Irish composer Jennifer Walshe has been elected to the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin.

The prestigious Akademie has a German and international membership across music, visual arts, architecture, literature, performing arts, and film and media arts. New members are nominated and elected by secret ballot. Other composer members include Sofia Gubaidulina, Brian Ferneyhough, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, Krzysztof Penderecki, Frederic Rzewski, Rebecca Saunders and Christian Wolff. Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is also a member. The membership never exceeds five hundred.

Commenting on the news, Walshe said:

I am very honoured to have been elected to the Akademie der Künste. I think it’s amazing that the Akademie der Künste includes members from all over the world, placing high value on input from a broad range of perspectives. I am looking forward very much to working with the other members

Since winning an award at the famous Darmstadt music course in 2000, Walshe has earned an international reputation for her work with compositions such as XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! (2003), G.L.O.R.I. (2005) ALL the MANY PEOPLS (2011), Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-garde (2012), Dordán (2013), 13 Vices (written with Brian Irvine) (2015), and EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT (2016) for the Arditti Quartet. Recent premieres include The Worlding at the Model in Sligo, TIME TIME TIME at the Borealis festival in Bergen, and The Site of an Investigation at New Music Dublin and the Tectonics festival in Glasgow.

In 2017, she won an award for innovation at the British Composer Awards and was recently announced as a recipient of the National Concert Hall and Sounding the Feminists Female Commissioning Scheme. Last year, Walshe was appointed Professor of Performance at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart.

Congratulating Walshe, Evonne Ferguson of the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin said:

Joining an illustrious group of artists in all disciplines from the global creative community, Jennifer will bring her well-known spirit of innovation, collaboration and originality to the academy’s significant international discussions and events. Walshe’s election to this prestigious body recognises her established international reputation.

Walshe has just released ALL the MANY PEOPLS on vinyl, launched with a performance at the Other Ear festival.

For more on the Akademie der Künste, visit www.adk.de.