Open Ear Festival 2026

This year, Open Ear Festival marks its tenth anniversary with its most ambitious commission to date.
AtLantis AtLand is a staged operatic work devised for Silver Strand beach as a collaged soundscape of live and processed vocal sounds, electronics, and field recordings taken on Sherkin Island. This performance will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1.3opm.
In this hydrofeminist work, immersive incantations sweep like the incoming tide, with siren songs and radio signals woven into the rocky shore’s ancient landscape.
The work emerged from field work and a sound workshop on Sherkin for islanders and students from the BA programme through experimentation with objects and tonal recording based on the practice of Pauline Oliveros. AtLantis AtLand features originally composed music by Stephanie Lamprea and Alistair MacDonald, existing compositional material by Pauline Oliveros, Jason Eckardt, and Kurt Rhode, and texts by Federico García Lorca and Donna Masini.
This work is a part of a larger ongoing collaboration between Jesse Jones, Stephanie Lamprea, and Alistair MacDonald, which include the films: Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon, and The White Cave which premiered in 2025 at the Singapore Biennale. AtLantis AtLand is the third iteration in this ongoing collaboration, culminating in a vinyl record due for release in 2027.
AtLantis AtLand is co-created and devised by Stephanie Lamprea, Jesse Jones and Alistair MacDonald with scenography and design by Sara Murphy, and costumes by Alison Conneely. It is performed by soprano Stephanie Lamprea, electronic musician Alistair MacDonald, and the Sherkin Tonal Choir.
Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist, specializing in contemporary-classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, Stephanie uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (composer Jason Eckardt).

Jesse Jones is a Dublin-based artist who teaches on the BA visual arts program on Sherkin island. Working in film, performance and sculpture through speculative feminisms and Myth to create immersive film installation. She is currently in production for her first feature film entitled: Pinnacle Point starring Olwen Fouéré that will premier in 2028.

Alistair MacDonald is a composer & performer based in Glasgow. Much of his work is collaborative; with musicians, artists and choreographers from different media and backgrounds he makes work for performance, broadcast and installation. His work encompasses field recording, interactivity and improvisation with live electronics.

Alison Conneely is an Irish textile artist & designer whose practice is rooted in over two decades of interdisciplinary exploration. Working at the intersection of community, advocacy, and cultural activism, her work frequently unfolds through collaborative processes with leading contemporary artists, scholars, and international institutions, including the United Nations.
Sara Murphy is a multidisciplinary maker and craftsperson with a background in event management, furniture production, design, and digital fabrication. She brings a grounded, material intelligence to the team — bridging the conceptual and the built, and ensuring that what we imagine can actually exist in the world

This year, Open Ear Festival marks its tenth anniversary with its most ambitious commission to date.

AtLantis AtLand is a staged operatic work devised for Silver Strand beach as a collaged soundscape of live and processed vocal sounds, electronics, and field recordings taken on Sherkin Island. This performance will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1.3opm.

In this hydrofeminist work, immersive incantations sweep like the incoming tide, with siren songs and radio signals woven into the rocky shore’s ancient landscape.

The work emerged from field work and a sound workshop on Sherkin for islanders and students from the BA programme through experimentation with objects and tonal recording based on the practice of Pauline Oliveros. AtLantis AtLand features originally composed music by Stephanie Lamprea and Alistair MacDonald, existing compositional material by Pauline Oliveros, Jason Eckardt, and Kurt Rhode, and texts by Federico García Lorca and Donna Masini.

This work is a part of a larger ongoing collaboration between Jesse Jones, Stephanie Lamprea, and Alistair MacDonald, which include the films: Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon, and The White Cave which premiered in 2025 at the Singapore Biennale. AtLantis AtLand is the third iteration in this ongoing collaboration, culminating in a vinyl record due for release in 2027.

AtLantis AtLand is co-created and devised by Stephanie Lamprea, Jesse Jones and Alistair MacDonald with scenography and design by Sara Murphy, and costumes by Alison Conneely. It is performed by soprano Stephanie Lamprea, electronic musician Alistair MacDonald, and the Sherkin Tonal Choir.

Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist, specializing in contemporary-classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, Stephanie uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (composer Jason Eckardt).

Jesse Jones is a Dublin-based artist who teaches on the BA visual arts program on Sherkin island. Working in film, performance and sculpture through speculative feminisms and Myth to create immersive film installation. She is currently in production for her first feature film entitled: Pinnacle Point starring Olwen Fouéré that will premier in 2028.

Alistair MacDonald is a composer & performer based in Glasgow. Much of his work is collaborative; with musicians, artists and choreographers from different media and backgrounds he makes work for performance, broadcast and installation. His work encompasses field recording, interactivity and improvisation with live electronics.

Alison Conneely is an Irish textile artist & designer whose practice is rooted in over two decades of interdisciplinary exploration. Working at the intersection of community, advocacy, and cultural activism, her work frequently unfolds through collaborative processes with leading contemporary artists, scholars, and international institutions, including the United Nations.

Sara Murphy is a multidisciplinary maker and craftsperson with a background in event management, furniture production, design, and digital fabrication. She brings a grounded, material intelligence to the team — bridging the conceptual and the built, and ensuring that what we imagine can actually exist in the world