Ephrem Feeley

Bio

Ephrem Feeley is one of Ireland’s most established church composers. His corpus includes over 300 pieces of liturgical music and has won awards at every major liturgical music competition held in Ireland since 1997. His Mass of Saint Paul was one of four mass settings chosen by the Irish Bishops’ Conference following the publication of the third edition of the Roman Missal, and was used throughout the International Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin in 2012. His hymn “A Joy for All the Earth” was chosen as the official hymn of the World Meeting of Families, Dublin 2018. Ephrem’s music has been published in the U.S. by OCP and GIA Publications – his first collection, Here in Christ we Gather, and Our Hearts are Restless were both published by GIA.

Ephrem graduated from Mater Dei Institute in 1996 with a distinction in music. He studied composition under Donal Hurley, and organ at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama under Una Russell. Ephrem teaches music, choir and religion at St Joseph’s Mercy Secondary School in Navan, Ireland, where he directs the Schola, an award-winning SSA choir that is frequently in demand to perform at concerts and liturgies. He facilitates workshops in pastoral music ministry, regularly presenting at events organized by the Diocese of Meath, the Archdiocese of Dublin and the Irish Church Music Association. He has held the position of organist at a number of churches in Dublin and Meath and is currently organist in his home parish of Ashbourne in County Meath.

In addition to his extensive corpus of liturgical music, he has also written over 60 songs for organ, piano and chamber music. He has a special interest in the relationship between music and text, and is a founder member of The Solstice Trio, an ensemble specializing in the performance of contemporary English-language art-song.

Ephrem and his wife Giovanna have three children: Lucy, Finian and Stella.