Page 9 - CJMay2026

Chamber Music by James Joyce:

A Choral Commissioning Project

Jo-Michael Scheibe and

Desmond Earley

J ames Joyce (1882–1941) was one of

Ireland’s most influential writers, with
major works including Ulysses (1922)
and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).
Though not as well known for his poetry, in 1907
he published a collection of thirty-six poems titled
Chamber Music. A fine tenor himself, Joyce hoped
the collection might one day be set to music.
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Desmond Earley, the founding artistic director of
Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, is
working to realize Joyce’s dream in a decade-long
project to commission thirty-six composers from
around the world to set these poems. Recordings of
half the newly commissioned works were recently
released as Chamber Music by James Joyce Vol. 1 on the

Signum Classics label. The group has eight more
commissions completed, which were recorded in
Solstice and Choral Scholars of University College Dublin Recording Session. Photo by Sanda Semeika.
February 2026. In this interview, Desmond and
Jo-Michael Scheibe discuss the scope of this major
project, the selected composers, the voicing and
instrumentation, and the recording process.

CHORAL JOURNAL May 2026 Volume 66 Number 8 7