Large Ensemble ⇨ Orchestral
Scarscape [2025]
15 mins. Symphony orchestra
3.3.3.3.4.3.3.1.1 Timp. 2 Perc.
Harp. Str:14-12-10-8-6
Holocene [2025]
13 mins. Large ensemble
Brass quintet, large brass ensemble and cymbals
The Land Grows Weary of its Own [2023]
19 mins. Symphony orchestra
3.3.3.3.3.3.3.1.1 Timp. 2
Perc. Str:14-12-10-8-6
Calling mutely through lipless mouth [2022]
15 mins. Orchestra
2222 222 Perc [x 2] Strings
Flower Scar Road [2021]
14 mins. Orchestra
2.2.2.2/3.3.3.0/T.2P/hp/str: 8.6.4.4.2
Music Theatre & Opera
Still, life... [2026]
Immersive opera-theatre
Premiere October 2026, Wexford Festival Opera
Hidden Heartache [2026]
Music-theatre
Premiere May 2026, Munich Biennale
Fáinleoga [2025]
15 mins. 2 Soprano & 1 Mezzo, accordion
Text by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Wired [2022]
80 mins. Dance-theatre.
I Used to Feel… [2016]
30 mins. One instrument. One deaf performer
Site-specific: hotel room
Text by A Ní Ríain
Treasured [2012]
80 mins. Solo trumpet plus brass quintet
Fixed audio, six actors
Text & music by A Ní Ríain
Brief-Blue-Electric-Bloom [2010]
60 mins. Two deaf, signing performers
Two guitars, video & fixed audio
Text by A Ní Ríain
Sawn-off Opera [2006-2009]
60 mins. Sop, mezzo, ten, bar
Five chamber operas set in hotel rooms
Text by David Gaffney
The Falling [2005]
50 mins. Harp, fixed audio, text
Text by A Ní Ríain
Installations
Arts and heritage, site-specific and immersive music installation have been part of Ailís' practice since her first site-responsive work for an old cotton mill in Manchester in 2006. Here are a selection of those works.
No Other Word for it [2019]
Linger [2015/16]
Intone [2013]
Taken [2012/213]
Boy You turn Me [2011]
Down [2011]
Conversations we wished we'd had [2010]
Lighthouse Lullaby [2009]
Missing Persons [2005]
Quartets ⇨ Octets
±6°[2026]
10 mins. Piano, violin, clarinet/s, electronics, saxophone and electric guitar
Holocene [2025]
13 mins. Brass quintet, large brass ensemble and cymbals
and still it breathes... [2025]
Brass quartet
12 mins
Revelling/Reckoning [2021]
14 mins. Wind quintet & 1 percussion
Wait [2020]
String quartet
20 mins
Orizzontale [1997]
9 mins. Violin, clarinet, cello, piano
Electroacoustic
Yaw [2024]
Electroacoustic
11 mins
Wired [2022]
80 mins
Electroacoustic score for dance-theatre
East:West - Where morning is the Sea [2019]
12 mins
Electroacoustic
StreetSong [2006]
5 mins
Electroacoustic
Wounds, scars, screams [2005]
6 mins
Electroacoustic
Text by Ailís Ní Ríain
But Will You? [2004]
6 mins
Electroacoustic
Text by Ailís Ní Ríain
Choral
From the Diary of an Exile [2022]
15 mins. SATB Choir. 3 Movements.
Text by Mac Amhlaigh/Iremonger
Eyeless [2012]
14 mins. Folk singer and SATB Choir
Text by A Ní Ríain (in Irish & English)
Stones [2008]
5 mins. Male voices
Without text
Voice +
Refuse to be Wrecked [2023]
10 mins. Soprano & fixed audio media
Text by Howard Barker
End with Words of Hope [2010]
9 mins. Soprano & clarinet
Text by Sappho & Ní Ríain
In Sleep… [2010]
15 mins. Ms, fl, clar, bsn, tpt, trb, pf, perc
Text by A Ní Ríain
Watershed [2021]
25 mins. Any low treble voice & piano
Text by Jessica Brown
A Crow’s Wisp/Sop Préacháin [2019]
12 mins. Soprano and piano
Text by Aifric Mac Aodha
Break Down De Doom [2017]
25 mins. Mezzo soprano & string quartet
Text by Mac Wellman
Mourning Bracelet [2016]
6 mins. Baritone & piano
Cimmerian [2015]
5 mins. Solo Mezzo & fixed media
Text by A Ní Ríain
Attrition [2001]
14 mins. Soprano & piano
Text by Kenneth Clarke
Two Eavan Boland Songs (1995/6)
5 mins. Any solo voice
Text by Eavan Boland
Trio
...never here and nowhere else.... [2025]
9 mins. Violin, viola, cello
Born Unfixed to Bend and Break and Leave Behind [2023]
13 mins. Violin, cello & piano
Soundless [2016]
5 mins. Any 3 treble instruments
Reinventions [2010]
18 mins. Clarinet, viola, piano. Optional texts.
Text Inger Christensen
UPTHEWALLS [2007]
5 mins. Trumpet, drumkit, double-bass
The Last Time I Died… [2002]
8 mins. Violin, piano, percussion
Under the Rose… [2000]
10 mins. Flute, violin, piano
Duo
Sour Morning Crimson [2020]
7 mins. Organ & electronics
Parambassis [2019]
10 mins. Bass-clarinet & recorder
Highfalutin [2017]
2 mins. Two flutes
Consent #7 [2017]
7 mins. Bass-flute and Bass-clarinet
The Consequences of Falling [2013]
12 mins. Double-bass & trumpet
Quantitas Speaks [2012]
12 mins. Piano duo & fixed audio
10,000 Deviants [2007]
5 mins. Flute, piano (& optional speaker)
FIRST ABSOLUTE EXECUTION [2004]
11 mins. Bass-clarinet & accordion
DON’T! [2000]
4 mins. Bass-clarinet & cello
The Man Made of Rain [1999]
10 mins. Clarinet/speaker & piano
Solo
Counterweight [2024]
13 mins. Contrabass clarinet, video & sound.
Contrair [2024]
5 mins. Solo piano.
Oneiric [2024]
6 mins. Solo violin.
Doomed. Damned. Done For. And Still... [2023]
7 mins. Cello & fixed audio
Mascaron [2022]
6 mins. Double-bass & fixed audio
I will see if I can see/
Feicfidh mé má thig liom feicsin (2022)
6 mins. Accordion, fixed media
Hiding Out 'Neath the Everything [2021]
6 mins. Violin and fixed audio
Tick (2020)
70 secs. Organ
Our First Lesson in Forgetting (2019)
7 mins. Classical guitar
The Height of Me (2018)
5 mins. Piano
Soberado (2017)
4 mins. Toy piano
Sklonište (2015/16)*
60 mins. Accordion [& video]
Not About Heroes (2014)*
20 mins. Cello
When I die, you can do what you want (2014)
12 mins. Violin with video
Treasured (2012)*
10 mins. Trumpet
Beautiful Cracked Eyes (2008)
11 mins. Piano
Surrealist Pilgrims (2007)
12 mins. Cello & fixed audio
Into the Sea of Waking Dreams… (2007)
10 mins. Piano with optional texts
2 Steep 4 Sheep (some hills are) (2006)
6 mins. Harpsichord and fixed audio
The Falling (2005)*
8 mins. Harp
Rude Boy (2002)
3 mins. Piano
Flat-Footed-Former-Flyer (2002)
12 mins. Trombone
Dogs in Waiting (1999)
8 mins. Double-bass
[concert version]* refers to a work which was originally composed for a stage or installation context