar Quartet, Laura Snowden, Craig Ogden, John Feeley and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

    Published by Reed Music, Frisbee Publications, and Mel Bay (2020’s Complete Works for Solo Guitar), Flynn’s work is regularly featured by broadcasters around the world—including WNYC’s John Schaefer, who dedicated a special edition of New Sounds to Flynn’s work in 2009; and an extensive live interview to commemorate the US launch of his First Hand Records release Irish Minimalism in 2021.

    Privileged to perform and record with some of the world’s best musicians across several genres, Dave Flynn has played at prestigious venues including MoMa (New York), Moscow Cathedral and Ireland’s National Concert Hall. Touring his acclaimed music worldwide, Flynn has performed in Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and all over Europe including Germany, the UK, Russia, Estonia, Romania, France, Sweden, the Czech Republic and his native Ireland.

    Flynn is a regular collaborator with renowned traditional Irish musicians including Martin Hayes, Liz Carroll, Paddy Glackin, Tommy Peoples, Mick O’Brien, and Máirtín O’Connor. In 2019 he became the first Composer-in-Residence at Ireland’s state guest-house Farmleigh and led the ground-breaking world premiere of The Vision Symphony by the Irish Memory Orchestra and 26 blind/vision-impaired musicians at the multi-disciplinary arts centre glór.