About
Ailís Ní Ríain* is a deaf Irish composer. Ailís works broadly in the areas of concert music, music installation and music­-theatre and has collaborated with writers, dancers, visual artists and theatre artists. Her work has been commissioned and performed worldwide. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers. A portrait album of her work was released by NMC Recordings in 2023 and received many favourable reviews. She is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland. 

Recent Projects
Recent projects include a commission for Dame Evelyn Glennie and the New London Chamber Ensemble, New Music Dublin, Huddersfield International Contemporary Music Festival, the BBC Philharmonic, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ ConTempo String Quartet, Wired a full-length disabled-dance-theatre production in Chicago, London Sinfonietta, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Installation
Arts and heritage, public art and site-specific and immersive music installation have been part of Ní Ríain’s practice since her first site-responsive work for a derelict cotton mill in Manchester in 2006. Embedding contemporary music in unexpected settings, creating resonance and atmosphere through a combination of music, history, architecture and community are key touchpoints of her vision. Site-specific music installation include a lighthouse, a K6 telephone box, a dis-used former cotton mill, the Brontë’s family home, a castle keep, a railway station accumulator tower and a high-street shop unit.

Advocacy
Ailís is deaf/hard of hearing and some of her work has referenced these themes working with DadaFest, Unlimited, Arts & Disability Ireland, Shape Arts, Drake Music and Outside In. She is a long-time advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion in the arts and a board member of Disability Arts Online. She also sits on the Musicians Union EDI committee.

Fellowships
She has been awarded international fellowships, associate artist positions and residences at Yaddo, USA, the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, The Ragdale Foundation in Illinois, ArtOMI in New York and Bogliasco in Italy.

Thanks
Ailís is grateful to the Irish Arts Council, the PRS Foundation, Unlimited, Arts Council England, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the RVW Trust and the Hinrichsen Foundation for supporting her work.

*Pronounced A-lesh Knee Ree-un