SHEILS, Laura

  Laura Sheils is a choral composer and music teacher from Birr, Co. Offaly, Ireland. She graduated with a First Class honours in Music and Religious Education from Dublin City University and holds a diploma in Choral Conducting from the Kodály Institute of Music in Hungary. She is currently undertaking a Masters in Choral Studies in DCU, as well as singing with Laetare Vocal Ensemble, Dublin.

Laura is currently Dublin Youth Choir’s Composer-in-Residence, composing works for the choir, as well as teaching composition to singers within the group. Her compositions have been published by Cailíno Music Publishers and have been performed by choral groups in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Spain and America. In 2020, her composition, ‘Hope’, for the Belfast Philharmonic Youth Choir and the Ulster Orchestra, received a special commendation in the Inspiration Category of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Award. Flowing melodies and the rhythmic drive of popular music are strong influences in her choral writing. This is expressed through the combination of lyrical interplay between voices with the energetic rhythms so prevalent in Laura’s music.