SEASON 26/27

With special guests Malachy Frame and Sarah Richmond. This programme is a reflection on the relationship between human beings and nature, drawing on poetry and text. It challenges the idea that humanity has constructed itself as separate from, and superior to, nature. This also considers parallels within our society in how throughout history, patriarchal culture has similarly constructed women as subordinate and acquiescent. PROGRAMME Birding by Ear (2019) - Perry Goldstein / Poetry by Richard Powers *Irish premiere Song of the Birds (1998) - Sally Beamish / From Catalan Folksong Songs from Revered Scorned Women (2025) - Áine Mallon / Text by Emily DeDakis *World premiere Relativity and Revelation (2015) - Sarah Lianne Lewis / Poetry by J.L.Williams Buaneitilt (2022) - Jane O’Leary / Poetry by Emily Dickinson Death of a Naturalist (2020/22) - Greg Caffrey / Poetry by Seamus Heaney

Silent Depths was born from a sense of urgency: to respond through music to the human cost of war, to the suffering of civilians — especially children — and to the danger that, together with lives, the history, culture and memory of the Palestinian people may be erased. The music tries first of all to listen, leaving space for real sounds, breaths and human presences. “If one day someone listens to these notes in a world in which Palestine risks being only a memory, I would like them to know that there were people who recognised its people, listened to their suffering, and admired their dignity, culture and capacity to resist.” Instrumental parts were recorded in Palestine by musicians connected to RAM Ensemble and the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music while field recordings capturing fragments of everyday life were gathered in Palestine by Mohammad Balawneh and Mohamed Yaghi. We present this gentle, yet powerful work amongst an almost meditative collection of pieces, for a moment of pause and reflection in the busiest weeks of Winter.