StreetSong will be presented as part of Hebden  Bridge Arts Festival. 27 June - 23 July.

Granary Theatre, Cork City | 8 – 20 September 2008 | 9pm
Three siblings, a girl and two boys, endlessly reiterate the terrible details of their childhood. They are trapped for ever in an obsessive need to remember and relive their treatment at the hands of a sadistic father who brutalised not only the three children but also his ever-uncomplaining wife - who herself eventually succumbed to the drink. A tragi-comic play about children at play, loss, retribution and acceptance in a wonderland where white rabbits would never venture.

Ailis Ni Riain's DON'T! will be performed at Carnegie Hall, New York on 17th October 2008 as part of the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland and Culture Ireland's Irish Composers Showcase.

FRED, the Cumbrian art invasion has commissioned The Lighthouse Sings, an installation piece by Ailis Ni Riain for Maryport Lighthouse,on the West coast of Cumbria. FRED runs from 26th September to 12th October 2008 throughout Cumbria. 

Ailis has been commissioned by Horse & Bamboo Visual Theatre Company, Pennine Groundwork and English Heritage to make a work which celebrates the quarrying heritage of the Valley throughout Rossendale, Lancashire.

But Will You? (2005, from The Falling) will be presented as part of FILE 2008 - Electronic Language International Festival in Sao Paulo. It will be held from August 4th to 31st, 2008.

Tilt, Ailis' debut play (also known as Beaten) will be produced by The Granary Theatre, Cork in association with Meridian Theatre Company, directed by Tony MaCleane-Fay in September 2008. This will be the second production of Tilt. Dates to follow. Tilt is published by Nick Hern Books.

Ailis was selected to attend the Stewart Parker Residency with Director Philip Howard (ex-Traverse) at Annamakerrig in Co. Monaghan, Ireland in June 2008. Many thanks to the Stewart Parker Trust for generously offering this important opportunity for emerging Irish playwrights. 

We Know We Got Soul (from Sawn-off Opera 2007), was premiered on 18th April on BBC Radio 3 'The Verb' with Ian MacMillan.

brief-blue-electric-bloom, a performance installation in collaboration with HooH HaH Productions , a Greenroom Ready? commission supported by Arts Council England was premiered at Manchester's Greenroom on 30th November for two sold-out performances. See here for more about the work.

TranSextreme was played as part of a 'mash-up' at the Deep Wireless Festival in Toronto, Canada on May 8th 2008.

But Will You? from The Falling (tape, 2005) has been selected as part of NewMediaFest2007, SoundLAB Edition V under the theme of "soundSTORY - sound as a tool for storytelling" online presentation.

A new commission from SPNM /Serious for the London Jazz Festival UPTHEWALLS was premiered on 25th November at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London by the arthurs.høiby.ritchie trio and was recorded by BBC Radio 3 for future broadcast. 

Another new work, Beautiful Cracked Eyes which was commissioned by Adam Swayne with funds from Arts Council England for piano solo was premiered by Adam Swayne as part of the Park Lane Group concert series on 8th January 2008 at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London.

Wounds, Scars, Screams from The Falling has been released by CD-R, a label for sonic art showcasing 'Unsafe' new electroacoustic and experimental music. UNSAFE: sound works that take risks - artistically, aesthetically, philosophically, sonically, even physically. Works that should carry a health warning, that ignore safety margins, that lie outside the comfort zone.

The excellent American pianist Matthew McCright played Into the Sea of Waking Dreams... a piano suite at York Late Music Festival at York's Centre for Early Music on 2nd June 2007. "Ailís Ní Ríain contributed Into The Sea Of Waking Dreams - five thoughtful miniatures with brief angry bursts." - Martin Dreyer, York Evening Press June 2007

Missing Persons (2006) for tape which was commissioned by Tilfeldig Productions in 2005 was played as part of the new Soundwaves Festival from 7–24 June at The Old Market, Hove.

An interview with Ailis Ni Riain on RTE Lyric FM was broadcast in June 2007 featuring her compositions StreetSong, Dogs in Waiting, DON'T!, Wounds, Scars and Screams and The Man Made of Rain. You can listen to the interview on the audio samples page (circa 40 mins).

StreetSong (2006) has been selected as part of the soundscape programme at Digital Arts Week, Zurich 2007 10-14th July. The DIGITAL ART WEEKS program is concerned with the application of digital technology in the arts.

Jane Chapman performs 2 Steep 4 Sheep (some hills are) for amplified harpsichord and tape at Corsham on 30th June as part of BMIC (British Music Information Centre) Cutting Edge Tour 2007.

But Will You? from The Falling (2005) for voice, harp, electroacoustic soundscape. Text written and performed by Ailis Ni Riain.  Broadcasting on 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10, 11th July 2007 on UK 106.5 FM and online from Fri 29 June - Weds 31 July 2007 (inclusive). Broadcasting online until Sun 26 August 2007 (inclusive).  All from Manchester's Cornerhouse Gallery 1. Gallery exhibitions open Sat 30 June - Sun 26 August 2007.

The New Works theatre company toured TILT, the debut play by Ailis Ni Riain to Liverpool, The Granary Theatre, Cork and Glasgow's Citizen Theatre in April and May 2007.

TILT has been published by Nick Hern Books, the UK's leading specialist publisher of plays and theatre books. 

Click here to purchase TILT.

CMC TILT Press Release click here. 

"A compelling ensemble... Created with such delicate intensity that it feels as if the audience itself is holding its breath" - The Irish Times

"A startlingly confident new Irish play... Ni Riain has hit the ground running... " Evening Echo, Cork

"Anyone interested in serious theatre writing should flock to this perfectly formed miniature." - The Herald

"A perfectly-pitched 45 minutes of theatre that features heart-stopping performances...it promises a fine future for a writer who has only recently turned to theatre, after an early career as a composer that has clearly influenced every breath and intonation of this intense and musical piece of drama." - The Scotsman.

Some rehearsal photos...

TransSextreme (2005), a tape piece comprising texts written and performed by Ailis Ni Riain alongside acoustic and electracoustic harp has been included in Deep Wireless 4 CD - a Canadian Radio Art Compilation. This is a commerical release available directly from Deep Wireless Festival of Radio Art

TranSextreme has played through May in Process Gallery, Toronto, Canada as part of the Radio Salon Installation.

TranSextreme (tape) has been selected for Deep Wireless, Toronto. May 1-31, 2007. As part of a month-long celebration of radio and transmission art, radio artists, sound artists and enthusiasts can experience performances, sound installations, new commissions, special radio broadcasts, a CD launch and conference.  It will be broadcast in Process Gallery, Toronto for the month of May as part of the Radio Salon Installation. 

Monday 5th March 2007, National Concert Hall, Dublin

An evening of contemporary music curated by Ailis Ni Riain, including a new commission from the National Concert Hall of Ireland, Surrealist Pilgrims, alongside works by composers Roger Doyle, Jurgen Simpson, Kevin Malone, Mussorgsky, Marian Ingoldsby and Jane O Leary.

The programme includes the following compositions by Ailis Ni Riain:

Rogue Boar Shot Dead - premiere
Attrition
FWD (no subject)
The Last Time I Died
A Song for my Body
Surrealist Pilgrims - premiere, new NCH commission

Living Composers: 60 miniatures was an avant-garde concert held on 9th March 2007 at The Space, 269 Westferry Road, East London. The event consisted of 60 specially commissioned one-minute piano pieces written by 12 cutting edge composers. It featured the premiere of Into the Sea of Waking Dreams, five piano miniatures by Ailis Ni Riain.