The year 2001 saw the beginning of a fruitful relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, who featured both From the Besieged City and North in their Horizons series. In 2004 they included North in their national tour. In 2005 O'Connell was artistic director of RTE’s Living Music Festival during which the NSO gave the Irish premiere of Henze’s Seventh Symphony. In 2007 the NSO premiered O'Connell’s largest orchestral work to date, Four Orchestral Pieces (2003-2006).

In 2007 O'Connell completed his doctorate in composition at St Patrick's College (Dublin City University) under the supervision of Dr. John Buckley.

In March 2008 American pianist Archie Chen included O'Connell’s piano work Céimeanna in his Chinese and American concert tours. Kevin O'Connell is a member of Ireland’s academy of creative artists, Aosdana. He is head of composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music where he founded the BA Composition course. He also founded the Ictus Ensemble and has conducted them in works by Stravinsky (Mass, Cantata), Boulez (Mémoriale, Dérive), and Turnage (No Let Up), among others. O'Connell’s association with colleagues and students at the RIAM has led to several new works including Three Songs and Other Times, Other Places (Mairead Buick, soprano), Piano Etudes Nos. 1 and 5 (Izumi Kimura), The young are always right (RIAM Symphony Orchestra), and Chorale, Toccata and Fugue (David Adams, organ). A performance of the latter by David Adams was released on CD in the summer of 2008. The Arts Council of Ireland awarded O'Connell a Major Bursary in 2008, allowing him relief from his teaching for threee years.

Kevin O'Connell is much in demand as a writer on music. His articles have appeared in Musical Times and other journals. You can watch an interview with O'Connell here.

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