Irene Buckley

Biography

Irish composer Irene Buckley is active across many music disciplines including choral, opera, orchestral, dance, theatre, film and electronics. She was nominated for an IFTA in 2023 for Best Original Music and Outstanding Original Score for ‘Nothing Compares’ (co-composed with Linda Buckley) at the 16th Cinema Eye Honors in New York. She was nominated for an IFTA in 2024 for Best Original Music for ‘That They May Face the Rising Sun’ (co-composed with Linda Buckley). She has scored many documentaries by filmmaker Pat Collins, including ‘Making’ and ‘Songs of the Open Road’. In recent years she has focused on composing live scores for silent films, which include The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Fall of the House of Usher, and also Nosferatu and Metropolis (both co-composed with Linda Buckley). She has received commissions from Union Chapel London, Irish National Opera, Cork International Film Festival and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Her opera ‘Lament for Art O’ Leary’ was selected to represent Ireland at the International Rostrum of Composers 2025 in Slovenia. Irene holds an MA in Music Technology from Queen’s University Belfast and a PhD in Composition from University College Cork.