Finding a Voice and the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland are delighted to announce Nori Krupp as the winner of the 2025 competition for Emerging Composers.  

Finding a Voice’s Artistic Director Róisín Maher says: “It was wonderful to be able to partner up again with the Contemporary Music Centre to offer shortlisted candidates a workshop with cellist Zoë Nagle and mentorship from composer Finola Merivale. I know that it was very difficult for Finola to select a piece for performance but I’m absolutely delighted at Nori’s success and can’t wait to hear the work performed live in Clonmel next week.”

Evonne Ferguson, Director, Contemporary Music Centre, adds: "It’s an honour to continue our partnership with Finding a Voice for this competition. This competition has nurtured so much talent in recent years and we recently celebrated that fact at the CMC Spring Gathering with a performance of last year’s winning work, Droplet by Cathy Purcell. CMC is delighted to host the complementary workshop programme and the mentorship element annually, in the provision of essential professional development for emerging women composers in Ireland. Warmest congratulations to Nori from all of us at CMC. We are looking forward to hearing this new work in March.”

Nori is a Dublin-based classically-trained violinist, composer, and educator with a passion for collaboration in concert music, contemporary dance, theatre, and film.  A graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, she also holds a first-class honours Master’s in Scoring for Film, TV & Interactive Media from Pulse/Griffith College. Her works have been performed by ensembles including the Kaleidoscope Quartet and Kirkos and she has participated in mentoring schemes run by the RTÉ NSO and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. As a violinist, she has played with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, and various chamber groups.  She teaches violin, viola, piano, and music theory privately and at St Kilian’s German School in Dublin.

Nori’s piece From the Ashes for solo cello explores the rich and diverse sonorities of the instrument to build expressive narratives, while also reflecting an inner journey, moving from loneliness and fear to understanding and renewal. Nori adds: “I am deeply honoured and thankful that my piece From the Ashes, written for solo cello, has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Emerging Composer competition. Participating in the workshop and subsequent mentorship was an incredibly informative and encouraging process, and I couldn’t be more excited to hear my piece come alive by the wonderful Zoë Nagle.”

Independent adjudicator for the competition was the CMC-represented celebrated Irish composer Finola Merivale, who writes: “It has been an honour to mentor the emerging composers for this year’s Finding a Voice festival and after reviewing the excellent submissions, I know that the future for contemporary music in Ireland is bright! Congratulations to all of the composers involved; it was extremely tough to choose one winner. Huge congratulations to Nori Krupp on her stunning work, From the Ashes, which is deeply expressive, dramatic and effortlessly utilises the power and richness of the cello.”

Nori’s piece will receive its world premiere on Saturday 8^th March (International Women’s Day) in Clonmel at Evlana ensemble’s concert as part of Finding a Voice 2025. The programme will also include the world premiere of Irish composer Ailís Ní Riain’s Never Here and Nowhere Else (2025), commissioned by Evlana with funding from The Arts Council, alongside works by Judith Weir, Amy Beach, Valerie Coleman and more.