Dr Orla McDonagh
Dean, Faculty of Arts & Humanities
Email: dean.ah@tudublin.ie
Tel: 01 220 5165
Academic Qualifications:
- DMus, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Bloomington
- Masters, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Bloomington
- Bachelor of Music, The Juilliard School for the Performing Arts
Orla joined Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016 as Head of Conservatoire. Prior to this she lectured in the Music Theory Department at Indiana University (1998-2001), was Head of Keyboard at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon (2001-2010) and RIAM Head of Faculty for Musicianship (2010-2015).
Orla is a concert pianist, pedagogue and arts administrator. An active soloist, chamber musician and contemporary music practitioner, she has released multiple CDs and is broadcast via classical music media outlets nationally and internationally. Recent research interests include performance collaborations with actors and music recording production work. A regular guest artist at Conservatoires and music festivals internationally, Orla is a founding member of the McDonagh Sisters Duo and The Wilde Trio.
Since 2011, Orla has been engaged in quality assurance work in Europe, designing standards in music performance education for the Association of European Conservatoires, reviewing music institutions/programmes and delivering peer-reviewer training for MusiQuE, the European evaluation and accreditation agency for music. In 2018 McDonagh presented to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht on Music in Ireland. She currently serves on the boards of MusiQuE and the Dublin International Piano Competition.
Orla lives in Dublin and enjoys hiking and sea swimming whenever she has the chance.