‘Paper Boat’ to make waves at last after two-year wait

Elaine Agnew’s paternal grandmother, Aggie, always believed that children growing up in the country should have two things – a piano and a horse. A horse so that the youngsters wouldn’t be afraid of animals and a piano so they could learn music.  That legacy has meant that Elaine, from a farm in Country Antrim, is a capable horsewoman and a renowned composer. Having initially thought she’d be a jockey, she pursued music instead, graduating with a degree from Queen’s and following it with a Master’s in Composition in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Her work has been commissioned and performed by groups including the RTÉ National Symphony and Concert Orchestras, Ulster Orchestra, Scottish and Irish Chamber Orchestras, soloists Sir James Galway and Angela Hewitt, the Kaunas Chamber Choir and Chamber Choir Ireland, ad has featured at the BBC London Proms and world-famous venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Wigmore and Royal Albert Halls, and Berlin’s Konzerthaus Berlin. Elaine was also RTÉ Lyric FM’s first composer in residence.

Throughout her career, Elaine has focused hugely on community work and that’s continuing with her debut opera, Paper Boat, which will be performed in St Nicholas’s Collegiate Church this Saturday. The world premiere at 5pm will be followed by a special performance at 7.30pm. That’s to meet demand for tickets but also so the organisers can invite people who are seeking refuge in Galway at present, those who have been here long term and have just arrived. That’s apt, given the theme of the opera.

Paper Boat was originally to have been staged two years ago as part of Galway 2020 but Covid ensured that and several subsequent planned performances didn’t happen.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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