Composer Lab 2025: Participant Composers Announced
The Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland and the National Symphony Orchestra, in association with RTÉ lyric fm, are delighted to announce the four composers selected to participate Composer Lab 2025: Solfa Carlile, Elis Czerniak, Bianca Gannon and Caterina Schembri.
Composer Lab is a professional development initiative aimed at composers who have had limited opportunities to write for the full forces of a symphony orchestra. The programme provides composers with a creative and open environment to deepen their experience in writing for symphonic forces, under the mentorship of CMC composer David Fennessy.
The programme begins with a one-to-one mentorship session with composer David Fennessy, followed by an orchestral workshop with the section principals of the National Symphony Orchestra. The Composer Lab Public Workshop sees each composer working with the full orchestra, facilitated by mentor David Fennessy and conductor Gavin Maloney. Composer Lab will culminate with a public performance of the composers’ works performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductor Gavin Maloney, in a live radio and online broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm.
Meet the Composer Lab 2025 Participant Composers
Solfa Carlile
Solfa Carlile is a Cork-born composer, now based in Germany. She often draws on Irish folk music and literary influences in her work. She is a former recipient of the National Concert Hall Jerome Hynes award and the Sean O'Riada award, and graduated with a DPhil from Oxford University, culminating in the creation of a new chamber opera The Exile, based on James Joyce. Her cantata The Life of Cuthbert was premiered at the Durham Vocal Festival in 2019. More recent commissions include Storybook Land for Music Network Ireland, performed by soprano Claudia Boyle, and Natus Est for organist Richard Moore at Christ Church Cathedral Oxford.
Elis Czerniak
Elis Czerniak is a composer, performer and teacher based in Dublin, Ireland. He seeks to create an aesthetic that unifies composer, performer and listener through the use of extended notation, graphics and other synergetic practices. Elis holds a degree in music from Trinity College Dublin, a masters in music from the Royal College of Music in London and has obtained his PhD under Evangelia Rigaki being awarded the Home Hewson scholarship. He is a former lecturer at Trinity College in areas relating to composition, electroacoustics and ethnomusicology. He has also had his pieces played throughout Ireland, UK and Europe by a variety of performers including RCM Symphony Orchestra, Kirkos Ensemble, Crash Ensemble, Tonnta Vocal Ensemble and RTÉ ConTempo Quartet.
Bianca Gannon
Bianca Gannon performs piano and percussion at the same time, inspired by her decade-long exchange with Indonesia. Her compositions are often interdisciplinary, immersive and full of symbolism and social commentary. In revealing parallels between seemingly disparate elements, Bianca is inspired by that which connects us. Her work has been performed by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, and loadbang. A CMC Associate Composer, her composition awards include the BAN BAM Award, Pythia Prize, King House Piano Commission Award, and Arts Council Music Bursary Awards. Garnering a four star review in the Sydney Morning Herald, her debut album was selected by Rhythms Magazine as ‘Best Instrumental Album 2020’.
Caterina Schembri
Caterina Schembri is an Italian-Colombian composer and producer based in Dublin. Described by the Journal of Music as as a new voice with a “distinctive sound”, her work is characterised by harmonic explorations, symbolic meaning, and different orchestration possibilities. Her music frequently engages with visual imagery and written word, often incorporating original texts. Schembri’s debut album Sea Salt & Turpentine, featuring Ficino Ensemble and Michelle O’Rourke, was released in 2024 under Ergodos, with a performance in the National Concert Hall of Ireland. She has composed pieces for a variety of ensembles including Ficino Ensemble, Tonnta, Chamber Choir Ireland, Lumiere Quartet, ConTempo Quartet, and the Spilliaert Trio. In recent years, Schembri has received commissions from New Music Dublin, Ergodos, The National String Quartet Foundation, The Museum of Literature Ireland, The Contemporary Music Centre Ireland, Sing Ireland, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
