FINDING A VOICE FESTIVAL Returns To Clonmel For Ninth Year Celebrating Women Composers
Four-day programme will run March 5–8 across multiple venues in County Tipperary.
By: A.A. Cristi Jan. 20, 2026
Finding A Voice will return for its ninth edition from March 5–8, 2026, with performances and events presented at venues across Clonmel, County Tipperary. Founded in 2017 by sisters Róisín Maher and Clíona Maher, the festival is dedicated to showcasing the work of women composers from across musical history and the contemporary landscape.
Since its founding, Finding A Voice has featured music by hundreds of women composers, spanning from the 12th-century visionary Hildegard of Bingen to newly commissioned works by Irish composers. The 2026 programme includes live concerts, workshops, talks, and professional development initiatives.
The festival will open with Hildegard Transfigured, an immersive performance that reimagines the music of Hildegard of Bingen through the vocal ensemble Voice Trio, accompanied by live visuals from Innerstrings. The performance will launch the festival with a contemporary interpretation of medieval sound worlds.
A chamber music collaboration with the National String Quartet Foundation will bring the Banbha Quartet to Clonmel as part of the ensemble’s spring tour, presenting a programme that ranges from Romantic-era repertoire to contemporary works. Pianists Mary Dullea and Isabelle O'Connell will perform Duel, a two-piano concert featuring music by Cécile Chaminade, Amy Beach, Germaine Tailleferre, and Judith Trimble, alongside the world premiere of a new work by Rhona Clarke inspired by Clonmel’s historic Code Duello.
The festival’s jazz and improvised music strand will include violist-composer Joanna Mattrey performing Battle Ready II, as well as vocalist Christine Tobin presenting Pseudologica Fantastica. These performances are presented in collaboration with the Improvised Music Company and BAN BAM.
Finding A Voice 2026 will also continue its Emerging Composer professional development programme in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre. The initiative supports early-career composers through mentorship and performance opportunities, with clarinettist Paul Roe and composer-mentor Marian Ingoldsby participating in the programme.
Strengthening its community connections, the festival will once again collaborate with the FLOW Original Music series, highlighting original songwriting from the region and reinforcing the festival’s local engagement.
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