Timothy Doyle announced as winner of Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition

Timothy Doyle has been announced as this year’s winner of the prestigious Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition.

Titled ‘Points and Lines’, the winning composition will have its world premiere at Cathedral of St Mary & St Anne in Cork on May 1 as part of the Cork International Choral Festival.

The Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition celebrates new works from Irish composers and is held in collaboration with the Cork International Choral Festival and Chamber Choir Ireland.

On receiving the news of his win, Timothy said, “I am delighted and honoured to be chosen as the winner of the Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition this year. My piece ‘Points and Lines’ sets a poem of the same name by Aldous Huxley to music and is dedicated to my newborn nephew, Matteo.

“It is a real privilege to join the list of outstanding composers who have received this award and to be part of the Cork International Choral Festival’s vibrant musical tradition,” he continued. “I am especially excited to hear the piece premiered by the incredible Chamber Choir Ireland.”

According to composer Eoghan Desmond, and Artistic Director of Chamber Choir Ireland, Gabriel Crouch, ‘Points and Lines’ was chosen due to its assured, well-structured and highly attractive response to Aldous Huxley’s enigmatic poem about the nature of human perception.

A composer of chamber, orchestral and electronic music, Timothy Doyle was morn in Dublin, and relocaed to New York in 2013 where he worked with some of the city’s most exciting performers, before returning to Ireland and commencing his graduate studies in composition at University College Cork, although he currently resides in Lyon, France.

His work has received numerous awards, including the NCH Jerome Hynes Young Composers’ Award (2020), the Peter Rosser Composition Award (2017) and the West Cork Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition Prize (2019 and 2023).

This year’s Cork International Choral Festival takes place from April 29 to May 3. Click here for more information.