was born in Dublin in 1974. She studied composition with John Maxwell Geddes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Kevin Volans in Dublin, and graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago with a PhD in composition in 2002, having studied with Amnon Wolman and Michael Pisaro. In 2000 she won the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt. In 2003–4 she was a fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, and in 2004–5 she lived in Berlin as a guest of the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm. From 2006 to 2008 she was the composer-in-residence in South Dublin County for In Context 3. In 2007 she was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York. In 2008 she was awarded the Praetorius Music Prize for Composition by the Lower Saxony government. In 2009 she lived in Venice as a guest of the Claudio Buziol Foundation. She is currently Reader in Music at Brunel University, London. She lives in London and Roscommon, Ireland.
Her work has been performed and broadcast all over the world by ensembles such as Alter Ego, ensemble recherche, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro La Fenice, Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, Ensemble Resonanz, Apartment House, ensemble Intégrales, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Schlagquartett Köln, Crash Ensemble, Con Tempo Quartet, ensemble ascolta, Champ d’Action, ensemble laboratorium, ensemble ]h[iatus, ensemble surplus, trio nexus, Rilke Ensemble, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, Bozzini Quartet, Callino Quartet, Ensemble 2000, Concorde, Kaleidoscop, Black Hair, Continuum, Ensemble Musica Nova, ensemble chronophonie, Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Quintet, Hebrides Ensemble, Psappha, and Q-02, among others.
In addition to her activities as a composer, she frequently performs as a vocalist, specialising in extended techniques. Many of her recent compositions were commissioned for her voice in conjunction with other instruments, and her works have been performed by her and others at festivals such as RTÉ Living Music (Dublin), Båstad Kammarmusik Festival (Sweden), MaerzMusik (Berlin), Ultraschall (Berlin), Transit (Leuven), Ars Musica (Brussels), Ultima (Oslo), Borealis (Norway), Experimental Intermedia (New York), November Music (Holland), All Tomorrow’s Parties (UK), Steirischer Herbst, Wien Modern, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Late Music Festival (York), Hamburger Klangwerktage, Gaida (Lithuania), BMIC Cutting Edge, Composer’s Choice (Dublin), SoundField (Chicago), Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt, Stockholm New Music, BELEF (Belgrade), Traiettorie (Parma), Cut & Splice (London), Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), SPOR (Denmark), Frau Musica Nova (Cologne), Performa (New York), Electric Eclectics (Canada), Dresdener Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik, Reihe 0 (Austria), Stimme+ (ZKM, Karlsruhe), and Music at the Anthology (New York). She is also active as an improviser, performing regularly with musicians in Europe and the Unites States, and in her duo Ma La Pert with Tony Conrad.
Since 2007 Jennifer Walshe has developed Grúpat, a project in which she has assumed twelve different alter egos—all members of art collective Grúpat—and created compositions, installations, graphic scores, films, photography, sculptures and fashion under these alter egos. Pieces by Grúpat members have been performed and exhibited all over the world, most notably at the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, New Langton Arts in San Francisco, Tmuna in Tel Aviv, Festival Rümlingen in Switzerland, Galway Arts Centre and Chelsea Art Museum in New York. In 2009 Grúpat were the feature of a major retrospective at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, which coincided with the launch of the book Grúpat by Project Press and the release of two CDs. This was followed in 2010 with a Grúpat solo exhibition titled NO IRISH NEED APPLY at Chelsea Art Museum New York. In 2011 Grúpat were featured at the Cut & Splice Festival at the ICA London, where performances and exhibitions of their work took place.
Walshe’s work is available on many labels including Mere Records, Interval Recordings, Farpoint Recordings and Migro Sound.

© Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland

Major works: cease to resist for flute and harp (1996), :blurt for string quartet (1997), Overtone for wind orchestra (1997), glow for piano (1998), isH for flute and violin (1998), (rows of houses) for two guitars and double bass (1998), Five short pieces for saxophone quartet (1998), exercise for voice and instruments (1999), they could laugh smile for trombone and tape (1999), piece/by/ for tape (1999), dirty white fields for voice and violin (2000), like glass in a mirror on a window pane for wind quintet (2000), NOW WASH YOUR HANDS for voice, cello and two DJs (2001), Ná déan NÍL CEAD for voice and strings (2001), moving in/love song/city front garden with old men for tenor and piano (2001), warm/cold, installation (2001), small small big for wind ensemble and percussion (2002), Here we are now for voice, cello, trombone and percussion (2002), Happiness is a Warm Gun for voice (2002), been in a room and a room and a room and a room for choir (2002), movement v: presto giocoso for strings (2002), unbreakable line. hinged waist for ensemble (2002), Theme From for violin and piano (2002), minard/nithsdale for string quartet (2003), XXX_Live_Nude_Girls!!! for two female voices, instruments, two puppeteers, two camera operators and CD (2003), he wants his cowboys to sound like how he thinks cowboys should sound for five voices and lighting (2003), The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Conductor for vocal ensemble (2004), Kommander Kobayashi #17: set phasers on KILL! for voices, instruments, video and CD (2004), THIS IS WHY PEOPLE O.D. ON PILLS/AND JUMP FROM THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE for ensemble (2004), a sensitive number for the laydeez for saxophone, viola, piano, percussion and video (2005), passenger for strings (2006), The Procedure for Smoothing Air for voice, trombone, piano and cello (2006), Physics for the Girl in the Street for voice and four percussionists (2007), Nature Data for voice and dictaphones (2007), My Extensive Relationship with Mr. Stephen Patrick M. for voice, ensemble and CD (2007), i: same person/ii: not the same person for voice, ensemble and electronics (2007), becher for piano (2008), Thelma Mansfield for flute, piano, percussion and CD/DVD (2008), Freya Birren’s Libris Solar for voice and ensemble (2009), The Wasistas of Thereswhere for voice and electronics (2009), MARLOWE S. for string quartet, tape recorder and CD (2009), Hotel Chelsea for organ and orchestra (2010), The Soft Menagerie for three voices (2010), METTA for voice and ensemble (2011), Julian & Kanye for three voices (2011), A Folk Song Collection for three voices (2011), Watched over Lovingly by Silent Machines for five voices and DVD (2011), HYGIENE for violin, viola and DVD (2011), Atlanta 2089 for voice, instruments and DVD (2011), Die Taktik for voice, instruments, electronics, video and dancers (2012), Silently & Very Fast for ensemble (2012), Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-garde Vol. 1: Dada for voice and electronics (2012), Duration & its Simple Modes for female voice and choir (2013), Everything you Own has been taken to a Depot Somewhere for three performers (2013), Wash Me Whiter than Snow for violin, cello and DVD (2013), Language Ruins Everything for countertenor, choir, piano and DVD (2013), DORDÁN for instruments and electronics (2013).