New album, Thar Farraige, out now
Thar Farraige has been released by Chamber Music Scotland.
The album weaves contemporary chamber music with Irish and Scottish folk traditions. Its title track ‘Thar Farraige’ features Brìghde Chaimbeul and Maxwell Quartet, merging traditional instrumentation with electronics inspired by keening and emigration ballads. The album also includes ‘Samhain,’ a piece for solo pipes and electronics, as well as ‘A Path of Yellow Moonlight’ for solo electronics. ‘Thar Farraige’ and ‘Samhain’ were originally commissioned by Chamber Music Scotland
- “The drones of Scottish smallpipes and the playing of a string quartet interweaving, coalescing, departing and reuniting.” — The Quietus
- “A completely wonderful meeting of contemporary chamber music with both Irish and Scottish traditional music, and an exploration of the idea of home.” — Unclassified, BBC3
Upcoming
- March 2026
- Seancheann for Double Bass and Electronics performed at Ortús Festival, Cork
Seancheann performed by Luis Cabrera, Sunday 1st March 3pm Curtis Auditorium, MTU Cork School of Music
- March 2026
- Irish Chamber Orchestra perform Fall Approaches, University Concert Hall Limerick
Fall Approaches for string orchestra performed with Beethoven, Limerick.
- March 2026
- Numarimur at Musica Sacra Nova Festival at Moscow Philharmonic Society
Numarimur for voices and electronics performed by CEAM Voices at Musica Sacra Nova festival at Moscow Philharmonic Society for Vox: Deus – Homo – Machina” concert as a part of Festival’s experimental “Laboratory” program at the Chamber Hall.
- March 2026
- Brightening for saxophones and electronics performed at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Brightening for soprano and alto saxophones, performed by Gerard McChrystal and David Zucchi, RWCMD Lunchtime series.
- May 2026
- Thar Farraige performed by Brìghde Chaimbeul and Maxwell Quartet, Rotterdam
Scottish piper Brìghde Chaimbeul and the Maxwell Quartet join forces in a programme in which folk music and classical music merge seamlessly. From the repetitive patterns of Philip Glass’s Two Pages and String Quartet No. 2 to the lyrical sounds of Linda Buckley’s Thar Farraige, all the musicians come together. Folk music forms the common thread, with traditional Psalms, Laments and Waulking Songs, largely from female traditions, and new arrangements in which the Maxwell Quartet and Chaimbeul explore each other’s worlds.
- May 2026
- Fall Approaches performed by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, with Thomas Zehetmair
Fall Approaches for string orchestra, performed at the Liederhalle Stuttgart
- June 2026
- Set Thy House in Order for Soprano and Electronics at Spitalfields Festival London
New work for soprano and four channel electronics commissioned by Mimi Doulton, for performance at New Music Dublin, Spitalfields Festival London and Sound Festival, Aberdeen
- September 2026
- New string quartet for the Lir Quartet – Tour
New string quartet for the Lir Quartet
23rd – Clifden Arts Festival
24th – MTU Cork School of Music
25th – Cahir Castle
26th – Kilkenny Castle
27th – National Concert Hall Dublin
- October 2026
- Set Thy House in Order for Soprano and Electronics at Sound Festival Aberdeen
New work for soprano and four channel electronics commissioned by Mimi Doulton, for performance at New Music Dublin, Spitalfields Festival London and Sound Festival, Aberdeen
- April 2027
- Set Thy House in Order premiere at New Music Dublin with Mimi Doulton, soprano
New work for soprano and four channel electronics commissioned by Mimi Doulton, for performance at New Music Dublin, Spitalfields Festival London and Sound Festival, Aberdeen
About
Linda Buckley is an Irish composer/performer who creates electronic and acoustic music, often in the realm of glitch, drone and dark ambient. In September 2020 her NMC record, From Ocean’s Floor was released, praised by Iggy Pop on BBC Radio 6 as “beautiful music – here is somebody really, really special”. Read more »
Also
Listen to pieces and excerpts on the music page, view works and past performances, or get in touch, either here or alternatively on Twitter or SoundCloud.