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 London Film Festival and BBC Proms to Gamers to outreach workshop 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, this Animated Graphic Novel was recently showcased at the 2025 London Film Festival. Chosen as one of BBC Radio’s 3’s Composers in Lockdown as well as being featured at the 2024 Classical:NEXT@Holzmarkt in Berlin, Elaine’s music has been performed in renowned venues like the Carnegie, Wigmore and Royal Albert Halls. Her work currently features on 18 discs and her choral music is published by Boosey & Hawkes and Cailíno Music Publishers.
Recent premieres include The Magdalene Songs at the Oxford International Song Festival and The Offing, premiered by the Belfast Philharmonic Choir in the Ulster Hall in Belfast while the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble performed Green during their recent tour of Chile. Upcoming commissions include those from New Music Dublin, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and Cór Linn and iSing Silicon Valley. 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 Volume 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 XX 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 for free 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 as well as CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
Upcoming Events
Saturday 18th April 7pm RDS Concert Hall, Dublin
This spectacular concert Jubilate! unites the combined forces of Dublin Youth Choirs, Belfast Philharmonic Youth Choirs and the Irish Choral Sinfonia for a thrilling orchestral performance in the magnificent RDS Concert Hall. Celebrating 10 years of Dublin Youth Choir, 20 years of the Belfast Philharmonic Youth Choirs, and 10 years of the Cross Border Youth Choir, hundreds of young voices will come together for this unique musical event, premiering a new arrangement for choir and orchestra of The Swallow. Set in one of Dublin’s most impressive concert venues, this concert promises to be an unforgettable evening celebrating youth choral music.
The Swallow
Sunday 19th April 2026 12:00 New Music Dublin 2026, Main Stage, National Concert Hall Dublin 'Love the Earth'
Cór na nÓg and The Elders
'Love The Earth' aims to awaken, and reawaken, a much-needed awareness among us all of the sacredness of the living Earth in today’s world. Divided into five sections - Mother Earth, Animals of the Earth, Birds of the Earth, Sounds of the Earth, and A Place We Once Called Earth - the programme features works by Irish composers Elaine Agnew, Sue Furlong and Marian Ingoldsby. The title and theme of this year’s programme were inspired by an intergenerational project undertaken by NCH Cór na nÓg in 2025 with Floating World and The Elders, titled A Conference of Birds, which highlighted red-listed bird species in Ireland and for which Elaine Agnew was commissioned to write a song of the same name. .Mary Amond O’Brien, music director and Carole O’Connor, accompanist.
The Swallow / A Conference of Birds
The Swallow
Saturday 9 May 2026 7pm JUBILATE! - BELFAST PHILHARMONIC YOUTH AND CHAMBER CHOIRS 20TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT, Fisherwick Church, Belfast
A celebration of 20 years of the unique Belfast Philharmonic Youth Choirs programme. The repertoire is selected from special moments that tell the story of the choral music education programme, featuring highlights from across the years. This concert brings together talented young singers from Belfast, Dublin and Sperrin to perform alongside the incomparable Ulster Orchestra. This concert promises to be an unforgettable celebration of young voices doing amazing things!
15th / 16th May 2026 8pm Dlr Mill Theatre, Dundrum, County Dublin
“Birds on the brink of extinction take to the stage hoping the humans will look up and cherish their song before it’s too late.”
An intergenerational performance of theatre, music and visual art by participatory arts group The Elders in collaboration with a flock of muti-disciplinary artists and National Concert Hall’s Cór na Nóg. A gathering of wings, voices and stories rooted in the lives of birds from Ireland’s Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. The work invites us to step briefly into another way of being, of moving, calling, and listening. Myth, music, theatre, movement, animation, visual art and live performance are woven together to give voice to birds and their fragile futures.
www.floatingworldproductions.com
A Conference of Birds
Saturday 7th November 2027 Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin
Evlana Sinfonietta, directed by Keith Pascoe, presents the world premiere of Elaine Agnew’s new string sinfonietta alongside a programme that places Irish voices in dialogue with two Pulitzer Prize-winning composers. The concert also features works by Irish composers Siobhán Cleary and Raymond Deane. This premiere performance also includes a pre-concert performance of a new piece composed collaboratively with children from St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin as part of Evlana’s commitment to widening access to contemporary music, Evlana is partnering with composer Elaine Agnew on an education project with a primary school orchestra participating in the DEIS programme in Dublin. Through workshops with Agnew and musicians from Evlana ensemble, students will explore composition, rehearsal and performance, culminating in a short performance in the Samuel Beckett Theatre before the sinfonietta concert.
Saturday 6th June 2026 7.30pm Hill of the O’Neill, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone - Belfast Philharmonic Choir & Fermanagh Choral Society
These two choirs join forces for Starstruck — an unforgettable celebration of iconic film music and the evocative new choral work The Offing. From beloved film themes to the powerful narratives of The Offing, this is an evening where music tells the story. Conducted by
James Grossmith with pianist Gail Evans. Text by Sinéad Morrisey.
The Offing
12 February 2027 National Concert Hall, Dublin
Commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland for performance with youth choir Cór Linn on a commissioned text by Jessica Traynor under the direction of Finnish conductor Anna-Maria Helsing.
New Work
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 will be premiered with a chamber ensemble accompaniment. A setting of a poem by
Velvet Shoes
December 2026 St Peter’s Church, Drogheda
Hurry Home!, a 30 minute celebration of Winter and Christmas music, will be performed a second time with children and young people from Music Generation Louth alongside the Drogheda adult choir Realta Chamber Choir.
Curoo Curoo / Child Within
22 December 2026 National Concert Hall, Christmas Concert
Performed by Cor na nOg and Cór Linn with the NSOI
What the Future Holds
Hurry Home!
Recent Events
19th March 2026 Harty Room, QUB Belfast
An active freelance percussionist, Alex Petcu transcribed Seagull, a solo piano work, for vibraphone, marimba and drums.
Seagull
Calligraphy
8th March 2026 Harty Room, QUB Belfast
Featuring Hard Rain's 25/26 Young percussion artist Charlie Shortt and annually celebrating International Women’s Day with music by some of the ensemble's closest collaborators from the North, South and West of Ireland, and born some 50 years apart, this programme presents multiple premieres while spanning generations and the geography of our island.
I want to tell you…
27th February - 6th March 2026 Peaceline Perspectives TOUR
Limerick, Galway, Dublin Abbey Church, Dublin Bello Bar, Maynooth, Derry
The Hard Rain SoloistEnsembles “Peaceline Perspectives” features highly evocative pieces from the North of Ireland. The music is interwoven with voices and soundscapes inspired around Belfast’s Peaceline, which separates the nationalist and loyalist communities. This performance showcases the work of multiple composers whose musical voices are shaped by their shared Northern Irish heritage. I Want to tell you… consists of instrumental duos accompanying a voice track of victims, survivors and displaced families affected by conflict.
5th / 6th February 2026 National Gallery of Ireland and Newry Town Hall
Irish pianist Finghin Collins performed Seagull as part of the Feis Ceoil 130th Celebrations in the National Gallery of Ireland, a pianist who has a long and distinguished association with Feis Ceoil and is one of the Festival’s most ardent ambassadors, and the following night performed Seagull at the Newry Chamber Music Piano Fests vibrant opening concert.
Seagull
Hurry Home!
15th December 2025 St Peter’s Church, Drogheda
Elaine was appointed as Composer in Residence with Music Generation Louth over a three-year period starting September 2025 and 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. Hurry Home!, a 30 minute music celebration of Winter and Christmas, included two school choirs, the Drogheda adult choir Realta Chamber Choir, as well as instrumental tutors and young players from the Drogheda Music Hub. Text directed by broadcaster/writer John Toal. A second year residency starting in March 2026, will see a collaboration with young strings players of all levels based in Dundalk.
Curoo Curoo / Child Within
Saturday 6th December 2025 Newman University Church, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
Two new arrangements of the Carols were premiered by the eight-part Dublin based vocal ensemble Ascolta as part of their ‘Ascolta Christmas Concert’
Child Within
23rd November 2025 Good Shepherd Church, 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 was a joyful celebration of their musical journey, under the direction of Matthew Quinn.
Songs of Travel
9th - 19th October 2025 IMAX London Film Festival
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 for free 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.