Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Musicians-in-Residence Scheme 2026
- Closing date: Thursday 12 February at 2pm
Before the first song, the garden remembered everything....
Dee Isaacs, Composer
Elspeth Murray, Writer
James Riordan, Director
Orpheus is a plant hunter who charms the trees with his song.
Eurydice, a mycologist whose voice carries deep into the earth.
Charon, a liminal figure, keeper of thresholds, compost, and change.
In this fresh reimagining of the Orpheus myth, music, ecology, and ancient storytelling entwine in the living landscape of Ireland’s National Botanic Gardens. Audiences follow Glasnevin’s garden-path of love and loss, curiosity and consequence, guided by musicians, children’s choirs and some unexpected creatures.
From sunlit lawns to shadowed bowers, leafy backdrops to underworld crossings, and fleeting images cast across the garden, they encounter a world where fungi speak, decay becomes renewal, and the myth grows anew.
Let the music tug your heart strings while mythic threads awaken what lies even deeper.
With humour, tenderness, and wonder, Orpheus in the Garden invites us to ask what lies beneath … and how love, like compost, can nourish more than we know.
About the project
The project brings together children from two primary schools in Finglas and Ballymun, Dublin to collaborate with professional artists, botanists and ecologists to explore the biodiversity crisis. Led by renowned composer Dee Isaacs, the project will engage students in a series of educational and creative workshops, culminating in an original theatrical music show that blends art and science.
It will conclude with a series of magical performances open to the public, featuring the students performing alongside a cast of professional singers, actors and musicians in the stunning surroundings of Ireland’s National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in May 2026.
Orpheus in the Garden is presented in partnership with the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin City Council, DCU and the Office of Public Works (OPW) with support from Ecclesiastical Insurance (Ireland) Grant Thornton, PTSB and The Ireland Funds.
