'Ballads of a Bogman' nominated for Ivors Composer Awards

Ballads of a Bogman, the major song cycle written for tenor Gavan Ring and pianist Louise Thomas, has been nominated for this year’s Ivors Composer Awards which will take place on 17th November at Grosvenor House on Park Lane, London.

Originally written in 2022, the UK premiere of ‘Ballads of a Bogman’ was given at the Wigmore Hall in London in March 2026 with Gavan Ring (tenor) and Fiachra Garvey (piano). In his review, Robert Hugill said “Stephen McNeff's masterly settings of poetry inspired by County Kerry with performers who seemed to identify with the material so that tenor Gavan Ring did not so much perform the songs as embody them”. (Full review here)

Inspired by the poetry of Sigerson Clifford, ‘Ballads of a Bogman’ was devised in 2021 as part of the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin’s Colleagues Initiative with Gavan Ring and Louise Thomas.

Gavan Ring, Stephen McNeff and Fiachra Garvey at the Wigmore Hall in March 2026

The score of Ballads of a Bogman is published by Peters Edition https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/65047/Ballads-of-a-Bogman--Stephen-McNeff/

SEE ALSO: https://www.stephenmcneff.co.uk/news/2026/3/25/ballads-of-a-bogman-at-the-wigmore-hall-london

The Kerry coastline, home of the Ballads

This is Stephen McNeff’s fourth nomination for an Ivors Composer Award (formally the British Composer Awards). he was previously nominated for his opera ‘Clockwork’, his opera oratorio ‘The Chalk Legends’ and his opera ‘Tarka the Otter’ which won the best stage work category for that year.

(Slideshow from a performance in Ireland in early 2026)