Hugh Sheehan

Hugh Sheehan is a composer, sound designer, writer and audio producer from Birmingham. Now based in London after spending 10 years living in Helsinki, Hugh produces work for theatre, concert hall, radio, podcast, and moving image. Much of his practice explores questions of gender and sexuality, desire and shame, assimilation and radicalism.

In 2025 Hugh made a 5-part narrative audio documentary series for BBC Sounds entitled CRIMINALLY QUEER: THE BOLTON 7. Dubbed “mind-bending” and “a staggering tale” by The Guardian and a “sad, startling story skilfully unravelled” by The Sunday Times, the series chronicles a shocking and scarcely known landmark legal case in 1998, whereby 7 gay and bisexual men had consensual group sex and were subsequently arrested and charged with the archaic crimes of gross indecency and buggery.

Other work for the BBC includes LOST TIME – an audio short contemplating LGBTQ+ people’s experiences in getting to live life on their own terms.

Hugh has worked internationally as a composer and sound designer for theatre, with directors including Roxy Cook, Josh Roche, Gabriella Bird, Ned Bennett and Christa Harris.

In 2023 Hugh released his debut album SHAPES THAT ARE DIFFERENT – a collection of folk songs, electronic soundscapes, and audio interviews about queer selfhood. Under the Radar says of the record “Sheehan offers a poetic ode to queer iconoclasm, examining the daring power inherent in queer existence.”

Hugh’s musical foundations lie in Irish traditional music and contemporary classical music. He holds degrees in composition and music technology from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Sibelius Academy. He has been commissioned and performed by ensembles in Europe and North America and through foundations such as Kone Foundation and Diaphonique: the Franco-British fund for classical contemporary music. He plays with and writes for several projects, including his own ensemble and duos with Maija Kauhanen and Timo Alakotila.

In addition to his creative practice, Hugh is co-founder, and former co-director and chairperson of The Trip to Birmingham TradFest, an Irish traditional music festival in Birmingham’s Digbeth, and the founder of concert series/record label Hybrid Forms.