How The World Begins Again

A series celebrating the lives and work of women composers and sound artists working in Ireland presented by singer Elizabeth Hilliard.

In this RTÉ lyric fm radio and podcast series, singer Elizabeth Hilliard meets twenty women: composers and sound artists connected to the island of Ireland. They share their stories, their inspirations, creativity and challenges as they connect the listener to their work. In the series Elizabeth explores the wonderfully alive and energised ecosystem of music in Ireland today, talking to women from diverse backgrounds: both academic and non-academic, including an astrophysicist, a computer programmer, artists coming from different places, cultures and countries and reflecting an age range from twenties to seventies, but who are all connected through their music on the island of Ireland. In the eight part series listeners are introduced to their music, ranging from piano trio to orchestral, from games music to improvisation.

The series title - How the World Begins Again - is taken from a line in Eavan Boland’s poem CODE, about how women; artists, scientists, poets and composers alike, become visible and heard through their work and make the world anew.

In this first episode, Elizabeth Hilliard meets with composers and sound artists, Jane O’Leary, Natalia Beylis and Jenn Kirby and finds out what place and belonging means to them.