Grace O’Duffy is an Irish-American composer and choral music educator, studying at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. O’Duffy entered the world of composition through a mentorship program with the Dublin Youth Choir during the pandemic lockdown. In 2021, she won the Irish National Feis Ceoil Choral Composition Competition, and worked with Chamber Choir Ireland on two choral pieces, including “Little Alleluia,” now published by Hal Leonard. She has since collaborated with a variety of ensembles on commission works across Tennessee, Michigan, Connecticut, and more. Her newest work, “Song of Tomorrow,” commissioned for the 20th Anniversary of the Belfast Philharmonic Youth Choir, will be performed by the Belfast Philharmonic Youth Choirs, Dublin Youth Choirs, and Belfast Philharmonic Orchestra in May.
In addition to being a full time student, O’Duffy teaches choir and piano at the W.O. Smith Music School, a non-profit after-school music program in Nashville. She will graduate from the Vanderbilt Peabody College with a master’s in choral music education in 2027.
choral music
Eily, Eily
SATB
Little Alleluia
SATB
Rise Up, My Love
SATB
chamber music
dream window: wild Atlantic
flute, cello, piano
Evensong
voice, tenor sax, electronics
Nothing/Everything
flute, viola, bassoon, bass
projects
Vanderbilt Choral Scholars: Missa Avitium
In May of 2024, the Vanderbilt Choral Scholars travelled to Liverpool and Leeds for ten days for the intense study of choral music in the English tradition. ‘Missa Avitium’ was commissioned for the project and performed at a service at the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. The three-movement mass is inspired by birdsong: melodic whistles and calls echo gently throughout the space, becoming the base of the motivic material for the work.
Wesleyan Collegium Musicum: Lux Æterna
‘Lux Æterna’ was a collaboration with the Collegium Musicum at Wesleyan University. The commissioned piece was premiered in May 2023 at the concert, “Gealdorcha, Sung Rituals in Celtic Light and Shadow.” The work was created around the themes of the project, with the score formatted graphically in the shape of a Celtic cross, and featuring imagery from the carvings at Newgrange, the Neolithic Tomb in Ireland which fills with light only on Winter Solstice.