Murrough Connolly

Murrough Connolly (b. 1997) is a composer and guitarist from Tralee, Co Kerry. Following a traumatic write injury during his B.Mus studies at MTU Cork School of Music, he turned to composition as a means of creating music. With a newfound purpose, he pursued an M.Mus in Composition at the University of Manchester, where he is currently in his final year of a PhD in Composition (supervised by Prof. Camden Reeves). Jazz and blues idioms feature strongly in his work, which seeks to explore the concept of harmonic colour and challenge conventional harmonic practices. Several of his recent compositions have been inspired by a desire to explore the connection between visual colours and harmonic colour.

Murrough’s music has been commissioned by the SCS Killaloe Music Festival, the UCC Singers and The Kerry School of Music, with performances featuring outstanding musicians such as Katherine Hunka and Diane Daly, Psappha Ensemble and Quatuor Danel. In January 2023, he was a finalist in Festival Musical Durtal’s International Piano Composition Competition. Other recent achievements include selection for the ‘Peter Reynolds Composer Studio’ and Psappha’s ‘Composing for Piano’ Scheme.