Musical director Ciara Murphy

A Sligo native, Ciara began her musical studies at the Sligo Academy of Music before continuing at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and later receiving a scholarship to the Schola Cantorum at St Finian’s College, Mullingar, where she specialised in organ and liturgical music. She is a graduate of the Bachelor and Master’s programmes in Music Education at Trinity College Dublin and TU Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama.

During her time at Trinity, Ciara was a Choral Scholar with the Trinity College Chapel Choir and studied conducting with Robert Houlihan, Dr Bernie Sherlock, Dr Shane Lynch, and Anna Füri. She has conducted a wide range of ensembles, including Trinity Orchestra, Trinity College Staff Choir and Belgrove Girls’ School Choir, winning first place at the 2024 Feis Ceoil. As conductor of the award-winning Trinity Singers, she led the choir to their highest mark to date at the Derry International Choral Festival, where she was named Most Promising Conductor, receiving Sing Ireland’s International Conducting Course scholarship.

Ciara is the Irish representative on the European Choral Association Youth Committee (2025–2027) and contributes to international festivals, ateliers, and youth initiatives.

In September 2025, Ciara was appointed Associate Conductor at UCD School of Music (2025–27), making her debut with both the UCD Symphony Orchestra and UCD Philharmonic Choir. She made her National Concert Hall (NCH) conducting debut at the 30th Festival of the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras (IAYO) in February 2026 and conducted at the NCH again in April for ‘A Night at the Opera, including works for soloists, chorus and orchestra from Opera by Puccini and Massenet. She is Acting Musical Director of the Sligo Concert Band, including their cross-border collaborative bands project Sounds of the West Concert Band, and Choral Director of the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Choir. Ciara has completed conducting masterclasses with Maria Goundorina, Petra Grassi, Dr Shane Lynch, Robert Houlihan, Dr Bernie Sherlock, Anna Füri, and Dr Katalin Kiss. Ciara serves on the steering committee for the international choral festival, Europa Cantat 2027, in Liepāja, Latvia. 

In June 2026, Ciara was selected as Sing Ireland’s Assistant Conductor for their Irish Youth Choir’s 14-17 and 18-25 summer programmes and concerts assisting conductors Dr. Lynsey Callaghan and Patrick Barrett. Ciara won the prestigious 2026 Feis Ceoil Orchestral Conducting Competition with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. In July, Ciara was selected as Conducting Fellow with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland under guest conductor, Maestro Killian Farrell. 

Her performances with Sligo Orpheus Choir at the 2025 Cork and Derry International Choral Festivals were a great success, including a collaborative Christmas Concert with Sligo Concert Band. Other performances include Sligo’s National Day of Commemoration 2025, Culture Night 2025, Irish National Opera’s Open Foyer in The Hawkswell, Bealtaine’s Dawn Chorus and performances across venues in Milan, including the choir’s international premiere of our commissioned piece, Fós. She looks forward to further developing the choir’s artistic work and outreach in Sligo in the near future.