Dumbworld and Ulster Orchestra present
How We Stand, How We Breathe A Series of New Music Interruptions for Orchestra, Mixed Performers and Micro Societies…
Recorded live at Foyle Foundation Hall, Ulster Orchestra at Townsend.
(Wed 26 – Fri 28 Mar)
The world is shifting, and with it, a new kind of world order is emerging. Amidst the tumult of change and the overwhelming sense of “wrongness,” people continue to gather, forming collectives in unexpected spaces—industrial estates, old churches, community halls, and more. These micro societies, united by a shared love of creation and expression, are symbols of resistance, hope, and joy.
Devised and created by composer Brian Irvine and writer-director John McIlduff (Dumbworld), How We Stand, How We Breathe is a series of seven musical works or “Interventions” (each 6 – 12 minutes in duration) exploring ideas of individual worth, belonging, equality, identity, fear, ritual, gender, politics, society, culture, age, free will, and connection. These works are the result of a year-long co-creation and collaboration process with a diverse range of individuals and groups across Northern Ireland.
The gathering of many performers, facilitators, choirs, singers, rappers, improvisers, poets, children…
Ulster Orchestra, Nandipha Jola, Juanita Rea, Anaka Women Collective, Clara Bella, Richard Mawhinney, Aoife Ní Raghallaigh, Codetta Youth & North Belfast Youth Choir, Paul Stapleton, HotBox rappers, Anne McCambridge, Carer’s Support Service, Shaun Ryan, Dónal Doherty, Dee Isaacs, Zara Meadows, Cedar Lodge School, Larne Choral Youth Choir, Emily DeDakis, Teenage Singers from Derry and Strabane, Úna McCann, Padraig Regan, Quire Belfast (LGBTQ+ Singers) and the Togetherness Children’s Choir made up of children from Afghanistan, Denmark, Iran, Syria, and Belfast!
“𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓊𝓅𝒾𝓁𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝑒𝒹𝒶𝓇 𝐿𝑜𝒹𝑔𝑒 𝒮𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝑜𝒾𝓇 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝒯𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓈𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒜𝓃𝓃𝑒 𝑀𝒸𝒞𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓇𝒾𝒹𝑔𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒟𝓊𝓂𝒷𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹; 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒻𝒾𝓉𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸’𝓈 𝒸𝒶𝓅𝒶𝒸𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇.” – Rhian Phelan (Teacher, Cedar Lodge School)
In this ambitious multi-movement work, the collective experiences of the participants merge into a sonic exploration of culture, democracy, race, and belonging. Over three days, all seven musical pieces will be recorded and filmed at the Ulster Orchestra’s new Townsend Street home, culminating in a series of video/music recordings reminiscent of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.
“𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓌𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈…𝐼𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓃𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂 𝒶 𝒸𝒾𝓇𝒸𝓁𝑒, 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈, 𝓈𝓌𝒶𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒹𝒾𝒶𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝓈 𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓃𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝒶 𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝓈𝑜𝓃𝑔.” – Dee Isaacs (Anaka Women Collective Facilitator)
The works will be made available to stream online at a date.
Produced by Dumbworld in association with the Ulster Orchestra.
Funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, Halifax Foundation, and The Ireland Funds.
“𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒿𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓂𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓅 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒. 𝒲𝑒’𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔 𝓀𝒾𝒹𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒯𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓃’𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝑜𝒾𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 ‘𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝑜𝓂𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈’ 𝒶𝓉 𝐵𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎𝓃𝒶𝒻𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽 𝑀𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑜𝒹𝒾𝓈𝓉 𝒞𝒽𝓊𝓇𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐹𝒾𝓉𝓏𝓇𝑜𝓎 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒷𝓎𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃 𝒞𝒽𝓊𝓇𝒸𝒽 – 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎’𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇, 𝒾𝓃𝒸𝓁𝓊𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒜𝒻𝑔𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃, 𝒟𝑒𝓃𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓀, 𝐼𝓇𝒶𝓃, 𝒮𝓎𝓇𝒾𝒶, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝐵𝑒𝓁𝒻𝒶𝓈𝓉! 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎’𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝐿𝒶𝓇𝓃𝑒 𝒞𝑜𝓂𝓂𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽 𝒞𝒽𝑜𝒾𝓇. 𝒫𝓁𝓊𝓈, 𝓌𝑒’𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝑒𝒹𝒶𝓇 𝐿𝑜𝒹𝑔𝑒 𝒮𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒞𝑒𝒹𝒶𝓇 𝐿𝑜𝒹𝑔𝑒 𝒮𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁 𝒮𝒸𝒽𝑜𝑜𝓁, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎’𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝓈𝑜𝓃𝑔 – 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝓌𝑒’𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻𝒻, 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓂, 𝓂𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝐵𝑒𝓁𝒻𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒯𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒞𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝑜𝒾𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝑜! 𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒰𝓁𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒪𝓇𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶 – 𝓌𝑒’𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝒾𝓉𝑒𝒹!” – Anne McCambridge (Facilitator)
