APPALACHIAN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
History, Nature, Culture
A Mother's Voice
A new project from Musici Ireland, premiered in January 2023. We are proud to present "A Mother's Voice" in partnership with the Contemporary American Theater Festival. Tickets will be available later this spring for performances in Shepherdstown, WV this summer.
For more about this project, visit Musici Ireland's webpage.
“A Mother’s Voice does a beautiful job of centering survivors and transforms powerful testimony into performance with thoughtfulness and care. This is important work, blending activism and artistry, and I hope many other audiences have the opportunity to experience it.”
— Shea Donovan, Indigo Arts Collective
A Mother's Voice is a commemorative dedication to the many women affected by the mother and baby homes in Ireland during the 1900s. It is a multidisciplinary production in honour of these women, a collaboration between artists and living survivors to shed light on this veiled era of Ireland's recent history. The World Premiere was given in Cork in January 2023. A Mother’s Voice has since been performed during the 2023 Rainy Days Festival in Luxembourg. Multiple performances in Ireland, Germany and America are booked for 2024.
The production, a two year development, was created by Beth McNinch with co-creative assistance from Jane Hackett. The performance consists of an immersive exhibit by Bridget Ni Dhuinn, with lighting by Eoin McNinch and showcases a performance of the original music by Cork composers Linda and Irene Buckley with animation by Eabha Bortolozzo and Jack Kirwan. Most importantly, the piece also features the voices of three mothers, "Cait", Deirdre Wadding and Sheila O'Byrne.