Ensemble/Solo
Below I highlight a selection of works from this category which includes works for mixed and various size ensembles, as well as works for brass and wind band and solo instruments. For a full list of ensemble/solo works please visit:
for flute/picc, Bb clarinet/bass, violin, cello and piano
Dur. 6’
Commissioned and premiered by the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble in the Harty Room at QUB, 21st January 2022 and then subsequently performed at New Music Dublin.
Green (2021)
Elaine was chosen as one of three composers featured at the Classical:NEXT@Holzmarkt in Berlin where the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble featured Green in an international showcase as part of Peaceline Perspectives on 15th May 2024. Prior to the showcase Green was performed on 12th May at SARC, QUB.
I want to tell you… was commissioned as part of the AFTERMATH Project which actively engaged with victims and survivors of the conflict in Ireland and their families and those displaced by conflict. The AFTERMATH project jointly focussed on the victims of the Northern Ireland conflict and people displaced by the conflict in the context of County Louth and involved recording people’s stories of the conflict, from all communities and political persuasions, culminating in a multi-disciplinary exhibition which used photography, film, sound and music to convey in a very different way the experiences of those involved. AFTERMATH was launched in Louth County Museum, 18th September - 26th October, Gallery of Photography Dublin, 1st - 10th November, Sean Hollywood Arts Centre Newry, 14th - 30th November and Belfast Exposed, 5th - 21st December 2013. The following year as part of the 2014 Féile an Phobail the project was exhibited in St Mary’s College Belfast.
As part of Eamon Quinn’s Songs of War and Peace on 1st June 2014 in Dundalk Gaol, I want to tell you… was performed by Zöe Conway and Adrian Mantu, while the Orsolya Szabó and Victor Yélamo string duo performed it in Glebe House Donegal in October 2017. In March 2019, Patrick Rafter and Sinéad O’Halloran featured the piece as part of the Ortús Chamber Music Festival in Watergrasshill, Cork. Most recently, the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble programmed the piece as part of their celebration for International Woman’s Day on 8th March 2024.
for violin, cello and pre-recorded voice track
Dur. 9’
Commissioned by the AFTERMATH Project and directed by Laurence McKeown.
Premiered by Zöe Conway, violin, Ailbhe McDonagh, cello in Dundalk’s Spirit Store in June 2013.
I want to tell you… (2012)
“Elaine Agnew’s I want to tell you… was premiered in 2013 as part of the Aftermath project which uses creative approaches to storytelling to highlight the needs of victims and survivors affected by conflict. The work is for violin and cello and has an electronic voiceover. The two string players projected a sustained beautiful sound which became increasingly sombre as the voices told off their experiences of loss. It was a thoughtful and moving piece. ”
for 2 baroque violins, G-violone and harpsichord
Dur. 5’
Commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm
Premiered and recorded by Trio Quattro during “Handel’s Wardrobe” for the Dublin HandelFest 14th April 2009, Temple Bar Dublin
Based on a quote from Handel’s Water Music (Minuet in G), Hiccup was commissioned as part of the 2009 EBU Handel in New Clothes project, celebrating the 250th anniversary of his death.
Hiccup (2008)
for violin and piano
Dur. 12’
Commissioned and premiered by violinist Katherine Hunka and pianist Sophia Rahman in the Wigmore Hall in London, 4th February 2002.
Statues (2001)
The opening short prologue for solo violin contrasts high ringing bell sounds with low delicate whispers prior to the entry of the piano with its stately, slow-moving chords. A faster pulse immerses the violin into a more agitated world and the ensuing sudden drop of register allows the playful violin to frolic around with the short stabs of the piano. Both musicians come to an abrupt halt and the silence which follows is disturbed by sounds, plucked randomly from the air. Suddenly the two players take off with an energetic rhythmical line whose perpetual motion regularly changes gear. The concluding epilogue, echoing the opening violin solo, is followed by a frantic dash to the end.
After its premiere in the Wigmore Hall, Statues was performed during the 2003 ‘Composers’ Choice’ series in the National Concert Hall in Dublin and in April 2004, German violinist Isabelle Faust and French pianist Florent Boffard performed Statues on an eight-date Music Network tour of Ireland. In November 2007, back in the hands of the commissioners, it was performed in St. Iberius Church Wexford. It has been recorded on CD by new music group Lontano as part of an Arts Council of Northern Ireland initiative. Irish choreographer and dancer Fiona Quilligan interpreted Statues, along with another piece Seagull, through movement in her January 2013 show Pas de Chats at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin.
“..the many different effects of this engaging piece were well brought out…and it’s many juxtapositions played with eloquence and virtuosity. This was one of the highlights of the evening’s recital, and was unanimously well received by the capacity audience.”
“She gave the first performance of Elaine Agnew’s Statues, a piece that demands fierce concentration. Brilliant accompanist Sophia Rahman watch Hunka like a hawk in the stuttering pizzicato passages and paced her like a twin over the jazz-based running octaves.”
“Elaine Agnew’s music is probably better known, especially her splendid Strings A-Stray for string orchestra (BlackBox). Statues is a substantial duo for violin and piano. It opens with a short, pensive prologue for solo violin. With the pianos’ entry, the music becomes more song-like in character and leads into the central section, actually a moto perpetuo. The epilogue briefly echoes the opening music. A brief restatement of the moto perpetuo’s music brilliantly, but abruptly concludes the piece.”
for solo piano
Dur. 5’
Commissioned by New Ross Piano Festival and premiered by Joseph Moog in St Mary’s Church, New Ross on 27th September 2014 as part of The Ros Tapestry Suite, inspired by the tapestries of the same name that tell the story of the Norman invasion of Ireland.
Abduction (The Abduction of Dervorgilla)(2014)
As part of this commission series I was given the second panel as my inspiration - The Abduction of Dervorgilla - which depicts the passionate flight of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, with Dervorgilla, the wife of his enemy Tiernan O’Rourke, King of Breffni. For his brashness, the law stated that Dermot would pay a fine of 100 ounces of gold to the injured husband. The fact the Dermot failed to comply with this possibly changed the course of Irish History. The pair are seen galloping from O’Rourke’s Castle in Roscommon to Dermot’s stone fortress in Ferns in County Wexford with Dervorgilla’s dowry accompanying them. In pursuit is the elderly King in a vain attempt to seize the pair. In the foreground is a ghost from the future - Dermot's daughter, the yet unborn Aoife, who, because of this event would find herself at fifteen the wife of one of the mighty Norman de Clares, Strongbow.
It is this unsettling image of the ghost, Dermot's unborn daughter Aoife, that opens the piece - a quiet and high sequence of slow moving chords with sustained pedal, creating an eerie sound world. This refrain reappears a number of times in many guises and interrupts a second contrasting theme that is musically responsive to the ruthlessness and anger expressed by the two men, with its woven sweeping circular sense of relentlessness and movement.
In 2019 acclaimed Irish pianist Finghin Colins featured the piece in 5 concerts during his Nationwide Tour as well as a performance in Vevey, Switzerland. Joining forces with Máire Carroll they presented the first complete performance of the entire Ros Tapestry Suite, an exhilarating journey through Ireland’s ancient past, in a thrilling mix of modern styles at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in St John’s Priory, Wed 14 August, 2024.
“a fascinating collection, demonstrating an impressive breadth of contemporary composition for the piano.”
A one-movement work for solo piano, Seagull was inspired by a poem of the same title by Irish-American poet Chris Agee. A central fast moving section is framed by a slow, shimmery introduction and a delicate finale, its lyrical line reflecting the image of the lone gull facing seawards.
Seagull received its American premiere on 14th October 2007 at New York’s Carnegie Hall by Irish pianist Isabelle O’Connell before releasing it on her solo piano album Reservoir in April 2010. This was followed with the CMC Solo Series Live Concert Tour of four-nationwide dates in June 2011. American pianist Kate Boyd has championed the piece in the Carnegie Hall, the Playhouse Derry and on Long Island. Australian pianist Lance Coburn performed Seagull at the Great Music in Irish Houses Festival in Farmleigh House on 16th June 2019. Jimmy Goeijenbier will perform Seagull in the Recital Hall at TU Dublin Conservatoire on 25th October 2024.
The score is published by the Contemporary Music Centre and released on their Contemporary Music from Ireland CD series Vol 5, performed by French pianist Romain Descharmes. Irish choreographer and dancer Fiona Quilligan interpreted Seagull, along with another piece Statues, through movement in her January 2013 show Pas de Chats at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. Extraordinaire Irish percussionist Alex Petcu has rescored the piece for vibraphone for the Finding A Voice Festival and West Cork Chamber Music Festival in July 2021, both as online performances.
for solo piano
Dur. 5’
Commissioned by the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition and premiered by Korean pianist Kyu Yeon Kim as part of the semi-finals in the NCH Dublin, 13th May 2006.
Seagull (2005)
Seagull
Where lichen daubs a spit of sea-rocks
with the gold of goldenrod,
undersides of fungi,
or sea-clumps of pallid algae:
where the slow swell girds the dreadlocks of bladderwrack
in shallows of sea-brown and sea-green:
where sea-turf and primroses face a salt lough
and the tongue’s foreshore meets the sea’s Word:
the common gull stands sentinel
for the shofar of a muffled foghorn.
Chris Agee
“The program opened with Isabelle O’Connell performing impressively in Elaine Agnew’s solo piano work Seagull. This dramatic work explored the keyboard’s range with raw excitement. It is an excellent work for the piano that shows a high level of craftsmanship. Ms. O’Connell’s commitment to the work was in evidence, and she was riveting throughout the performance.”