THE STORY OF BRIGID - a song cycle for soprano and harp

Last year, I took the beautiful ballads of ‘The Bard’ that weave through my chamber opera Fire Songs, and rewrote them to become a standalone song cycle - telling the life story of Ireland’s fire goddess Brigid. I dedicated these songs to Adelaide’s stunning singer-harpist Emma Horwood and in November she came up and recorded them in the studio. Now Emlyn has finished mixing them and they sound fantastic. To celebrate we are launching a gorgeous companion book with sheet music, lyrics, art, background story and links. Come and join us to celebrate our first song-book.

I was inspired by the medieval Irish manuscripts that mention Brigid, and the beautiful modes and melodies or Celtic folk songs. The song cycle tells the story of Brigid’s life, from woman to Goddess—her journey into the sky. It sits in the pocket from Bb below middle C to G on top of the stave - for both mezzos and sopranos. The score is for Celtic harp, but it work as well for piano, and I’ve included guitar chords for folkies.