Unique Finding A Voice festival fills Clonmel with music and discovery

The ninth Finding A Voice Festival brought four inspiring days of music, conversation and creativity to Clonmel , celebrating women composers from the medieval period to the present day.

Founded by sisters Róisín Maher and Clíona Maher, the festival has grown into a distinctive cultural event for the town, drawing performers and audiences from across Ireland and beyond. Concerts, talks and workshops took place across several venues including Old St Mary’s Church, The Main Guard, Clonmel Library and Raheen House, creating a vibrant atmosphere of musical discovery.

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The festival opened on Thursday evening with two contrasting but equally engaging events. In Old St Mary’s Church, Oxford-based ensemble Voice Trio joined forces with visual artist Innerstrings for Hildegard Transfigured: A Medieval Trance for the 21st Century. The performance offered an immersive reimagining of the music of the medieval composer Hildegard of Bingen, blending voices, electronics and visuals to striking effect.

Across town at Raheen House, the atmosphere was lively for FLOW, a singer-songwriter showcase presented in partnership with Clonmelody and supported by the Irish Music Rights Organisation. Audiences enjoyed original music from Jessica Brett, Kate Twohig and long-established duo Zrazy. Brett’s performance combined humour with an impressive vocal presence, while Twohig experimented with a new sound palette and revisited earlier songs alongside more recent material.

Zrazy brought a wealth of experience to the evening, performing both older favourites and newer songs. The duo shared stories behind their music, including the origins of songs written while touring in the United States and reflections on growing up in Tipperary. Their haunting “Song for Jim” proved particularly moving, while “I’m in Love with Mother Nature” had the audience singing along.

Friday began early with an outreach workshop led by Voice Trio for fourth class students at Sisters of Charity Primary School, organised in association with Music Generation Tipperary. The singers introduced the girls to the tradition of medieval rounds, teaching them the famous 13th-century piece Sumer Is Icumen In. Hearing the students enthusiastically sing the canon together offered a joyful reminder that communal music-making has been bringing people together for centuries.

Later that morning, Voice Trio returned to the Main Guard for a captivating a cappella concert exploring medieval women and song. The programme celebrated early vocal traditions and highlighted the expressive power of unaccompanied voices in the resonant space.

The performance was followed by a discussion with feminist cultural historian Dr Anna Beer, who reflected on the challenges women composers have historically faced. She noted how many once-prominent composers, including Elizabeth Maconchy, have faded from the mainstream repertoire despite their achievements. As Beer observed, “Music is not a butterfly pinned to a wall – it lives when you perform it.”

Later that day in Old St Mary’s Church, record label Ergodos launched pianist Máire Carroll’s recording of Caterina Schembri’s evocative piano suite A birch forest seen, imagined, and remembered. Carroll also presented a thoughtfully curated recital including works by Cécile Chaminade, Meredith Monk, Tania León and Julia Wolfe, offering audiences a varied exploration of piano music by women composers.

The evening concert at the Main Guard featured the acclaimed Banbha Quartet performing a rich programme of chamber music spanning three centuries. Among the highlights was Mystic Play of Shadows by Irish composer Jane O’Leary. Speaking before the performance, O’Leary recalled writing the work during a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 1995, inspired by the mysterious atmosphere of birds settling around the lake at dusk.

Saturday brought a lively mix of talks, workshops and performances. Members of the Belle Voici Choir took part in an engaging workshop with Voice Trio before a talk in Clonmel Library by author Leah Broad about her award-winning book Quartet, which celebrates four pioneering women composers.

At Bodega 1830, violinists Erin Hennessey and Molly O’Shea performed Conversations and Canons, a vibrant programme for two violins that delighted the lunchtime audience gathered in the courtyard.

Later in the Main Guard, the Finding A Voice and Contemporary Music Centre Emerging Composer Workshop showcased six composers presenting newly written works with the support of clarinettist Paul Roe and composer-mentor Marian Ingoldsby. The six finalists — Abigail Smith, Cathy Purcell, Celia Donoghue, Fidelma Nugent, Nori Krupp and Viktoria Sinkarova — each introduced their work and shared insights into the ideas behind their music, giving audiences a rare glimpse into the creative process behind contemporary composition.

Saturday evening concluded with Dullea vs O’Connell: Duel!, a dramatic two-piano performance by Mary Dullea and Isabelle O’Connell. The concert featured the world premiere of a new commission by Irish composer Rhona Clarke, inspired by Clonmel’s historic Code Duello of 1777.

Introducing the work, Clarke explained that she began by exploring the music that might have been heard by the gentlemen who gathered in Clonmel to draft the famous duelling rules. This led her to music from the late eighteenth century, including material from The Beggar’s Opera and works by Henry Purcell.

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These historical references became the starting point for a set of theme and variations, interwoven with rhythmic and structural ideas drawn from the repeated phrases and formal language of the Code Duello itself. The result was a work that cleverly connected Clonmel’s history with a contemporary musical voice.

Sunday’s programme also included a vibrant lunchtime concert at the Main Guard featuring the winners of the BAN BAM commissioning and development award from the Improvised Music Company. Composers Joanna Mattrey and Christine Tobin presented striking new works that blended composition, improvisation and multimedia elements. Mattrey’s Battle Ready II explored themes of conflict, loss of home and cultural identity through a powerful quartet of saxophone, violin, synthesiser and viola, while Tobin’s Pseudologia Fantastica examined the spread of disinformation in the digital age through a compelling mix of voice, cello, guitar, spoken word, live electronics and visuals.

The festival closed on Sunday afternoon with Chamber Choir Ireland under new artistic director Gabriel Crouch. The programme, titled To Star the Dark, focused on music by women composers working today and showcased the richness and diversity of contemporary choral writing. Works by Joanna Marsh, Ayanna Woods, Emma O’Halloran and Meredith Monk were performed with clarity and sensitivity, each offering a distinctive musical voice.

A particular highlight was the world premiere of a new commission by Irish composer Amanda Feery, setting a translated text by poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa. Inspired by Irish folklore surrounding the sedge-warbler — believed to carry the soul of a lost child returning to comfort a grieving mother — the work unfolded with delicate textures and luminous vocal writing, bringing the festival to a moving and reflective close.

Across four days, Finding A Voice once again demonstrated the richness and diversity of music by women composers while bringing world-class performances to the heart of Clonmel. With plans already in place for the festival’s tenth anniversary in March 2027, it continues to grow as an important and distinctive cultural event for the town.

Finding A Voice are funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, with further support from Tipperary County Council, IMRO, MTU, and RTÉ Supporting The Arts. Camida and Boston Scientific are corporate sponsors, and Finding A Voice would like to especially thank committees and staff at our partner venues and organisations, without whom this festival would not be possible.