Academic biography

Dr Róisín Blunnie is Associate Professor of Music at the School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music, DCU. She is the Programme Chair of DCU's MA in Choral Studies and leads the University's well-known Choral Leadership Days at the All Hallows Campus.

On the MA in Choral Studies and Bachelor of Religious Education and Music programmes, she teaches modules in the areas of choral conducting and choral leadership; solfege and music theory; aural and keyboard skills; music history and culture, and music-teaching for post-primary level; and she conducts the DCU Lumen Chorale, a 75-strong choir of undergraduate music students. She is currently supervising doctoral research on the British composer Ethel Smyth, the history and usage of the Alleluia, analytical considerations in children's song collections, inclusive strategies for choral leadership, and contemporary Irish choral music. Róisín received an IRC Research Ally Award in 2023. Prior to the establishment of the School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music at DCU, she was Head of the Music Department at Mater Dei Institute in Drumcondra. 

Róisín is the founder and conductor of award-winning Dublin-based chamber choir Laetare Vocal Ensemble. With Laetare, she released the critically acclaimed album Ghost Songs: Contemporary Music and Words from Ireland (Divine Art Records, 2021), featuring guest performers Marina Carr, Paula Meehan, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Carl Corcoran, and Síle Denvir. 

She was the DCU team lead for the Erasmus+ project PRESTO (2021-23), working in collaboration with the Liszt Academy (Hungary), Caprice Oy (Finland), the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and Sing Ireland to produce an extensive suite of flexible digital learning resources, approaches, and activities, available at www.kodalyhub.com/presto. Together with Dr Ciarán Crilly UCD), she is the editor of Perspectives on Conducting, a collection of chapters by Irish and international scholar-practitioners in choral and orchestral conducting (Routledge, 2024).

Róisín has a PhD in Music from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Kodály Pedagogy and an Advanced Diploma in Choral Conducting from the Liszt Academy (Kodály Institute) in Kecskemét, Hungary, and a first-class honours degree in Music and History from TCD, awarded with the gold medal of the university. Her PhD studies on cultural influences and imperial ideology in the early cantatas and oratorios of Edward Elgar were supported by the Irish Research Council and the TCD Non-Foundation Scholarship, and her studies in Hungary were funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and the International Kodály Society.