Solfa Carlile is originally from Cork, Ireland. Having lived abroad since 2003, Carlile’s music draws on Irish folk music and literary influences as a means of connecting with an inspiration-rich cultural identity. She adopts a “pluralist” approach to composition, citing various stylistic influences, ranging from commercial to theatre and art music. She was supported by the Bill Whelan Bursary, graduating from the Royal College of Music. She also received the National Concert Hall Jerome Hynes Young Composers’ Award and the Sean O Riada Prize. Her cantata ‘The Life of St Cuthbert’, commissioned by Cantata Dramatica, was premiered at the 2019 Durham Vocal Festival. The same year she was the featured composer for the Spotlight Chamber Music series at Triskel Arts Centre, Cork. More recently, Solfa collaborated on The Sequenza Project with flautist Eilis O’Sullivan, composing a new work, ‘Sonanotine’, to complement Luciano Berio’s Sequenza series.

Solfa was awarded a doctorate (DPhil) in music from the University of Oxford, culminating in the composition of a chamber opera, ‘The Exile’ based on James Joyce. Recent commissions include ‘Storybook Land’ commissioned by Music Network in Ireland and performed by soprano Claudia Boyle, and ‘Natus Est’, commissioned by Richard Moore, Sub Organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. In 2025 Solfa was one of four Irish composers chosen to write a new orchestral work for the Irish National Symphony Orchestra as part of their ‘Composer Lab’ project, in collaboration with Lyric FM and the Contemporary Music Centre.