NMD26: LOVE THE EARTH

NCH Cór na nÓg
Floating World & The Elders  
Mary Amond O’Brien, music director
Aodh Quigley, music assistant
Carole O’Connor, accompanist
Nicky Bailey, percussion

Mother Earth

Ancient Mother, The Earth is our Mother (Native American songs) arr. Barbara Sletto 
Nick Page Love The Earth

Animals of the Earth

Marian Ingoldsby, Gugalaí-Gug
Marian Ingoldsby, Damhán Alla
Marian Ingoldsby, The Caterpillar

Birds of the Earth: 

Elaine Agnew, A Conference of Birds [World Premiere]
Elaine Agnew, The Swallow
Sue Furlong, An Lóndubh

Sounds of the Earth

Seeds of Hope (EDEN Project song)
Orde-e  (Madukayan Folk Song, arr. Maria Therese Vizconde-Roldan)

A Place We Once Called Earth
 
Robert S. Cohen Stardate 101

Love The Earth -  the concert title chosen by our singers and a piece on the programme by Nick Page, aims to awaken, and reawaken, a much-needed awareness among them and their intergenerational audience of the sacredness of the living Earth in today’s world. In his programme notes, Nick Page recalls a Cherokee woman saying, “We are all indigenous to the planet Earth.” He also reflects that his study of many Native American traditions led him to capitalise the word ‘Earth’ as a mark of respect.

Divided into five sections - Mother Earth, Animals of the Earth, Birds of the Earth, Sounds of the Earth, and A Place We Once Called Earth - the programme features works by Irish composers Elaine Agnew, Sue Furlong, and Marian Ingoldsby, alongside American composers Robert Cohen, Nick Page and Barbara Sletto. Robert Cohen’s new treble arrangement of Stardate 101 will receive its world-premiere performance. 

The title and theme of this year’s programme were inspired by an intergenerational project undertaken by NCH Cór na nÓg in 2025 with Floating World and The Elders, titled A Conference of Birds, which highlighted red-listed bird species in Ireland and for which Elaine Agnew was commissioned to write a song of the same name. This work will be presented to a public audience for the first time as part of NMD 2026.

The song Seeds of Hope, is a song created by a children’s choir in collaboration with curator Mike Roberts after being asked “What if trees could sing?” It is part of Joyce DiDonato’s internationally renowned EDEN project. 

Presented by New Music Dublin with support from the Arts Council and in partnership with RTÉ and the National Concert Hall