Daughters of the Pirate Queen

       On International Women's Day, the National Symphony Orchestra, in association with Polyarts, presents eight of Ireland’s top female performers – led by award-winning Irish composer and conductor Eímear Noone – in a major new performance which brings together their very different lived and musical experiences to tackle the turbulent tale of the Wild Atlantic Way in Daughters of the Pirate Queen: The Spirit of Grace O’Malley.
       The soundscape of this genre-defying concert will centre on cinematic orchestral storytelling through music, narrative, and song, with indie rock, pop, and folk influences throughout the score. Uniting Irish artists from different musical genres to co-write songs inspired by one of the greatest Irish women to have ever lived brings an unusual, yet quintessentially Irish flavour to the work. For example, iconic Irish songwriter Eleanor McEvoy has collaborated with Eímear Noone to write a song for performance by Emma Langford.
       In the spirit of the great woman herself, the music is at times evocative, poetic, rhythmic, and exhilarating. An emotional ride, it seeks to embrace both the literal and metaphorical storms Granuaile rode and tamed in her complicated, glorious life.

       Noone, the show's creator, says of this deeply personal artistic journey, ‘What Grace O’Malley achieved in her lifetime has been a constant inspiration to me and getting deeply into her life with some of my favourite Irish women artists has proven that her fierce spirit lives in us all, and this music has her indomitable energy running through it. It is not limited by genre or label as neither was she. It is important to me that great Irish women are memorialized and celebrated so that future generations can harness their passions and take ownership of their heritage. Daughter, lover, mother, leader – Grace O’Malley was all of these things and so much more; not a myth, but a flesh-and-blood Irish woman.'

       The fierce heart of the pirate queen resides in us all. Therefore, we are all her daughters.