Around Here, The Birds Plant The Trees

Natalia Beylis, live sound collage and objects
Eimear Reidy, cello
Tola Custy, fiddle
Ultan O’Brien, viola
Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh, viola
Willie Stewart, percussion
Composed by Natalia Beylis

We stand in our field, gathered together to listen: to the creatures rustling in the undergrowth, to the wind making the oak leaves dance, to the lone, distant curlew and to ourselves; our breathing, our heartbeats and our place within it all.

Around Here, The Birds Plant The Trees was written in response to a commission asking composer Natalia Beylis to consider an aspect of climate change. The work began with musicians meeting in a field, taking its sights and sounds as a starting point to explore land and its borders, guardianship, governance and policy—and how this all affects the inhabitants. Together with percussionist Willie Stewart, cellist Eimear Reidy, fiddler Tola Custy and viola players Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh and Ultan O'Brien, Beylis invites you to this performance to consider the past, present and possible futures of a single field.

"A wonderfully uplifting and positively affirming piece", Jonathan Grimes (producer and contemporary music advocate)

Produced and co-commissioned by hcmf// and New Music Dublin as part of The Current Climate and Kirklees Year of Music 2023, supported by Kirklees Council; also supported by Culture Ireland'