In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Ina Boyle.
Ina Boyle 
1889-1967
The Irish composer Ina Boyle was the foremost female composer in Ireland before 1950. She lived her entire life in her family home in Enniskerry, a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. After studying the violin and cello with her father and her governess, she began private composition lessons with several teachers in Dublin. She also took lessons via correspondence with her cousin, the acclaimed composer and teacher Charles Wood, and traveled periodically to London to study with Ralph Vaughan Williams. Though the influence of these teachers can be heard in her compositions, she developed her own distinctive musical style. She composed prolifically in many genres throughout her life, though the majority of her pieces are unpublished and held in the library of manuscripts at Trinity College, Dublin. Her most popular choral work is her 15 Gaelic Hymns.
Suggested choral pieces:
- The Guardian Angel (from Gaelic Hymns) (Chester Music, contact promotions@musicsales.co.uk for purchasing inquiries)
- The Light’ner of the stars (from Gaelic Hymns) (Chester Music, contact promotions@musicsales.co.uk for purchasing inquiries)
- Soldiers at Peace (Trinity Library, Dublin, Ireland)