At the heart of Darren's musical life is versatility and community spirit.
He is most proud of his outreach work he did with both the Multi-Story Orchestra,
and with The Worshipful Company of Musicians to encourage under-estimated children in London to gain skills and confidence through music, giving workshops with Matt Lewis. He was appointed as Principal Trumpet of the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland in 2025 (this is the band formerly known as the RTE Symphony Orchestra.
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He is very conscious that music has the possibility to help everybody, and finds it heart-breaking when elitism is reinforced in the industry - which may explain how he finds it almost embarrassing that he benefitted as a child from a system that does not afford everybody the same chances. This is why he is so proud to be a part of the (please click) Multi-Story Orchestra family who use music as a force for positive social change. You can see their latest work with children who recently lost a classmate to gang crime, and how they worked together on designing, composing, and performing The Endz, as a tribute to their lost friend.
 
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"Songs, dances and writings allow us to speak to one another across generations"
Wynton Marsalis ​
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Having chosen early on in his student days to specialise on three instruments,
he now regularly performs on modern trumpet, baroque trumpet, and cornetto.
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Darren has played Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.2 with both the
Irish Baroque Orchestra (dir. Peter Whelan) and the London Handel Orchestra,
Beethoven and Dvorak with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
(dir. Nezet-Seguin, dir. Bernard Haitink),at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and on tour to the U.S.A. with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir.
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Darren has also appeared at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in a production of Othello that
involved samba dancing with Sir Mark Rylance (The BFG, Bridge of Spies, Dunkirk),
and Andre Holland (Moonlight, The Eddy).
As well as developing his volleyball skills in the pre-show warm-ups,
the whole experience led to his questionable decision to learn the bagpipes.... a choice that proved a winner when he was asked to play his best friend down the aisle on her wedding day in Scotland.
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Darren is delighted to have been appointed as trumpet teacher at TUDublin Conservatoire, having previously been an Assistant Lecturer at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and Assistant Lecturer at the Cork School of Music. He has also recently been invited by one of his first teachers, Tom Rainer, to teach on the Brass Academy courses.
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Recent and upcoming projects:
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Irish National Opera, dir. Peter Whelan
Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte
(touring Ireland)
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Irish Baroque Orchestra, dir. Pter Whelan
Haydn, Mozart - Symphonies
(NCH Dublin)
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English Cornett and Sagbutt Ensemble
Monteverdi - Vespers 1610
(The Lighthouse, Poole)
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Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Beethoven - Symphonies
(Deutsche Grammophon Recording Baden-Baden, dir. Yannick Nezet-Seguin)
(Seoul tour, dir. Kiril Karabits)
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Ensemble Correspondances
Ballet Royal de la Nuit
(Elb-Philharmonie, Hamburg)
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InAlto Ensemble
Passages
(Bozar, Brussels)
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Guilde des Mercenaires
Muffat - Missa in Labores Requies
(Palais de Versailles, France)
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National Symphony Orchestra
Tchaikovsky - Symphony 4
(NCH, Dublin)
 
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Stravinsky - various recordings
(MediaCity UK)
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Irish National Opera
Strauss - Rosenkavalier
(Bord Gais Theatre, Dublin)
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