Staff
Tony Carey
Director, Performing Arts programme
Tony Carey was awarded his B. Comm. (1987) and his MBS (1988) from UCD. On leaving university, he worked as a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and IBM Business Consulting Services for a total of fifteen years. In these roles he was primarily responsible for business development and the management of relationships with key clients, mainly in the financial services and educational sectors.
In a consulting capacity, he provided assistance to UCD in the development of proposals for the PRTLI processes, including The Conway Institute, The DMMC and The Urban Institute.
In 2003, he took up full-time employment with UCD as Director of Strategic Development to the Faculty of Medicine and he was subsequently appointed as Director of Strategic Planning to the University in September 2005. In this capacity, he is responsible for the development and coordination of the programme of strategic change necessary to deliver on the UCD Strategic Plan.
Artistic Directors
Dr. Ciarán Crilly
Dr Ciarán Crilly is Artistic Director of the UCD Symphony Orchestra and UCD Orchestral Scholars. He has been Principal Conductor of the Dublin Orchestral Players since 2007 and conducts the newly founded Orchestra of the Irish National Youth Ballet. His other experience includes concerts with the Dublin Symphony Orchestra, Dublin Screen Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Miró Chamber Orchestra, Baden Sinfonietta, Dublin County Choir, Mornington Singers, EAR Ensemble, Dublin Baroque Players and RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
As a violinist and violist, Ciarán’s experience includes work with the Irish Film Orchestra, Orlando Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Orchestra of the Dvorák Festival, Irish Sinfonia, and he is a member of the ensemble-in-residence for the Hilltown New Music Festival.
Desmond Earley
Artistic Director of UCD Ad Astra Academy and UCD Choral Scholars, Desmond Earley, is one of Ireland's leading early-music performance specialists, having studied harpsichord with David Adams and organ with Peter Sweeney at the D.I.T Conservatory of Music and Drama, harpsichord with Gordon Murray at the University for Music and the Performing Arts, Vienna, and has recently submitted his final dissertation entitled French Basso Continuo Performance Technique: a Study of the Arpeggiated Gesture in the Prélude non Mesuré (c1650-1720) in partial fulfillment of a DMus in Historical Performance Practice at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
He is an honours graduate in Music and Politics from University College Dublin, where he took the BA and BMus respectively. An award-recipient, he has studied organ and piano with Charles Pearson and Eoin Garrett. Desmond has played harpsichord and organ with ensembles such as the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Ex, Ruchetta Ensemble, The Earley Musicke Ensemble, The Irish Baroque Orchestra, and with musicians such as Konrad Junghaenel, Christopher Hogwood, Monika Huggett and Sir James Galway. Desmond worked with the late Dr. Bernadette Greevy as Chorus-Master of the final Anna Livia International Opera Festival (2008).
As an arranger Desmond has worked on projects for The Gate Theatre, on orchestral arrangements for the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, on choral arrangements of popular songs for UCD Choral Scholars, and on arrangements for popular music artists ranging from Jerry Fish to Carly Sings.
His most recent solo harpsichord recital of German and French repertoire was performed at UCD Newman House and was entitled The Sharp End (Summer 2012). A Lecturer in Performance at UCD School of Music, Desmond is developing the chamber-music component of the UCD Ad Astra Academy Performing Scholarship Scheme.
Kellie Hughes
Initially trained in dance, Kellie’s professional career began touring with Riverdance –The Show across Europe, North America and Australia. After finishing her degree in Theatre and History, Kellie completed an MA in Physical Theatre at Royal Holloway, London before spending over three years training and performing with Corinne Soum and Steven Wasson, directors of Theatre de l’Ange Fou.
In 2004 Kellie returned to Ireland joining Blue Raincoat Theatre Company, Ireland’s longest established and highly acclaimed ensemble theatre company. Kellie performed and directed extensively in this time, touring nationally and internationally. As Head of Training from 2005, Kellie created and delivered professional training programmes for ensemble members and guest performers alongside developing practice based modules of study for a number of third level institutions. In 2009 Kellie became Artistic Director of the Yeats Project, directing a number of Yeats’ plays to critical acclaim. Kellie became Ad Astra Director in Residence in 2011.
Academic Advisor
Dr. Eamonn Jordan
Eamonn Jordan is Lecturer in Drama Studies at the School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin. His book The Feast of Famine: The Plays of Frank McGuinness(1997) is the first full-length study on McGuinness’s work. In 2000, he edited Theatre Stuff: Critical Essays on Contemporary Irish Theatre.
More recently, he co-edited with Lilian Chambers The Theatre of Martin McDonagh: A World of Savage Stories (2006) and The Theatre of Conor McPherson: 'Right beside the Beyond' (2012). His last monograph Dissident Dramaturgies: Contemporary Irish Theatre was published in 2010 by Irish Academic Press.
