Derek Ball (b. 1949) - Full biography
http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/derek_ball/
Derek Ball was born in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and went "up to Dublin" as a teenager specifically to study composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with the ebullient Dr Archie Potter (sadly no longer with us), whose advice to young musicians was "never refuse money!" He won some Feis Ceoil (music festival) and Oireachtas (Irish Government) composition competitions, as well as some competitions for new works for amateur orchestra, and was rewarded by the opportunity to represent Ireland at the Biennale de Paris in 1971 (performance of a recording of Movement for String Orchestra) and the 1974 Bordeaux Saxophone Festival (The Cure for tenor sax and piano). In the early and mid 1970s he was regularly performed at young composer concerts at the 20th Century Festival in Dublin. Movement for String Orchestra was performed in 1969 by what was then known as the RTE Light Orchestra, and broadcast on RTE Radio (? about 1970). Four Chimaerae was performed by the (amateur) Dublin Symphony Orchestra in 1970, and by the RTE Symphony Orchestra in 1971. Wormwood (score now mislaid) was performed by Dublin Symphony Orchestra in 1974. While at the RIAM he was one of the founder members of the Association of Young Irish Composers, which was later absorbed into the Association of Irish Composers of which he is still a member.
After qualifiying in medicine at Trinity College Dublin in 1973 he continued studying composition with Jim Wilson for a short time but the demands of a medical career were something of a hindrance. However, 12 years after moving to Glasgow he joined the Scottish Society of Composers, becoming its Secretary and Treasurer from 1991 to 2003, and his compositional activity increased to the point where in recent years he has been producing numerous chamber works and a couple of orchestral works each year, even before his retirement from medicine at the end of 2004. His recent performances have included a one-hour lunchtime 'retrospective' of his string quartets, played by the Edinburgh-based Saltire Quartet in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, and numerous small chamber pieces played mainly by the group Two's Company (Edinburgh) and the Paragon Ensemble (Glasgow) at concerts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with one-off performances from Dublin pianist Owen Lorigan, Unison (Glasgow University), NYSOS (Glasgow), the Dublin Guitar Quartet, Paul Roe and Leonie Curtin (Dublin), and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with a storyteller and a sculptor. Recent collaborations with librettists have resulted in 7 operas so far, ranging from chamber groups to full orchestra and from 15 minutes to 2½ hours.
Derek is married and has one daughter who occasionally plays the clarsach, an instrument he himself can play slightly, as well as various string, woodwind and brass instruments (also at a strictly amateur level).