Golden Globe-nominated Brian Byrne, from Navan, is enjoying a reputation as a hugely successful film composer. His scores span multiple genres, including classical and jazz.
"The nature of film music is that one minute you have to be able to write a classical score, but the next thing might be electronic dance music or traditional."
Brian spoke about the process of scoring a film, which usually happens when everything has been shot and edited. The composer's job is "to try and bring emotion to the movie or a main theme to a character."
"There's loads of elements, it's not just sitting down and writing a melody. It's a complex process."
Brian's latest album is Goldenhair, which consists of music set to poems by James Joyce. His collaborators on the album range from Glenn Close to Julian Lennon, and he will be performing some of the songs at the Sugar Club this weekend.
"I went online looking for poems I could write music to, and I found chamber music by James Joyce," Brian explained. "It was a book of poems he wrote as a very young man. He wrote a letter to his wife saying he wished that some composer would set these words to music."
"Six years later I had 21 tracks. Every movie and album I did, I'd collect friends and artists and get them all together."
"This is a nice thing to do in between movies, because you're not the boss when you're writing scores. With something like this, I can just sit back and invite friends, and hopefully that comes out through the album. There's a lot of love in there."
Brian Byrne performs at the Sugar Club this Sunday, 2 July. For tickets, see the Sugar Club website.
