The Lyric Feature

Chorus member and documentary maker Róisín Power opens the door into the world of the National Symphony Chorus of Ireland to ask why singers continue to give their time, their voices, and their hearts to this extraordinary ensemble as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Poet Jane Clarke explores the Avonmore River in County Wicklow through poetry and conversation.

Theo Dorgan explores poetic, mythical, historical and cultural links between Ireland and Galicia in north west Spain.

Mary Brophy explores the influences, characters and obsessions that brought Ireland's historic gardens into being. Part 2.

Mary Brophy explores the influences, characters and obsessions that brought Ireland's historic gardens into being. Part 1

The poet Moya Cannon takes us to A Corner of the Burren to a place she discovered through her reading of Tim Robinson's maps, the triangle formed by Corcomroe Abbey, St. Colman's Well, Ought-mama and the 'Seven Churches’.

Chris Nikkel follows the story of a forgotten Irish migration to Canada through folk music passed down orally, and a special bicentennial commemoration.

Paddi Benson and Grace Lemon are two uilleann pipers who play and write music together in London. In their new Lyric Feature on RTÉ lyric FM, The Dead Reeds, they explore the stories bound up in uilleann pipe reeds

Brothers Ron and Greg Carey go back to Limerick, the city of their childhood, which holds memories that have inspired poems for both of them.

Composer and sound recordist, Karen Power and her microphones revisit the remote, magnetic spaces of the Arctic which she first visited and recorded more than a decade previously.

After lying forgotten for decades, the poems of Ethna MacCarthy, linguist, doctor, poet, and life-long friend of Samuel Beckett, were finally published in 2019.

Conductor Peter Whelan's fascinating research into the 18th century Irish baroque musician, Matthew Dubourg. Presenter : Máire Nic Gearailt Producer: Joe O’Dubhghaill  Producer for lyric: Eoin O Kelly

An Italian superstar castrato in Georgian Ireland as reimagined by the Irish Baroque Orchestra

Saucy Mistress Boldface is a peek through a Georgian window at life for women from 1746 to 1751 through a series of 221 letters from the Bishop Of Elphin to his only teenage daughter Alicia.

Born in Donegal in 1816, Frances Browne was blinded by smallpox at an early age, but despite this became a prolific and well-known Victorian author of poetry, novels, essays, and a best-selling collection of children's stories.  Producer: Claire Cunningham - Sound design by Regan Hutchins.

Without Dependence tells the story of Críostóir Ó Floinn – bilingual Limerick-born poet, playwright, teacher, and perhaps the most censored writer you’ve never heard of. Presented by Daragh O’Malley & Produced by Michael Glennon.

Traditional Irish musicians from Donegal reinterpret scores collected by Séamus Ennis in the 1940s. Produced by JJ O'Shea  A JJ O'Shea production for RTÉ lyric fm supported by RTÉ IRPs and Coimisiún Na Meán’s Sound and Vision broadcasting funding scheme.  

This 2-part series revisiting tunes and songs which were transcribed and notated by Séamus Ennis in Connemara and Donegal. Produced by JJ O'Shea A JJ O'Shea production for RTÉ lyric fm supported by RTÉ IRPs and Coimisiún Na Meán’s Sound & Vision scheme.

Writer Sara Baume and radio producer Regan Hutchins visit St Mary's Cistercian Abbey in Glencairn, Co. Waterford. Speaking to the nuns there about prayer, silence and mystery and hear from other artists about how these themes also inform their work. 

Rosa Mulholland (1841-1921) was a best-selling Victorian author of ghost stories, novels and essays whose work has been largely forgotten. Dr Sara Lodge explores her life, work and forward-thinking views on the role of women in society, follows in her footsteps to Inishbofin, and makes the case that such a talented writer should be remembered.

Six artists create new radio art for The Mirror Lamp Press Radio Edition. With RTE lyric fm & Culture File this feature explores voice, performance, and the politics of being heard, using the line “You talkin’ to me?” from Taxi Driver as a starting point.

A focus and celebration of the work of Author and Radio producer John Quinn who passed away recently.

Patricia Baker goes in search of the hidden history of a place behind a locked door in Dublin 8.

The poet Louis de Paor was born in Cork, but has not lived there for many years. In this evening's Lyric Feature, he goes back to explore the Cork of his childhood, where he first learned Irish, and the Cork that his father knew, that run throughout his poetry.

Poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin goes back to the Donegal Gaeltacht, where she grew up, and explores the folklore and history, landscape, language and personal experiences that all influenced her poetry.