TESTIMONIALS
“We hope you will join us in our journey.”
Katie Rowan
Founder, Ina Boyle Society Ltd.
Celebration: The Ina Boyle Journey.
My Ina Boyle journey really began at a seminar in Dublin where I met all those who believed in Ina's music. We then formed the Ina Boyle Development Committee that successfully spearheaded a revival of this wonderful and forgotten composer. Since then, there have been seven recordings, numerous performances and broadcasts worldwide, (even as far as Mongolia). We set up the Ina Boyle Society in 2020 and became a charity in 2022. The Ina Boyle Song Book was launched in 2023. All of this has amazingly been achieved on voluntary effort and commitment with miniscule funding. A true labour of love by everyone involved.
We are now at an exciting time of change and developing of our mission to also promote the music of other Irish composers, particularly women, who deserve to be heard and performed more widely as we achieved for Ina’s music.
We hope you will join us in our journey.
Dr Ita Beausang
IBSL Patron, musicologist, Emeritus Lecturer, TU Dublin.
“How have her life and music become so important in my life?”
When I was invited to write the biography of the Irish composer Ina Boyle I had never heard of her or her music.
Why did Ralph Vaughan Williams encourage her to follow the career path of music composition?
How have her life and music become so important in my life?
Read more of Dr Ita Beausang’s ‘Ina Boyle: An Irish Composer’s Journey’ here.
JOHN GILHOOLY OBE, OSI, CBE
IBSL Patron, Artistic and Executive Director, The Wigmore Hall.
“Ina Boyle’s compositions have been unjustly overlooked for all too long.”
Image credit: Kaupo Kikkas
Ina Boyle’s compositions have been unjustly overlooked for all too long; it is thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Ina Boyle Society that they are starting to receive the acclaim they deserve.
I am very proud to be a Patron of the Society as it goes from strength to strength.
Read more about The Wigmore Hall here.
“My sister and I have many happy memories of visiting Ina.”
Professor Nicola LeFanu
IBSL Patron, composer, teacher, director.
One of Ina Boyle’s closest friends was my mother, the composer Elizabeth Maconchy. The friendship went back to the 1920s, when they were both students of Vaughan Williams, and lasted till lna’s death. My father’s family, being based in Bray and Enniskerry, also knew the Boyle family well. So my sister and I have many happy memories of visiting Ina or staying at her house, Bushey Park.
My mother held Ina’s music in high regard and often tried to get more attention paid to it. After Ina’s death, my mother arranged for the manuscripts to go to the library at TCD, and she also published a short memoir of Ina, since at that date people knew all too little about Ina and her music.
It has been a source of delight to witness the change of fortune that has come to Ina and her music, thanks to the inspirational and tireless work of Katie Rowan. To hear the music coming to life again in concert, and on disc, and to see it published is wonderful. It is a privilege to play a small part in helping Ina’s music to take its rightful place in the repertoire.
Iain Burnside
IBSL Patron, pianist and award-winning broadcaster.
“I wish the Society every further success.”
Image credit: Tall Wall Media
The Ina Boyle Society has done wonderful work bringing out to the world this remarkable composer. Paradoxically her reticence and modesty are part of what makes Boyle so fascinating a figure.
Her compositions are now being played internationally, due entirely to the Society’s pioneering work.
It is a joy to those of us involved in the early stages to see Ina Boyle emerge as a composer of distinction, and I wish the Society every further success.
“Boyle’s music deserves a wider audience.”
Philip Brunelle
Artistic Director and Founder.
VocalEssence is one of the most prominent choral organizations in the USA and it was our delight to offer the US premiere of Ina Boyle’s Gaelic Hymns in 2019.
Her distinctive romantic style is perfect for setting these hymns – a rich, haunting sound that engaged the audience enthusiastically at the premiere. Each of the 5 hymns is unique and I have also performed them individually.
Boyle’s music deserves a wider audience.
“Musicians and audiences have been moved by the beauty of her distinctive musical voice.”
Image credit: Guertin Blast
JoAnn Faletta
Grammy-winning conductor.
I am honoured to perform the music of Ina Boyle, and very grateful to Katie Rowan for introducing me to the works of this extraordinary composer.
We have performed her Symphony No. 1 (Glencree), Elegy for Cello and Orchestra and Violin Concerto with great success. In recent concerts in Buffalo, Virginia and Mexico City, musicians and audiences have been moved by the beauty of her distinctive musical voice.
Ina Boyle's superb orchestration, her structural integrity and her melodic gift mark her as an artist of an original and true genius.
“I was intrigued and wanted to learn more.”
Image credit: Theo Williams
Roderick Williams OBE
Baritone, composer, and opera singer.
I’m so glad I made the discovery of Ina Boyle’s music, which came by way of a chance hearing of her violin concerto on the radio. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more. I’m grateful to the IBSL for helping me find some wonderful recital repertoire by Boyle.
Now I am pleased frequently to programme her songs and hopefully be a part of IBSL’s efforts to return Boyle’s music (and that of many other neglected female and Irish composers) to the mainstream.
“A revelation indeed.”
David Byers
Composer, musicologist, writer and broadcaster.
Ina Boyle and her String Quartet.
The little 1974 Dolmen Press appreciation of Ina Boyle and her music, written by her friend Elizabeth Maconchy, first awakened my curiosity about both composers. Sometime in the late 1980s, I was planning a possible radio series featuring the Irish string quartet, to include Charles Wood, Norman Hay, Ina Boyle and Frederick May. A nice idea at the time which sadly never saw the light of day. It did however set me on the course of preparing editions of Ina Boyle’s String Quartet and her settings of Edith Sitwell and Emily Brontë for mezzo/contralto and string quartet or string orchestra.
For the Quartet, it’s been a fascinating journey with notable moments along the way. It began with the first performance of my edition given in Dundalk in 2011 by the Callino Quartet. Then came a commercial recording by the Piatti Quartet on the Rubicon label, released in January 2023. Even better to read the excellent reviews it garnished. But that too was surpassed a few months ago when I heard the Piatti Quartet play it ‘live’ in concert during Derry’s 2024 Walled City Music Festival. By that stage, they were so ‘inside the music’ and clearly owning it, that they were well able to dig deep into the music’s soul. A revelation indeed.
David Byers (see also ByersMusic.com)
Ronald Corp
Conductor, founder and musical director.
“Ina Boyle was a major composer who needed to be reappraised and given her rightful place in the repertory.”
I first came across Ina Boyle’s music when I conducted a disc for Dutton Epoch of music associated with the conductor Dan Godfrey. The list of pieces included Boyle’s ‘The Magic Harp’ which had received a Carnegie Award in 1919. This was one of the most accomplished pieces on this Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s CD.
I discovered that Ina wrote symphonies and a violin concerto and in 2018 the coincidence of funding and the availability of scores and parts made it possible to record the BBC Concert Orchestra in her symphony no 1 ’Glencree’ with the violin concerto played by Benjamin Baker, the Psalm for cello and orchestra played by Nadege Rochat and other orchestral works, again for Dutton.
This disc confirmed my view that Ina Boyle was a major composer who needed to be reappraised and given her rightful place in the repertory. I hope in time to be able to record Symphonies 2 and 3.
Kenneth Baird
European Opera Centre’s founding Chief Executive.
“So began the rediscovery of this distinctive Irish composer.”
In 2013 Ireland held the Presidency of the European Union. It had become a custom to celebrate Europe Day each May with a concert in St John's Smith Square, London - adjacent to the European Commission's UK Headquarters. The programmes - performed by singers from the European Opera Centre and the European Union Youth Orchestra - reflected the contribution the Presidency country had made to European culture.
Wide-ranging research led to the inclusion of Ina Boyle's Wild Geese in the programme celebrating Ireland. I believe this was the first time a work by Boyle had been performed in London since the 1950s. The programme was subsequently taken to the Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavík where the Icelandic audience clearly felt a rapport with the sparseness of Boyle's writing. The programme was also broadcast in Ireland.
So began the rediscovery of this distinctive Irish composer - a rediscovery unquestionably accelerated by the energy and commitment of Katie Rowan.
If you would like to share your own testimonial on Ina Boyle, please contact inaboylecomposer@gmail.com