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Solfa Carlisle who has just won the Sean O’Riada Composition Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival. Photo: Mark Yeoman

Fermoy-born Solfa Carlile’s a cappella choral work, ‘Upon the Rose’ has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Sean O’Riada Composition Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival. The work will be performed by the Irish National Chamber Choir on Friday 3rd May in a concert at St Finbarre’s Cathedral, Cork.

The winning composition was selected by a panel, comprising of composers and choral experts, and becomes a featured work at the Seminar for New Choral Music (artists in residence – The National Chamber Choir of Ireland). As stated above, it receives its premiere performance during the choral festival at a gala concert given by the National Chamber Choir of Ireland.

For Solfa, her dad Orison (who is a classically-trained operatic tenor but who went into academia), is her musical hero. "He still knows more than me about opera despite all my studies," she told The Avondhu this week! Solfa's mother Celia is an illustrator and her brother Rob is also a musician, so the Carlisles are certainly a creative bunch!

Solfa was twice awarded the Bill Whelan Music Bursary, graduating in 2009 with first-class honours from the Royal College of Music, London. She received an MMus in Advanced Composition in July 2011.

She was composer-in-residence for the London Irish Symphony Orchestra during her undergraduate study at RCM, and appeared on RTE Radio’s ‘The Eleventh Hour’ to discuss her symphonic commission ‘Deirdre and Naoise’ in 2007.

In London her work has been performed by Okeanos, BBC Singers, London Chamber Orchestra and the Composers Ensemble. Solfa was awarded the 2010 Jerome Hynes Commission by The National Concert Hall, Ireland for her voice and piano piece Sounds, set to the poem by Irish poet Brendan Kennelly. She was also awarded a New/Explore prize by the London Chamber Orchestra for her piece Ad Locum, in May 2010. She was mentored by Harrison Birtwistle for Dartington’s Theatre of Illusion Project in 2010, and by Japanese composer, Somei Satoh at the Summer School in 2009.

Solfa became the 2011 winner of the Orchestra of St Paul’s Composers Award, and a new work, ‘The Copper Faye’ was premiered at St Paul’s, Covent Garden.

Her work Saul and the Witch was recently chosen as one of the winners of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Music (Composition) at the University of Oxford and spends her time between Oxford, London and Fermoy. We wish her continued success for the future!

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