Born in 1950, Brian Beckett studied piano with Valerie Walker and Dina Copeman and composition with AJ Potter and James Wilson at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
He made his solo début at the Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music in 1972 after which his subsequent performance career focussed mainly on the works of contemporary Irish composers. In 1971 he was a founder member of the Association of Young Irish Composers and in 1977 was selected “Composer of the Year” at the Kilkenny Arts Festival where he premièred his 3 Piano Studies. In 1979 he was commissioned to write his Preludes for Harp and Piano for the Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music and in 1980 these works were selected to represent Ireland at the European Composers’ Rostrum.
In 1973 he graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Mus.B. degree and was appointed a part-time teacher at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 1985 he was appointed Senior Examiner to the Local Centre Examination System at the RIAM and in 1989 was appointed a full-time Lecturer 1 Teacher also at the RIAM. He has subsequently played a very active part in the academic life of the Academy serving for many years as a staff representative on the Board of Studies and the professors’ representative on the Board of Governors.