


Ina Boyle Choral Works
I spearhead the editing, programming, and revival of Irish composer Ina Boyle's choral works, on behalf of the Ina Boyle Society Ltd.
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Ina Boyle (1889-1967) was one of Ireland's foremost and most prolific composers in the first half of the twentieth century. She achieved early success when her orchestral rhapsody, The Magic Harp, was selected for publication in 1920 by the Carnegie Trust and continued to compose songs, choral pieces, symphonies and a violin concerto among other works.
She was born and spent much of her life living at her family home, Bushey Park, a late-Georgian house located a few miles from Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow. She rarely left Ireland and was largely self-taught as a composer, aside from the sixteen years she spent as a pupil of Vaughan Williams which saw her occasionally travelling to London or later Surrey for lessons.
One of the considerable achievements of Ina Boyle's career was her completion of sixteen Gaelic Hymns for unaccompanied choir to texts by Scottish folklorist Alexander Carmichael, composed between 1923-24 with some added in 1929. The majority remain unpublished and unperformed. Manuscripts are kept in the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
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During Vaughan Williams' 150th anniversary year in 2022, Ina Boyle's choral work Cademon's Hymn (1925) was performed for the first time by The Carice Singers and George Parris at the Ludlow English Song Weekend, Chiltern Arts and at London's Kings Place. This was performed alongside A Hymn to God the Father (1931) by Ina Boyle's close friend Elizabeth Maconchy, using a newly prepared edition by George Parris.
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More information:
Ina Boyle Society https://www.inaboyle.org
Elizabeth Maconchy & Ina Boyle, c. 1945