Composer・Media Artist・Choral Director
An interdisciplinary composer and media artist based in Northern Ireland, working across sound, technology, voice and participatory practice.
About
Vanissa Law is a Hong Kong-born composer and media artist based in Northern Ireland. Her interdisciplinary practice moves between contemporary composition, choral music, sound and media art, interactive technology, and participatory practice.
Her work ranges from music for voices and instruments to electroacoustic works, interactive installations and collaborative projects. She is particularly interested in the relationships between sound, listening, technology and collective experience, and in finding creative approaches that respond to the people, spaces and circumstances of each project.
Alongside her work as a composer, Vanissa has extensive experience as a choral director, music educator and facilitator. This combination of artistic, technical and participatory experience allows her to work across conventional disciplinary boundaries — from composing for professional musicians and community choirs to developing interactive media, leading creative workshops and collaborating with artists from other disciplines.
Area of Practice
Composition
Choral, vocal and instrumental music; electroacoustic work; music for interdisciplinary and collaborative projects.
Media & Sound Art
Interactive and audiovisual installations combining sound, image, space, lighting and technology.
Choral & Participatory Practice
Composition, directing and creative music-making with community and mixed-experience groups.
Creative Technology
Interactive and audiovisual installations combining sound, image, space, lighting and technology.
Collaboration & Facilitation
Working with musicians, artists, filmmakers, community organisations and participants to develop projects around different contexts and needs.
Vanissa works across several interconnected roles as a composer, media artist, choral director, educator and facilitator. Her experience enables her to contribute to projects at different stages — from developing an artistic concept and composing new material to working with performers, technology, community participants and collaborating organisations.
She is particularly interested in commissions, interdisciplinary collaborations, choral projects, installations and participatory work that allow different areas of her practice to intersect.
Education & Research
Vanissa completed her PhD in Music at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2017, with research centred on composition and creative practice. In 2014–15, she was a Fulbright Junior Research Scholar at Louisiana State University, and from 2022–23 she was a Visiting Scholar at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), Queen’s University Belfast, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Her research and creative interests include composition, electroacoustic music, interactive media, sound and listening, choral practice and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Selected Practice & Projects
Vanissa's creative practice ranges from concert music to interactive installations and participatory projects. Her work includes compositions for voices and instruments, electroacoustic music, audiovisual and interactive installations, and projects developed with communities and artists from other disciplines. Recent practice in Northern Ireland has increasingly explored choral and participatory music-making. She co-founded Castle Voices, a non-auditioned community choir in Carrickfergus, and serves as its Musical Director. Her work with the choir includes composing and arranging repertoire, directing performances and developing creative projects that enable singers with different levels of experience to participate together. Her wider community practice includes The Voices of Children, which brought together children's poetry and creative music-making in Carrickfergus, and By-Ear, an ongoing project exploring accessible approaches to group singing, listening and musical participation.