Harry O’Connor announced as winner of WWF and CMC's Composition Competition for May 2026

The emerging composer composition competition is a longstanding partnership between the West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival and the Contemporary Music Centre to provide opportunities for emerging composers in Ireland. In 2026 two separate awards were offered with entrants invited to submit a piece for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano (to be premiered at the May festival) and Solo Oboe* (for the November edition of the festival). The Mezzo-Soprano and Piano competition was adjudicated by an independent panel chaired by composer, performer and music technologist Dr Jenn Kirby.

The West Wicklow Festival is grateful for the continued collaboration with the CMC for the first of two composition competitions to be held in conjunction with the May and November festivals this year. We are delighted that this year's winner is Harry O’Connor and very much look forward to working with him, alongside our outstanding Rising Star musicians Hayley Meth and Georgina Cassidy, for the premiere performance of his work ‘Three Old Irish Miniatures’ for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano. The standard of entries this year was once again extremely high and it is encouraging to see the competition go from strength to strength. Thank you also to chair of the panel, Jenn Kirby, and the Rising Star musicians for their input in the adjudication process.

- Tara Viscardi, WWF Education Manager

CMC is delighted to continue our collaboration with West Wicklow Festival on the emerging composer competition. This biannual opportunity spotlights brilliant new works by early-career composers, showcasing their unique voices as part of the festival programme. Our warm congratulations to Harry O’Connor - an artist we’re already thrilled to be working with through CMC’s Emerging Artist Programme 2026 - 2028. We look forward to hearing Harry’s work premiered at the festival in May.

- Evonne Ferguson, CMC Ireland Director

It was a real pleasure to adjudicate this year’s Emerging Composer Composition Competition for Mezzo‑Soprano and Piano. The panel members scored each work individually on artistic quality, suitability for the instrumentation, score readiness for performance, and potential for repeat performances. After discussing every submission, we arrived at an outstanding shortlist and ultimately chose a winner. The quality and stylistic diversity of the submissions made this a really rewarding and inspiring experience.

- Jenn Kirby, composer and member of the independent adjudication panel for the competition

About the Winning Work

3 Old Irish Miniatures

These three songs are settings of medieval Irish texts, likely written by Irish monks between the 9th and 12th centuries, who scribbled these poems in the margins of their vellum manuscripts. Musically, the intention was to create a piece which would elicit the beautiful natural imagery of the text: native Irish oakwoods in full summer leaf; wild and dramatic Atlantic coastline; and the pre-modern haven-world of undisturbed, unpolluted nature. The texts have been set in the original Old Irish language of the medieval period.

I’m absolutely delighted that this piece will be performed at WWCMF this May, and I want to say a big thanks to the panel for selecting my piece, for the award, and for providing a valuable platform for emerging Irish composers.

- Harry O’Connor, composer

About the Artist

Harry O’Connor is an Irish composer. He holds a BMus (Hons) from the MTU Cork School of Music, and a MSt in Music (Composition) from the University of Oxford.

Harry’s music is informed by understandings of landscape, environment and archaeology, drawing on contemporary classical, jazz fusion and historical music. He has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the NCH Jerome Hynes Young Composer’s Award and the Irish Heritage Composition Bursary, and has worked with leading artists including Castalian String Quartet, Finghin Collins, Jonathan Eyers, Lir String Quartet, and the BBC Singers. Harry has also written music for film, collaborating with poets and artists like Riley Faulds and Xinyue Liu on art film projects. In 2024, Harry undertook the artist residency at the Fish Factory Creative Centre in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland, collaborating with Utahn composer Nicholas Miller to produce GILDIA ORGANORUM HYPERBOREA, a recording project based around free improvisation.

Harry’s ‘3 Old Irish Miniatures’ will be premiered on Saturday 23rd May as part of the West Wicklow Festival Rising Stars Concert at St Mary’s Church of Ireland, Blessington. Harry will also be interviewed by CMC’s Garrett Sholdice during the lunchtime concert, offering an insight into his composition practice and the development of the winning work.

The Rising Stars Concert features the outstanding talents of mezzo-soprano Hayley Meth, violist Eve Quigley and pianist Georgina Cassidy (whose own compositions will also feature in the programme).To find out more and book tickets visit the West Wicklow Festival website here.

*Applications for the West Wicklow Festival and CMC Ireland Emerging Composer Competition - Works for Solo Oboe will open in September 2026, details will be added to the opportunities page here. If you are interested in finding out about more opportunities for emerging and early-career artists, visit CMC’s Opportunities page which is regularly updated with partnership and external artist development opportunities, workshops, supports, awards and open calls, and follow us on social media @cmcireland.