Norah Walsh is a composer, musical director and musician based in Dublin, Ireland.
She holds a first class honours Bachelor of Music specialising in composition from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Here she studied composition under Jane O’Leary and Dave Flynn and piano under Paula Hughes. She has also received master classes from renowned national and international composers Clarence Barlow, Hans Abrahamsen, Nichola LeFanu, Kevin O’Connell, Martin O’Leary, John McLachlan, Tarik O’Regan and Brian Irvine.
Norah’s recent instrumental and vocal works have been performed by Duo Sincronia, the Dublin String Quartet, the Hilltown Ensemble, soloists Elizabeth Hilliard, Edel Shannon, Bríd Ní Ghruagáin, Sinéad Conway and Niall Gallagher and instrumentalists from the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and RTE Concert Orchestra. Norah has also worked with Concorde, the ConTempo and Vanbrugh string quartets and the DIT Orchestra on various orchestral and ensemble pieces.
Writing for voice is a significant element of Norah’s work. Recent choral compositions have been for Chamber Choir Ireland (CCI/CMC Choral Sketches programme), Ulster Youth Choir and Mellow Tonics choir which she conducts. A recent commission was for the CMC’s collaborative short opera Beneath Iseult’s Tower written for Culture Night, 2017. Other choral compositions of Norah’s have been performed by Laetare Vocal Ensemble, Rathdown Cantori, the DIT Chamber Choir conducted by David Brophy, Ossia Youth Choir and local school and church choirs. Norah works as a musical director for a number of Dublin based choirs and as a facilitator in many community and education projects. She recently worked as choral conductor and arranger for Tyrone Productions’ and RTE’s Choir of Ages and also for Tyrone Production’s Papal Visit concert at Croke Park in 2018.
Norah’s compositions are predominantly acoustic drawing from a broad range of influences including classical, popular, Irish traditional and jazz. She is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin.
