Elaine Agnew’s substantial body of work covers all genres from opera, video games and contemporary dance to instrumental and choral music. She has been commissioned extensively, reaching audiences across the world from the BBC Proms and gamers to outreach participants.
Working with Vienna-based Game Developers Causa Creations, Elaine created the soundtrack for Songs of Travel, now available on iOS and Android. Recently nominated for best game by Pocket Gamer, the number 1 site for gaming on the go, the Animated Graphic Novel was showcased at the 2025 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco as well as CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. It was recently included in a group show Substanz at the Albertina Modern in Vienna, an exhibition that explored the role of art as a social action. Chosen as one of BBC Radio’s 3’s Composers in Lockdown as well as being featured at Classical:NEXT@Holzmarkt in Berlin, Elaine’s music has been performed at the BBC Proms and in renowned venues like the Carnegie and Wigmore Halls. Her works currently feature on 18 discs and her choral music is published by Boosey & Hawkes and Cailíno Music Publishers.
Upcoming commissions include those from New Music Dublin, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and iSing Silicon Valley while The Offing was recently premiered by the Belfast Philharmonic adult and youth choirs in the Ulster Hall in Belfast. A member of Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored body of creative artists, Elaine’s 2012 BBC Proms commission Dark Hedges was described by one London reviewer as ‘compelling from beginning to end’.
Exciting News!
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin and director Desmond Earley are proud to announce that their album James Joyce Chamber Music Vol.1 has been submitted for GRAMMY® Award Consideration in the category of Best Choral Performance. This album reimagines Joyce’s poetry through rich choral textures and expressive contemporary settings, bringing together Ireland’s literary and musical heritage in a moving celebration of word and sound. Elaine’s setting of Joyce’s poem In the dark pine-wood features on the album.
For Your GRAMMY® Consideration - Best Choral Performance - Choral Scholars of University College Dublin
Songs of Travel at The LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 9-19th October ‘25
Featuring Elaine’s curated soundtrack, Songs of Travel was selected as one of only six Games showcased in the Games Lounge at LFF Expanded, a playful, free and accessible showcase of imaginative, moving and wildly inventive games from around the world. An Animated Graphic Novel (available on iOS and Android), Songs of Travel explores and collectively paints a vivid picture of the topic of migration through the personal stories of five individuals as they fled their troubled homelands in search of new beginnings in Europe.
Nominated for best game by a number of organisations, including Pocket Gamer, the number 1 site for gaming on the go!, it was also showcased at the 2025 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the biggest conference of its kind with over 30,000 participants and attendees as well as CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world.
Upcoming Events
Sunday 2nd November Free Concert King John’s Castle, Limerick
Following on from the Hard Rain SoloistsEnsembles performance of Green during their successful September tour of Chile in the Northern, Central and Southern cities of La Serena, Santiago and Valdivia, they now collaborate in a unique creative exchange with talented young musicians from Limerick School of Music and Ulster Youth Orchestra, introducing them to modern music and developing their skills and awareness of contemporary styles. For this Creative Ireland project they will collectively premiere a new re-working of Green for a large-scale ensemble.
Green
Sunday 23rd November 2025 7pm Good Shepherd Church , Ormeau Road, Belfast
Over the past three decades, Cappella Caeciliana has shared the beauty of classical choral music with audiences across Ireland and beyond. This 30th Anniversary concert will be a joyful celebration of their musical journey, under the direction of Matthew Quinn.
https://buytickets.at/cappellacaeciliana1/1890120
Child Within
Saturday 6th December 2025 6pm Newman University Church, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
Performance by eight-part Dublin based choral ensemble Ascolta as part of their ‘Ascolta Christmas Concert’
Curoo Curoo / Child Within
Curoo Curoo
12th and 13th December 2025 Presbyterian Church of Chestertown, Maryland, USA
Performance by the Chester River Chorale as part of their ‘Celtic Christmas Concert’ under Artistic Director Alexis Ward.
https://www.chesterriverchorale.org
Monday 15th December 7pm St-Peter’s Church, Drogheda
Elaine was recently appointed as Composer in Residence with Music Generation Louth for a three-year period from September 2025, funded through Music Generation’s Creativity and Collaboration Fund which supports projects that create opportunities for children and young people to progress and grow as musicians, taking them to the next level in their artistic growth.
Winter
New Music Dublin 16th-19th April 2026 National Concert Hall Dublin
Commissioned by NMD for the Evlana String Ensemble, directed by Keith Pascoe.
New Work
Saturday 6th June 2026 4pm Hill of the O’Neill, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone
Performance by the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and conducted by
James Grossmith with pianist Gail Evans. Text by Sinéad Morrisey.
The Offing
New Work
November 2026 National Concert Hall, Dublin
Commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland for a performance with youth choir Cór Linn. Commissioned text by Jessica Traynor.
December 2026 Mission Santa Clara de Asís, Santa Clara, California
Commissioned by the Californian girls choir iSing Silicon Valley and Artistic Director Jennah Delp Somers.
Velvet Shoes
Recent Events
23rd October 2025 Holywell Music Room, Oxford International Song Festival
Commissioned and premiered by American/Irish pianist Deirdre Brenner and Australian mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean as part of a larger song collection on the subject of the women of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries.
The Magdalene Songs
26th September New Ross Piano Festival, 4th October Music in Monkstown and 17th October 2025 City Hall, Waterford
Irish pianist Finghin Collins performed Seagull in Counties Wexford, Dublin and Waterford celebrating 20 years since its premiere.
Seagull
Green
6th, 8th and 12th September 2025, Hard Rain tour of Chile
The Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble performed Green during a week-long tour of Chile in the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, University Music Department, La Serena and Aula Magna, Valdivia.
In the dark pine-wood
In the dark pine-wood was recently released on CD
Chamber Music by James Joyce: Volume I
Signum Classics (UK) (SIGCD864)
Choral Scholars University of College Dublin
Solstice Ensemble, Artistic Director Desmond Earley
