Roger Doyle studied piano from the age of 9, but gave it all up at 16 because of the 'here are the classics' approach to teaching. He became a self-taught drummer (on bongos and biscuit tin lid) in local pop groups at 13 where he sang 'Louie Louie' wearing a Ringo hat.

After leaving school he slept till lunchtime for 3 years and gradually became a composer through the necessity of doing something. Until his mid-20s he was active as a drummer in jazz/rock and experimental improvisational groups, touring Canada with the group 'Supply, Demand and Curve'.

He attended the Royal Irish Academy of Music for 3 years every Monday afternoon studying composing, during which time he was awarded 2 composition scholarships. 'I am a composer', he thought. His works '4 Sketches' and 'All the Rage' won respectively second and first prizes in the Dublin Symphony Orchestra's composition competition, receiving performances when Roger was in his early 20s. Around this time he was teaching piano (and being a drummer) and composed '6 Pieces for Pupils who Don't Like Exams', winning first prize in the Feis Ceol competition.

He hung up his drumsticks when he was awarded a Dutch Government Scholarship to study electronic music at the Institute of Sonology, then in Utrecht. By saving his scholarship living expenses money Roger financed and came back from Holland with his first LP under his arm "OIZZO NO" (1975), a mixture of acoustic and electronic pieces. A further scholarship took him to the Finnish Radio Experimental Music Studio for a year. CBS Records released a second LP "THALIA" in 1978. A third LP was released in 1981 on the London United Dairies label "RAPID EYE MOVEMENTS", his 'masterpiece before the age of 30'

Since then Roger has worked extensively in theatre, film and dance in particular with the music-theatre companies Operating Theatre and Icontact, which he co-founded (Operating Theatre released singles with CBS and Mother Records in the mid-eighties - the latter produced by Bono of U2). In his 30s he worked in many styles, allowing the influences of pop music to filter through. He was one of the first people in Ireland to work on a Fairlight Computer Music Instrument.

In 1990, at the age of 40 he began his life's work 'BABEL' which would occupy him for 10 years. He was awarded the Programme Music Prize at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1997) with a piece from Babel called 'Spirit levels'.In 1999 Operating Theatre produced a one woman multimedia show 'Angel/Babel' with actress Olwen Fouere, using customised realtime interactive sensor software. Later that year he set up the Silverdoor label and released 'Babel' as a 5-CD set, where each track corresponds to a room or place within a giant tower city. It is a celebration of musical language.

In 2000 the CD 'UNDER THE GREEN TIME' was released, a collaboration with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble; as was a CD of the music which Doyle composed for the Steven Berkoff production of 'SALOME', which played in Dublin's Gate Theatre, in London's West End and on three world tours.

In 2002 Roger Doyle began a new large-scale work 'PASSADES'. He is a member of Aosdana, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of creative artists and is constantly surprised that he is a composer. 
(Academic biography and pdf printable worklist)

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