James O'Callaghan

James O’Callaghan is a composer and multimedia artist based in Berlin. His work has been described as “very personal… with its own colour anchored in the unpredictable,” (Goethe-Institut). It spans chamber, orchestral, live electronic and acousmatic idioms, audio installations, video-music, site-specific performances, electronic dance music, and interdisciplinary collaboration — most recently with choreographer Edouard Lock and artist Lois Brown. In 2016 an album of his acousmatic works, Espaces Tautologiques, was released by empreintes DIGITALes, and his extended collaboration with Ensemble Paramirabo resulted in a portrait album of his works in 2019, entitled Alone and unalone.
His music has received nearly forty prizes and nominations, including the ISCM Young Composer Award (2017), the Salvatore Martirano Award (2016), and the SOCAN Foundation John Weinzweig Grand Prize (2014). Significant nominations include those for the Gaudeamus Award (2016), Prix Métamorphoses (2018), and two JUNO Awards (2014, 2020). In 2021 he received the Prix Opus for “Composer of the Year.”

Active as an arts organiser, he co-founded and co-directed the Montréal Contemporary Music Lab. Originally from British Columbia, he lived in Montréal for 11 years and since 2022 has been based out of Berlin.

James O'Callaghan’s tracks

• In an archipelago - Standing Wave (full ensemble) by James O'Callaghan
• TOO REAL / FEELS FAKE - ECM+, Véronique Lacroix by James O'Callaghan
• Know unknow xeknow - Ensemble Télémaque, Raoul Lay by James O'Callaghan
• Of definitions of "ground" (60 Hz version)- Ensemble Hopper by James O'Callaghan
• Close / Close - Chloé Dominguez + Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Véronique Lacroix by James O'Callaghan
• Accidents / Harmoniques (Bernard Parmegiani transcription) - Standing Wave by James O'Callaghan
• Xeno- (excerpt) by James O'Callaghan