Contemporary Irish composers featured in a number of events at the first annual conference of the newly-established Society for Musicology in Ireland held at NUI Maynooth on 2 and 3 May 2003. The performer John Feeley, who is undertaking a PhD at Maynooth, gave a lecture-recital on contemporary Irish guitar music. His programme included a movement from sting like a bee... (1998) by David Fennessy, 'Fantasia' and 'Night Song' from Three Pieces for Guitar (1973) by Brian Boydell, and Guitar Sonata No. 2 (1998) by John Buckley.

In a conference session devoted to contemporary music, papers were presented by Gareth Cox (Mary Immaculate College Limerick) on 'Darmstadt revisited? Seóirse Bodley's News from Donabate (1999)', and by Hazel Farrell (Waterford Institute of Technology) on 'Minimalism in Irish contemporary composition: Eric Sweeney's String Quartet (1996)'.

The conference was also the occasion of the launch by John Buckley of Irish Music in the Twentieth Century edited by Gareth Cox and Axel Klein, the seventh volume in the series Irish Musical Studies published by Four Courts Press.