Colm Molloy

Colm is a composer-lyricist living and working in London. He is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied Classical Composition BMus (Hons) under Matthew Kaner, and is now Musician-in-Residence at St. Dunstan’s College. He previously studied applied and devised theatre at the BRIT School of Performing Arts and Technology.

Colm works predominantly as a composer-lyricist of musical theatre; his song-cycle World in Progress previewed at The Other Palace, London before having a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018. His works have also been performed in other London venues such as Theatre Utopia, the Phoenix Artist's Club, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Battersea Barge and more. In 2017, he collaborated as a librettist with composer Molly Lawes on an immersive opera, Tourists, which was premiered by workshOPERA at the London Transport Museum. He also collaborated with playwright Joyce Lee on Revolution for the Socially Uninformed as part of Theatre Royal Stratford East's Musical Theatre Workshop, led by Fred Karl and Robert Lee from NYU Tisch School of Arts. Colm also works as a concert composer; his music has been workshopped by numerous ensembles whilst in training at Guildhall including EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and guest musicians, and he has scored music for the 1926 silent film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, which was performed at the Barbican Centre. He has also collaborated with the theatre departments at Guildhall and the BRIT School, and has written music for their theatre productions including the The Cherry Orchard (Milton Court Theatre) and A World of Discovery (BRIT School; Camp Bestival).

In 2017, he founded Merde! Theatre Company in an effort to champion new and exciting writing and theatre. Inspired by experimental theatre, it follows in the tradition of work by Augusto Boal, Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, and Joan Littlewood. His play The Plains of Delight, which he directed, was produced by Merde! at Theatre Utopia and The Bread and Roses as part of the Clapham Fringe. In 2018, they took the new song-cycle World in Progress, which featured a cast of actor-musicians, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Colm is also an experienced classical pianist and music-director, having musically-directed a number of productions including Loserville (Union Theatre, Southwark), One For My Baby (Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Tristan Bates Theatre, London), as well as productions at Imperial College London, 13 and A Wild, Wild Party.