Grammy nomination for Athlone composer Emma
Athlone-born composer Emma O’Halloran has been nominated for a highly prestigious Grammy award.
The 2026 Grammy nominations were announced today (Friday), with Emma nominated in the Best Opera Recording category for her composition ‘Trade & Mary Motorhead’. The opera double bill is one of five nominees in this category.
Emma and her husband Alex Dowling are producers of the operatic piece, while it also features librettos by Emma's uncle Mark O’Halloran, the renowned scriptwriter, playwright and actor from Clare.
Conducted by the Grammy-nominated Elaine Kelly, the album also features vocal performances by Oisín Ó Dálaigh and John Molloy.
From Retreat in Athlone, Emma is a daughter of Linda and Peter O’Halloran (a retired Brigadier General). Emma holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University and is a graduate of Athlone Community College, NUI Maynooth and the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Emma's work has received glowing reviews from such publications as the New York Times and the Washington Post.
'Trade & Motorhead' is based on an award-winning play called ‘Trade’ written by Mark O'Halloran. Mark is well known as the scriptwriter for films such as ‘Garage’ (featuring an acclaimed performance from Pat Short), and Mark himself starred in 'Adam and Paul'.
Also a talented musician and vocalist, Emma has two sisters, Louise and Lisa, and one brother Tom, who is known locally as a footballer with Garrycastle GAA.
The winners of the Grammys will be announced at a star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles on February 1, 2026.
Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar lead the nominees for the 2026 Grammy Awards, which shows the type of company Emma O'Halloran and her colleagues are keeping, albeit in very different musical genres.
The nominees in the Best Opera Recording in the 2026 Grammys are as follows.
O'Halloran: Trade & Mary Motorhead - Elaine Kelly, conductor; Oisín Ó Dálaigh and John Molloy; Alex Dowling and Emma O'Halloran, producers (Irish National Opera Orchestra); Mark O’Halloran).
Heggie: Intelligence - Kwamé Ryan, conductor; Jamie Barton, J'Nai Bridges & Janai Brugger; Blanton Alspaugh, producer (Houston Grand Opera; Gene Scheer).
Huang Ruo: An American Soldier - Carolyn Kuan, conductor; Hannah Cho, Alex DeSocio, Nina Yoshida Nelsen & Brian Vu; Adam Abeshouse, Silas Brown & Doron Schachter, producers (American Composers Orchestra; David Henry Hwang).
Kouyoumdjian: Adoration - Alan Pierson, conductor; Miriam Khalil, Marc Kudisch, David Adam Moore, Omar Najmi, Naomi Louisa O’Connell & Karim Sulayman; Mary Kouyoumdjian, producer (Silvana Quartet; The Choir Of Trinity Wall Street).
Tesori: Grounded - Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Ben Bliss, Emily D’Angelo, Greer Grimsley & Kyle Miller; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus; George Brant).