PRESS

“The most striking thing about this final concert is the choice of programme: pairing the famous (and audience-grabbing) masterwork with an obscure little gem is a clever approach and the combination works well in every respect.”
Anthony Brooks, GoldenPlec

“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

“The ensemble brings out this music with a wonderful sense of concentration. There is much to enjoy, such as the crispness with which the shifting moods of the second movement are delineated, or the wonderful sense of suspension in the gentle Adagio that follows. The work ends in a rapt mood of excitement, buoyed up by Fauré’s sense of boundless energy; appropriate also for what has been a fascinating and enjoyable journey for audience and (it would seem) players alike.”
Michael Lee, GoldenPlec

“A Mother’s Voice allows the audience a glimpse into the world of pain that the mother and baby homes scandal unearthed in Ireland. This live music based installation reflects and shares the words of affected individuals. It is a deeply affecting and important work. It opens a window that we have shut. The noise and pain are still vibrating around us and this stellar work reminds of that. It deserves to be experienced widely.”
Jo Mangan, The Performance Corporation 

“The work “A Mother’s Voice” shines a light on a shameful part of recent Irish History regarding mother and baby homes, and the International interest this work has attracted goes to show the relevance and sensitivity in which the group treated such difficult subject matter. Musici Ireland are presenting unique productions, centering socially aware subject matters and using art to inform audiences about Irish history.”
Catherine Kontz, composer and Artistic Director of Rainy Days Festival, Luxembourg

“It was a sacred moving multi sensory experience that respectively through art alone brought the words of the survivors of the mothers and babies homes to the centre of this production in this former church site. Instead of stations of the cross when we entered the theatre , we were met with stations of raw emotional experience relayed in the words from the mothers Deirdre, ‘Cait’ and Sheila who agreed to contribute to this creative process inked onto sheets by the artist. These were words that cannot be washed away like the stains of the church during this dark time in Ireland’s recent history when the Magdalene laundries existed. A subtle yet powerful design by Bridget Ni Dhuinn with early design input from Bimbi Urquhart. As we took our seats in the pews in the dark, the silhouettes of musicians Beth McNinch, Jane Hackett, Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke and Katie Tertell came to life subtly lit by Eoin McNinch. Through slow mournful movements not as an ensemble but in separate individual moments, the musicians reflected the loneliness of the mothers as they suffered their cruel ordeals of giving birth alone and scorned because they were ‘scarlet’ unmarried women. They were hidden away from society with their babies cruelly taken and given away for adoption if they survived birth at all. A vicious cycle provided for by church and state during 1900’s with the last facility closing in 1998 in Ireland. No facts and figures are needed through the beautiful evocative and heart wrenching animations by Eabha Bortolozzo and Jack Kirwan. Instead, the visuals amplify the voices of the women merging with the tearful strings of the live playing of viola, violins and cello in the intricate and delicate composition by Linda Buckley and Irene Buckley.”
Elizabeth Whyte Director of Wexford Arts Centre

“Flexibility and versatility Sunday morning’s concert by Musici Ireland featured a flexible ensemble, with a string quartet, a duo, and a trio respectively by Deirdre Gribbin, Amanda Feery and Linda Buckley. Gribbin’s Before the moon shattered and shone again was moving, finishing over glistening cello harmonics. The concert ended – and was named for – Liam Bates’ viola concerto, Earthrise, a well-crafted melodic work of the sort that goes down a treat for audiences and performers.”
Brendan Finan Journal of Music

“As promised, my – spontaneous – thoughts on the performance today, as a mother who was in Bessborough in 1970. I approached the event with some apprehension, as at times over the past years I and others have felt used and/or had our statements taken out of context, by certain journalists and especially by the Commission of Investigation. However, I was really impressed by the way the event was presented. It was profoundly moving, and yet subtle and, above all, respectful. It cannot have been easy to select passages from your interviews, but I think what was chosen was perfect. The music, too, was exquisite. Moving, but never mawkish, and never drowning out the voices of the women. What a talented group you all are! Thank you again for giving voice to so many women who would otherwise be unheard, and I hope that the event will be reproduced in many other locations.”
Anne Harris (author of “Unspoken”)