Artist Spotlight: Anderinna Gooch
Anderinna Gooch is an electroacoustic composer, music tutor, singer, and multi-instrumentalist from Co. Donegal. With a diverse range of skills including sound art, composition, audio-visual work, and sound design, Anderinna has captivated audiences with her multichannel sound performances. She was awarded a BSc degree in Music Technology from Queen’s University Belfast and an MA in Music Technology from the University of Ulster.
Anderinna currently teaches piano, singing and music technology with the Donegal Music Education Partnership, and plays double bass with the Donegal Chamber Orchestra. In 2024, Anderinna Gooch and Abigail Smith were the first recipients of CMC's BRIGID Residency Award, a pilot programme developed to support emerging and early-career women and gender minority composers through mentorship, training, and professional development opportunities.
In this artist spotlight, we catch up with Anderinna to hear about her recent work and upcoming projects.
CMC: What is currently inspiring you?
Anderinna: I’m inspired by old recordings, archival voices, stories, and songs that carry history in their tone and rhythm. They help me reconnect with place and memory in unexpected ways. I’m also drawn to my surroundings, how nature shifts, how objects move, and the small things we often miss. We hear sounds all the time but rarely listen to them. That unnoticed layer of everyday sound and image is what I keep returning to in my work.
What is currently challenging you?
Balancing the technical demands of new projects while keeping the creative energy flowing. I'm learning to leave space for ideas to breathe without rushing the process.
Can you tell us about some of the projects you've been working on in 2025?
2025 has been full of exciting work!
I composed 'Golden Threads' for the Forget Me Nots Choir, a work commissioned by the Contemporary Music Centre, Age & Opportunity and Sing Ireland for Bealtaine Festival. It was my first time writing for choir, and it was both a challenge and a joy. The Forget Me Nots Choir brought so much openness to the piece and having Norah Walsh [CMC Composer and Forget Me Nots Conductor] as my mentor made a huge difference. The experience reminded me that music brings people together in ways that are often unexpected and deeply meaningful.
The Forget Me Nots Choir premiere Anderinna Gooch's 'Golden Threads' at the Bealtaine Big Birthday Tea Party, hosted by IMMA Ireland. Photo by Tony Kinlan.
Earlier in the year, my piece 'Cool Tides', performed by Gerard McChrystal (saxophone) and Hannah Creviston (piano), was showcased at the Walled City Music Festival in Derry. In February, 'The Bog', an immersive audiovisual collaboration with Hive Choir, was presented at the NI Science Festival at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace. My work 'Abstract Elements II' was selected for the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2025, and was later shown at the Festival Internacional de Videoarte Pupila in Morelia, Mexico in October 2025.
My pieces 'Natural Abstractions and 'Vox Intrusions' were broadcast internationally as part of CHIGIANAradioarte 2025 in Italy, and 'Natural Abstractions' has since been selected for the Open Air Acousmonium at the Ondes Croisées Festival in Chalon-sur-Saône, France where it will be diffused through their outdoor loudspeaker orchestra. I also completed 'Moon', an audiovisual piece exploring light, memory, and the tension between presence and disappearance.
What is coming up next for you in your practice as a composer / artist? Can you tell us about 2026 projects that you are looking forward to?
As part of the CMC BRIGID Residency, I've been co-commissioned to develop a viola and piano piece for Duo Anima - pianist Aileen Cahill and violist Andreea Banciu. For this project I've been receiving mentorship from composer Deirdre McKay. I’m also creating an audiovisual work shaped by landscape, memory, and local folklore, using archival recordings of people singing and storytelling. The project is in Irish and explores how place holds language, history, and silence. Alongside that, I’m building a set of experimental pieces exploring fixed media, field recordings, and visual scores. These projects continue to challenge how I think about time, structure, and sound-image relationships. Currently, I'm working on a piece to workshop with Fidelio Trio, at the Fidelio Trio WInter Chamber Music Festival at the end of November. I have also been invited by Sonorities Festival to present 'Abstract Elements II' at their 2026 edition at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast in April 2026.
Do you have a dream performer / ensemble that you would like to write music for?
I’d love to write for ensembles like Crash Ensemble or Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble—both bring real focus, edge, and openness to new music. I’m also drawn to Cormac Begley, whose bass concertina playing is raw, sculptural, and full of breath. His performances feel almost like living installations. I’d love to shape an audiovisual piece around that kind of physical energy, where sound moves with light and space. For me, collaboration works best when there's curiosity and trust when the process is less about control and more about discovery.
Can you share a contemporary piece by a fellow Irish woman composer that you find inspiring or moving?
Linda Buckley’s 'Discordia' mixes voice and electronics with haunting atmosphere. Gráinne Mulvey’s 'Echium Pininana' pulses with energy and wild texture. Ailís Ní Ríain’s 'The Last Time I Died' is intimate and powerful in its restraint. I admire how each of them crafts bold, distinct sonic worlds. Their work encourages me to listen more deeply, trust my creative instincts, and keep pushing boundaries in form and expression.