Discovering the lost music of 19th-century women composers with a new project launched by Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music
The Expansive Canvas Creative Palette captures contemporary curiosity about women composers through the creative responses received by a range of outstanding artists to the lives and music of women composers active during the 19th-Century.
The women whose music it celebrates once stood outside the concert halls, the publishing houses, and the academy. Participants were invited to respond to the forgotten music of any of these composers.
This project was developed as part of The Expansive Canvas, the International Conference and Collaborative Symposium exploring Large-Scale Form in the Music of 19th-Century Women Composers which took place at Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music in August 2025. It is a key collaboration with the internationally renowned conductor Sinéad Hayes in her capacity as The Creative Conductor, and with the generous support of the Irish Arts Council.
An open call for creative responses to the music and stories of the women composers featured in the conference yielded extraordinary expressions of creativity. These range across art forms including poetry, stories, original compositions, and visual art. The results are outstanding, and deeply artistically enriching.
We are delighted and honored to feature the stories, the artworks, the sound collages and poems that emerged from this project through the Creative Palette Virtual Booklet and a special audio trail on the grounds of Trinity College Dublin.
Please enjoy viewing a preview trailer of The Creative Palette here.
The Sonic Walk may be accessed here.
The Virtual Booklet may be viewed and downloaded below.
“We have been privileged to take this extraordinary opportunity to bring the music of these women out of the academy and into everyday life,” says Dr Nicole Grimes, Associate Professor of Music at Trinity College Dublin and Co-Chair of the Creative and Organizing Team for The Expansive Canvas. “The artistic vision of Sinéad Hayes has been truly remarkable, shaping a project that not only honours the legacy of these composers but also allows us to engage directly with our public — an engagement that lies at the very heart of The Expansive Canvas.” “There’s so much talk about women composers,” adds Professor Denise Neary of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and also Co-Chair of The Expansive Canvas. “But we realized that for people to really engage, they needed to get their hands on it. The Creative Palette offers a powerful way in — not through lectures or textbooks, but through creativity itself.” We hope that you will enjoying exploring The Creative Palette and its attendant Sound Walk.