IBSL Treasurer Position

Treasurer Needed: Promote the Legacy of Ina Boyle

Do you have the financial expertise to support a small but rapidly growing charity?

The Ina Boyle Society Ltd., committed to promoting Irish composers past and present, especially Irish women composers, seeks a dedicated Treasurer to join our team.

If you're passionate about music and making a difference, we encourage you to apply!

Full job description and application details below:
______________________________________________________________________
Ina Boyle Society

Registered Charity No. 1198331

Role Description 

Treasurer 

(Voluntary; Unremunerated) 

The Ina Boyle Society Ltd. was founded by Katie Rowan in 2020 to champion the music of Ina Boyle and of other neglected Irish composers, particularly women, whose music deserves to be heard more widely. The IBSL obtained charitable status in the UK in 2022.  

We are seeking a to recruit a Treasurer who will assist the Board of the IBSL in responding to the growing interest in Ina Boyle's life and music, as reflected in the increasing number of performances, broadcasts and premiere recordings of her orchestral, vocal and chamber works, both in the UK and internationally.  

The Treasurer will monitor the financial administration of the charity, reporting to the Chair and Board at regular intervals on the IBSL’s financial health, with a particular focus on budgeting and strategic financial planning, risk assessment and risk management. 

The role is a voluntary position and is particularly suitable for someone with appropriate financial qualifications and experience of, or interest in, the classical music world.

For further information about Ina Boyle and the work and governance of the Society, visit the IBSL website at www.inaboyle.org

Role of the Treasurer

The role of a Treasurer is to maintain an overview of the organisation’s affairs, ensure its financial viability and ensure that proper financial records and procedures are maintained, in line with best practice and in compliance with the governing document and legal requirements. 

Key Responsibilities 

  • Overseeing, approving and presenting budgets, accounts and financial statements. 

  • Being assured that the financial resources of the organisation meet its needs. 

  • Preparing and presenting financial reports to the Board. 

  • Ensuring that appropriate accounting procedures and controls are in place and that all financial policies and procedures, including the appointment of external financial advisors, are reviewed regularly.

  • Advising on the financial implications of the organisation’s strategic plans. 

  • Ensuring that the accounts are prepared and disclosed in the form required by funders and relevant statutory bodies. 

  • Ensuring that the accounts are scrutinised externally, as required, and that any recommendations are implemented. 

  • Keeping the board informed about its financial duties and responsibilities. 

  • Contributing to the fundraising strategy of the organisation. 

  • Making a formal presentation of the accounts at the annual general meeting.

General responsibilities of a Trustee 

In addition to the responsibilities outlined above, the Treasurer as a Trustee has the following general responsibilities: 

  • Contribute actively to the Board’s role in giving strategic direction to the charity. 

  • Ensure the financial stability of the organisation.

  • Ensure the Charity applies its resources exclusively in pursuing its objectives.

  • Ensure the effective and efficient administration of the Charity. 

  • Be collectively responsible for the actions of the Charity and other Trustees. 

  • Participate in other tasks as arise from time to time, including recruitment and fundraising. 

  • Attend meetings and subcommittee meetings as appropriate and read papers in preparation for the meeting. 

  • Keep informed about the activities of the charity and wider issues which affect its work. 

In addition to the above, Trustees should use their specific skills, knowledge or experience to help the Board reach sound decisions. This will involve scrutinising Board papers, leading discussions, focusing on key issues, and providing advice and guidance requested by the Board on new initiatives or other issues.

Person specification 

The Treasurer should have the following skills, experience and knowledge: 

  • Fully qualified chartered accountant. 

  • Some experience and/or understanding of charity finance and fundraising. 

  • The skills to analyse proposals and examine their financial consequences. 

  • A willingness to be available to staff for advice and enquiries on an ad hoc basis.

  • Demonstrable interest in advancing the mission and activities of the IBS. 

IBSL

October 2024
To apply, please contact: inaboylecomposer@gmail.com

Ina Boyle performed at The Two Moors Festival

The Ina Boyle Society was thrilled Roderick Williams OBE and Christopher Glynn performed 'Songs of Travel' at The Two Moors Festival, including two Ina Boyle works, 'A Song of Enchantment' and 'The Joy of Earth'.

The recital also included music from Ralph Vaughan Williams, Joan Trimble, Rebecca Clarke, Freya Waley-Cohen, and many more!

Those in attendance included Adrian Boyle and Diana Thompson.

A full program list can be found here.

IBSL thanks Roderick Williams and Christopher Glynn for their wonderful performance and support of Ina Boyle and her works.

(From l-r), Diana Thompson, Roderick Williams OBE and Adrian Boyle at The Two Moors Festival, October 2024.

Image courtesy of Adrian Boyle.

Songs from the North of Ireland

IBSL is thrilled to share the upcoming global release of ‘Songs from the North of Ireland’, Carolyn Dobbin and IBSL Patron Iain Burnside’s programme of songs from two of Ulster’s 20th-century female composers, Dorothy Parke (1904-1990) and Joan Trimble (1915-2000).

Songs from the North of Ireland: Dorothy Parke | Joan Trimble.
Delphian.

““Dorothy Parke is well known for her songs for children but is revealed here as a much more wide-ranging composer, steeped in the folk melody and poetry of Ireland.””
— Delphian.

As champions of composers, especially Irish women whose music deserves wider recognition, we at the Ina Boyle Society are very much looking forward to this new release.

“Joan Trimble, an accomplished concert pianist, left behind only a handful of published songs but a small trove of manuscripts, including her opera Blind Raftery, written for BBC Television in 1957, two arias from which complete this journey of discovery.””
— Delphian.

The global release date for ‘Songs from the North of Ireland’ is 18th October 2024.

Please click here to read more.

Ina Boyle features on French album, Un Lieu À Soi

A recent review by Sophie Bourdais from Télérama, the weekly French cultural and leisure magazine about the classical album, Un Lieu À Soi (A Place of One's Own) celebrating female contemporaries of Virginia Woolf, including female composers such as Ireland’s Ina Boyle. This prestigious French recording covers 400 years of music and includes Ina Boyle’s Three Ancient Irish Poems with Maïlys de Villoutreys, Hélène Desaint, and Clara Izambert-Jarry.

Review from Télérama, words by Sophie Bourdais.

“In 1929, (Virginia) Woolf denounced the constraints that blocked women’s access to literary creation. These constraints also applied to female composers, and this double album gives them centre stage, calling upon contemporaries of the suffragettes (and Woolf) such as Ethel Smyth (1853-1944), Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), and Ina Boyle (1889-1967)...”
— Review from Télérama, words by Sophie Bourdais.

English translation below:

ACTESIX - UN LIEU À SOI

Classical Music

Various Artists, Directed by Samuel Hengebaert

What do these two black and white squares hide, one fitting inside the other, accompanied by a booklet with a carefully designed graphic? A captivating anthology of four centuries of English music, concocted and curated by violist Samuel Hengebaert under the patronage of Virginia Woolf and her essay "A Room of One's Own." In 1929, Woolf denounced the constraints that blocked women's access to literary creation. These constraints also applied to female composers, and this double album gives them centre stage, calling upon contemporaries of the suffragettes (and Woolf) such as Ethel Smyth (1853-1944), Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), and Ina Boyle (1889-1967), as well as their ancestor Lady Mary Dering (1629-1704) and their distant heirs. A lively dialogue is established between them and their male counterparts, who were more favourably treated by posterity: John Blow, Henry Purcell, Frank Bridge, and Benjamin Britten.

Structured around the three complementary voices of Mailys de Villoutreys, Anaïs Bertrand, and Lucile Richardot, whose a cappella trios punctuate the journey, the program mixes genres, moods, and eras, and gives pride of place to the great British song.

Violist Hélene Desaint, pianists Alexis Gournel and Adam Laloum, gambists Julie Dessaint and Etienne Floutier, harpist Clara Izambert-Jarry, and harpsichordist Ronan Khalil (founder, with Samuel Hengebaert, of the ActeSix collective and the Oktav Records label) accompany the singers but also indulge in instrumental solos, such as the spectacular sonata for viola and piano by Rebecca Clarke, with its fusion of lyricism and turbulence. In the chamber music bubble of this "place of one's own," where everything is linked with poetry, the imagination and emotions of the performers unfold freely and touch the listener all the more deeply.

Sophie Bourdais

2 CD Oktav Records

Ina Boyle features in "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" exhibition launch.

As Ireland celebrates its first gold medal of the 2024 Olympic Games, IBSL also celebrated a wonderful evening at the Waterford Gallery of Art launch of their exhibition "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians," which features Ina Boyle's chamber work, ‘Lament for Bion’ (1944-45)."

Ina Boyle as featured in Waterford Gallery of Art "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" exhibition.
Image courtesy of Emma O’Keeffe.

Boyle was awarded a commemoration medal and Diplome d’Honneur in the music category of the Olympic Art Competition in 1948 for ‘Lament for Bion.’  Emma O’Keeffe, a final year research candidate at TU Dublin’s Conservatoire,  writes on ‘Lament for Bion’, “Like many of Boyle’s compositions, the work was not performed during her lifetime. Her Memoranda records a substantial list of failed attempts at having the work performed in Dublin and in London, and while successful at the Olympic Arts Competition, there is no evidence to suggest that it was performed during the contest.”

Waterford Gallery of Art "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" exhibition.
Image courtesy of Emma O’Keeffe.

Thankfully, a resurgence of interest and admiration is revitalising Ina Boyle's remarkable compositions. O’Keeffe continues, “In March 2022, ‘Lament for Bion’ received its premiere performance at the Emily Anderson Concert Hall, University of Galway, using the critical edition created as part of this project [O’Keeffe’s ‘No Coward Soul is Mine’: A Critical Edition of Select Works by Ina Boyle (1889–1967].

The performance was given by New Zealand tenor, Christopher Bowen, and the Galway Music Residency’s Ensemble in Residence, ConTempo Quartet, led by cellist and founder of the ConTempo Quartet (1995),  Adrian Mantu. The performance was part of the longstanding concert series, ‘Music for Galway’, funded by The Arts Council, and also included works by Ina Boyle's mentor, Ralph Vaughan Williams.”
© Emma C. O'Keeffe (2024)

Ina Boyle as featured in Waterford Gallery of Art "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" exhibition.
Image courtesy of Emma O’Keeffe.

Waterford Gallery of Art’s "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" exhibition runs from July 26th - November 26th 2024.

Waterford Gallery of Art "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians".

Image courtesy of WGOA.

DISCOVER THE INA BOYLE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

DISCOVER THE INA BOYLE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

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RODERICK WILLIAMS PERFORMS SONGS BY INA BOYLE

Roderick Williams and Roger Vignoles.

The Ina Boyle Society was truly honoured that one of the UK's most accomplished and sought-after baritone soloists and composers, Roderick Williams OBE, programmed Ina Boyle's "A Song of Enchantment" at three recitals this summer. He performed alongside legendary pianist Roger Vignoles at this year's International Song Festival Zeist, the Cheltenham Music Festival, and the Buxton International Festival.

Composers Nicholas Marshall (L) and Cameron Biles-Liddell (second from right) with Roger Vignoles and Roderick Williams at the 2024 Cheltenham Music Festival.  

Ina Boyle in Waterford Gallery of Art's "Muscles & Mind" exhibition.

Waterford Gallery of Art exhibits "Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" (July 26th - November 26th 2024) featuring Ina Boyle's chamber work, ‘Lament for Bion’ (1944-45). In the 20th century, Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, championed the link between sport and arts. Medals were awarded in architecture, music and literature and in 1948, Boyle's Greek-themed chamber work, ‘Lament for Bion’ was awarded a commemoration medal and Diplome d’Honneur in the music category of the Olympic Art Competition.

"Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" (July 26th - November 26th 2024)

“…gentle Miss Ina Boyle from Enniskerry obtained a diploma in the music section for her ‘Lament for Bion’.”
— Máirín Allen (Honorary Secretary, Arts Section) account of the 1948 Olympic Games.

Waterford Gallery of Art writes, “The revival of the modern Olympic Games by Pierre De Coubertin embodied the ideal of a marriage between ‘Art and Sport, Muscles and Mind’. This exhibition features artists from the Waterford Art Collection who competed for Ireland in the Olympic Games from 1924-48 including: Jack B. Yeats, Letitia Hamilton, Séan Keating, Mainie Jellett, Fr. Jack P. Hanlon, Desmond Broe, Flora Vere O’Brien, Sir John Lavery, Sir William Orpen and more. Also featuring is the newly commissioned portrait of Olympic silver medal winner John Treacy by Sammy Kane, and ten open-call selected contemporary works on the theme of competition, representation and nationhood.” – Waterford Gallery of Art. Read more on the "Muscles & Mind" exhibition, here.

"Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians" (July 26th - November 26th 2024) Waterford Gallery of Art.

Dr. Ita Beausang explores the background to Ina Boyle's commemoration medal and Diplome d’Honneur awarded in 1948. Click here to read more on our website.

‘Ina Boyle and her World’ performance in County Wicklow

Ina Boyle’s music was recently performed in her home county of Wicklow at the ‘Music in Calary Summer Series’ concert.

Sponsored by Wicklow County Arts, and staged in Calary Church, ‘Ina Boyle and her World’ was a stunning program with accomplished performances from Aileen Cahill, piano, Dr Orla Shannon, soprano and David Scott, baritone.

Music in Calary: ‘Ina Boyle and her World’

“I was particularly delighted to speak to some audience members who knew Ina from their childhood in Enniskerry.”
— David Scott

David Scott commented, "After many years of research and work on Ina Boyle's songs, it was a joy to perform them in her home county of Wicklow to such an enthusiastic audience at Calary Church. I was particularly delighted to speak to some audience members who knew Ina from their childhood in Enniskerry."

Aileen Cahill, David Scott and Dr. Orla Shannon

“Performing Boyle’s songs just ten minutes away from her home estate in Enniskerry was an extraordinarily intimate experience”
— Dr. Orla Shannon

Soprano, Dr Orla Shannon on the concert; “Performing Boyle's songs just ten minutes away from her home estate in Enniskerry was an extraordinarily intimate experience. It felt deeply authentic and heartwarming to share a selection of her vocal works from our recently published songbook in a setting so closely connected to the composer's life and with an audience so genuinely invested in her legacy.

Personally, the highlight for me was meeting attendees who had memories of Boyle as children; their stories allowed me to embody her songs with renewed sincerity and emotional understanding of both the elusive nuances and expressive depths that underpin her music. A true privilege.”

‘Ina Boyle and her World’

The evening included Ina Boyle’s music, Sleep Song, Joy of Earth and The Mill-Water, and the concert also featured works by Hamilton Harty, Charles Villiers Stanford, Rhoda Coghill and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

‘Ina Boyle and her World’ program

Ina Boyle at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival

IBSL was thrilled the music of Ina Boyle, including ‘The Stolen Child’, ‘Roses’ and ‘Himself and his Fiddle’, were part of the Irish Melodies event at this year’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in Villierstown Church, Co. Waterford.

This beautiful recital was performed by Laura Aherne, soprano, Stephen Walker, tenor, Georgia Cassidy, piano and Frasier Hickland, piano.

Laura Aherne - soprano | Stephen Walker - tenor | Georgina Cassidy - piano | Frasier Hickland - piano

Photo Credit: BVOF 24

This Irish Melodies event was a celebration of female Irish composers and also featured works by Rhoda Coghill and Elizabeth Maconchy, who along with Ina Boyle “represent vital threads in the fabric of Irish music, each composer offering a unique lens through which to explore Irish identity, musical innovation, and artistic expression.” (BVOF 2024)

BVOF Irish Melodies Recital:  Soprano Laura Aherne with Frasier Hickland on piano.

Photo Credit: BVOF 2024

BVOF Irish Melodies Recital: Tenor Stephen Walker with Georgina Cassidy on piano.

Photo Credit: BVOF 2024

“These female composers stand out for their exceptional contributions within classical and contemporary classical genres”
— BVOF 2024

For more information, please visit www.blackwatervalleyopera.ie

Murrihy and Martineau at Wigmore Hall review

Murrihy and Martineau at Wigmore Hall

A wonderful review by David Nice at The Arts Desk of Irish mezzo Paula Murrihy and Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau’s recent performance at Wigmore Hall, that included selected songs from Ina Boyle’s Looking Back.

“Ina Boyle’s Looking Back, penned shortly before her death in 1967, stilled any questions about originality with the poetic essence so finely conjured, especially in the two timeless numbers about quiet and sleep.”
— David Nice, The Arts Desk

The full article is available to read on The Arts Desk site here.

Appointment of Emma Coulthard as new Chair of Ina Boyle Society

Appointment of Emma Coulthard as new Chair of Ina Boyle Society

As the Founder and chair of Ina Boyle Society I am delighted that Emma will take over from me as Chair. She is not only a practicing musician but also brings her experience in music administration and education in Ireland and the UK. We also welcome Róisín Jones as Coordinator (part time). She brings wide experience that includes Irish cultural projects.

Ina Boyle Society is at a time of change to meet the growing demand for the music of Ina Boyle and other Irish composers, particularly women. I look forward to working with Emma and Róisín, my fellow trustees, members of the Artistic Advisory Committee and our Patrons  in the exciting days ahead. 

Katie Rowan, Founder Ina Boyle Society Limited.

Ina Boyle First Performances



Ina Boyle First Performances

E. VOCAL MUSIC



`Snow-flakes' (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), 'The winds as at their hour of birth' (Tennyson), 'Cradle song' (St John Lucas), 'A song of a nest' ( Jean Ingelow) (1903)



`The cry' (L. G. Moberly), 'Sea Wrack' (Moira O'Neill) (1905) 



`Scythe song' (Andrew Lang) (1906) 



`Do you remember still?' (L. G. Moberly), 'A cradle song' (T.J.H.), 'The high tide' (Joan Ingelow) (1907) 



`Not yet' (L. G. Moberly) (1908)

`The lost water, 'Roses, 'The well at the world's end' (Eva Gore-Booth), 'The wind of dreams, life's harvest' (R. M. Marriott Watson) (1909)



`Hungarian song' (M. Byron), 'In prison' (William Morris), 'A soft day, thank God' (Winifred M. Letts), 'Potter's song' (Longfellow) (1912) 



`Midwinter' (Kujohara No Fukayabu, tr. Clara Walsh), 'The last invocation' (Walt Whitman) (1913)



`Lullaby' (Maurice Hime), 'The joy of earth' (George Russell (Æ)) (1914) First performance: 5 May 1915, Arcadia Barracks Bray, Nora Borel soprano, Rev. Arthur Oulton piano 



`Have you news of my boy Jack?' (Rudyard Kipling) (1916) 

First performance: 9 November 2015, Fr McNally Recital Room, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Paidi O Dubhain baritone 



`A song of enchantment, 'A song of shadows' (Walter de la Mare) (1922) 

Published: Stainer & Bell (1923, 1926) 

Dedicated 'To my Mother' 

First performance: 13 October 1947, Radio Eireann, Jean Nolan mez sop, Rhoda Coghill piano



`If you let sorrow in on you' (W. M. Letts) (1922) 

Dedicated to Sylvia Duckworth 

First performance: 23 August 2013, Kilruddery House, Regina Nathan soprano, Anne Cullen piano 



`Cum invocarum' (Philip Sidney) (1923) 



`Sleep song' [`Deirin De] (1923) (tr. from the traditional Irish by P. H. Pearse, published The Irish Review, May 1911, 139ff.) First performed: Radio Eireann, 13 October 1947, Jean Nolan mez sop, Rhoda Coghill piano



Two Christmas Songs 1. 'So blyssid be the tyme' (Sloane MS), 2.. `Tyrle tyrlow' (Balliol MS) (1923) 

Dedicated 'For Mother. Christmas 1923' 



`Eternity' (Robert Herrick) (1924) 

Dedicated 'In memory of Rev. H.S. Mecredy' [incumbent Powerscourt 1907-2.4], d. 14 December 1924 

First performance: 13 October 1947, Radio Eireann, Jean Nolan mez sop, Rhoda Coghill piano 



`Since thou 0 fondest and truest' 'Spring goeth all in white' (Robert Bridges) (1924)



`Longing' (George Herbert) (1925), 'The bringer of dreams' (Edith Sitwell) (1925, revised 1927)



`The stolen child' (W. B. Yeats), 'Blow, blow, thou winter wind' (Shakespeare), `They went forth' (Eva Gore-Booth) (1926) 



`When Mary thro' the garden went' (Mary Coleridge) (1927) 

Dedicated 'For Mother's birthday' 

First performance: 5 June 2010, Documentary From the Darkness, RTE Lyric FM, Sonya Keogh, mez sop, David Brophy piano 



`A mountain woman asks for quiet that her child may sleep' (P. H. Pearse, tr. T. MacDonagh), 'Blessing' (Austin Clarke) (1928) 

First performance: 23 August 2013, Kilruddery House, Regina Nathan soprano, Anne Cullen piano



`The Land: Prelude, Winter, Spring' (Vita Sackville-West) (1928) 



All Souls' Flower' (Pamela Grey of Falloden), A Christmas carol (1928) 

Dedicated 'Written for my mother at Christmas, the last of her Christmas or birthday songs ... I used the tune of this in the third movement of my violin concerto, dedicated to the memory of my mother.' 

First performance: 5 June 2010, Documentary From the Darkness, RTE Lyric FM, Sonya Keogh mez sop, David Brophy piano



`Himself and his fiddle' (E. L. Twiss) (1929)



Five Sacred Folksongs of Sicily (translated Grace Warrack) i. 'Eternal love; 2. 'In the desert, 3. 'The yoke, 4. 'Lord in that love, 5. 'At the altar' (1930)



`Dust' Epigram (1933) 



`Praier of Pieus Mirandula unto God' (Thomas More) (1937)



`Easter snow' (W. M. Letts) (1940) Dedicated 'In memory of S. who died 12 Nov. 1939' 



`With sick and famished eyes' Song by Henry Purcell (George Herbert) ed. Ina Boyle for voice with piano (or harpsichord) and violoncello ad lib. 

Published: OUP (1943)



Three Mediaeval Latin Lyrics (1953) 1. 'Sleep; 2. 'Storm, 3. 'Evening on the Moselle' (translated Helen Waddell) (1953) 

Dedicated 'Written for Sophie Wyss' 

First performance: 4 April 1955, Drawing Room Arts Council, Joan Gray mez sop, Eric Stevens piano 



Two Songs of the Woods (1954) I. 'Dirge in the woods; 2. 'Enter these enchanted _ woods' (George Meredith) 

First performance: 4 April 1955, Drawing Room Arts Council, Joan Gray mez sop, Eric Stevens piano



Three Songs by Walter de la Mare (1956) i. 'Song of the mad prince; 2. 'The pigs and the charcoal-burner, 3. 'Moon, reeds, rushes' 

Dedicated 'For Ina Jephson' First performance: 2 January 1968, Radio Eireann, Patricia McCarry sop, Rhoda Coghill piano



Looking Back (1961-66) 1. `Carrowdore (St John Ervine), 2. 'All Souls' night' (Frances Cornford), 3. 'O ghost that has gone' (James Stephens), 4. 'The Mill Water' (Edward Thomas) 

First performance: 'O ghost that has gone, 5 June 2010, Documentary From the Darkness, RTE Lyric FM, Sonya Keogh mez sop, David Brophy piano

Ina Boyle album played by Piatti Quartet wins prestegious Presto Music Prize

Ina Boyle album by Piatti Quartet wins Presto Music Award

On 7th December Piatti Quartet’s album “Ina Boyle: String Quartet plus works by Vaughan Williams, Moeran & Ireland”, won a spot in Presto Music’s 'Top Ten Recordings of the Year’, after first becoming a finalist in their 100 best albums of 2023. A fitting tribute to Ina and the wonderful Piatti Quartet.

You can see the full list here.

More about the album:

“Until recently, Rubicon were unaware of the rich output of Irish composer Ina Boyle, who was never quite forgotten because she was the only woman composer to be published in the Carnegie Collection of British music with her atmospheric orchestral rhapsody, The Magic Harp of 1919.

Boyle spent her life living at the substantial family home at Bushey Park, near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, and she only left it for brief visits to London, including lessons with Vaughan Williams.

At the end of the First World War, she produced a brief choral elegy, Soldiers at Peace, which was widely sung at the time although rejected by the Carnegie Committee (revived in Hampstead in 2018).

The Magic Harp dates from 1919, and a programmatic symphony, In the Wicklow Hills, the mid-1920s. During the 1930s she produced a notable violin concerto (in memory of her mother), a Second Symphony, an Overture for orchestra and several stage works including the ballet Virgilian Suite, The Dance of Death (a masque for dancing after Holbein) and the mimed drama, The Vision of Er. A third symphony followed, setting Edith Sitwell for contralto and orchestra.

In 1934 she completed her String Quartet in E minor. Boyle’s Quartet is in three movements and has a distinctive slightly Spartan character. This is the world premiere commercial release of this work.

A fascinating recital from the Piatti Quartet is completed with the Welsh Hymn Tunes arrangements by Vaughan Williams, and John Ireland’s The Holy Boy in his arrangement.”

Ina Boyle Songbook Launched at Marylebone Church NW1

Ina Boyle Songbook Launched at Marylebone Church NW1

From left to right: Georgina Cassidy (Piano), Frasier Hickland (Piano), Laura Aherne (Soprano), Conor Campbell (Baritone).  Photo credit: Noel Mullen.

The Ina Boyle Songbook was launched on 11th Oct 2023 by the Ina Boyle Society in collaboration with Irish Heritage. The launch took place in the surrounds of Marylebone Church NW1, where talented young Irish Heritage musicians performed a selection of the songs. The programme also included songs by two of Ina's women contemporaries, Rhoda Coghill and Elizabeth Maconchy.

The Songbook can be purchased from Chimes Barbican and CMC (Contemporary Music Centre Ireland).

The Songbook contains 26 of Ina Boyle’s songs. Ina wrote over 70 songs, the majority of which were never performed in her lifetime.

The Ina Boyle Society wishes to thank everyone who has made the Songbook and the Launch a reality.

Thanks to Irish Heritage and Brian Hughes - the Artistic Director and their wonderful young artists. Editorial Committee;- Editors; Dr Orla Shannon (Dublin City University and Royal Irish Academy of Music) and David Scott (TUDublin Conservatoire.); Dr. Ita Beausang (Biographer of Ina Boyle) Dr. Kerry Houston (Research Foundation Music in Ireland),  John W. Griffith and Joseph Hookway (Songbook format), Jessica Mallalieu (Graphic Designer), and Roy Stanley (Music Librarian Trinity College Dublin).

The Songbook can be purchased from Chimes Barbican, and CMC (Contemporary Music Centre Ireland).

“I think it is most courageous of you to go on with so little recognition.  The only thing to say is that it does come finally.” Letter to Ina Boyle from Vaughan Williams 4 May 1937.

From left to right: Angela Brady OBE; Irish Ambassador Martin Fraser; Dr Orla Shannon and Michael Alen-Buckley. Photo credit: Noel Mullen. 

Michael Boyle (Director) and Katie Rowan (Chair) of the Ina Boyle Society. Photo credit: Noel Mullen.

Ina Boyle Society Ltd. Promoting the music of Ina Boyle and other neglected Irish women composers whose music deserves to be heard, more widely.

www.inaboyle.org

inaboylecomposer@gmail.com

Ina Boyle Songbook Launch with Irish Heritage

Wednesday 11th October 2023
19:30 - 21:30
St Marylebone Church, NW1 5LT

Laura Aherne Soprano
Conor  Campbell Baritone
Georgina Cassidy Piano
Frasier Hickland Piano

Selected Songs by Ina Boyle will be performed by Emerging Irish Artists, alongside songs by Rhoda Coghill and Elizabeth Maconchy, contemporaries of Ina who have been programmed as part of our mission to not only promote the music of Ina Boyle, but also women composers of her generation.