Bernard Geary

Bernard Geary (11 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Irish composer, teacher and pianist.

Career Born in Gurranabraher near Cork, Geary was largely self-taught, although he did study at University College Cork from 1952 until 1955, where the professor of music was Aloys Fleischmann. An early influence was the music of Benjamin Britten. His first compositions to attract attention, including the String Quartet No 1 and Provocation for string orchestra, appeared in 1960. Four years later came the first of many orchestral pieces, the Variations on Amran Dochais (Song of Hope), which was first performed at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin on 9 February 1964 by the RTE Symphony Orchestra.

Geary married Leonora McCarthy in 1962 and there were four children. The family moved from Cork to Dublin in 1970. From 1976 until 1998 Geary was head of music at Cabinteely Community School in the suburbs of Dublin, where he composed dramatic and choral works for the school's orchestra and choir. The Painted Wood for orchestra (1988), and the large scale choral cantata Sankt Nik'laus Komm in unser Haus (1993). In 1997 a concert of his works was held at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Recordings of his piano music (played by Anthony Byrne) and choral pieces were issued in 2000.

Death Geary was survived by his four children. He died aged 89 at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin. The funeral was held at St Joseph's Church in Glasthule, Dublin on 27 April. Two Poems for violin and piano