Composer Judith Ring has been awarded the Elizabeth Maconchy Composition Fellowship by the Arts Council.

The Fellowship aims to further the advanced training and development of a young Irish composer. It is offered by the Arts Council in association with the University of York and celebrates the life and work of the Irish composer Elizabeth Maconchy. It is made specifically to enable a composer complete a PhD in composition at the University of York, and is valued at 48,000 over three years. It was set up in 1995 at the instigation of the Contemporary Music Centre, in response to a clearly perceived need to provide wider opportunities for postgraduate training for composers.

Judith Ring's specialised area of composition is musique concréte, which involves the use of 'found sounds' as source material for the electronic part. Ring graduated from University College, Dublin with a BMus, subsequently studying for a Masters in Music and Media Technologies at Trinity College, Dublin where she graduated in 2000 with first class honours. Her piece Accumulation won first prize at the International Luigi Russolo electronic music composition competition 2000 in Varese, Italy. She has also written for Crash Ensemble (Ireland), Bradyworks (Canada) and Dance Theatre of Ireland and has had works performed in Berlin, Montreal, Toronto, Liverpool and New York.

Judith will begin her studies at the University of York in October 2005.

Posted: 1 September 2005