Feather & Flock - Pt 1 The Cuckoo | The Lyric Feature -

To mark the centenary of her birth, Liz Nolan explores the life and legacy of Maria Callas, the iconic Greek soprano, widely regarded as the most significant, inspiring and provocative opera star of the modern age.

Lapwings are any of various ground-nesting birds akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from 10 to 16 inches in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry.

Jays are colourful, vocal, and highly intelligent woodland birds. In this episode ecologist Anja Murray and musician Brían Mac Gloinn meet ornithologist Seán Ronayne in an autumn woodland to listen to stories these birds’ incredible capacity for mimicry.

Feather and Flock is a new six part series delving in to the ways of six iconic native Irish birds. Each episode combines ecology, folklore and history to uncover the incredible lives and journeys of these wild creatures. We begin with the Cuckoo.

Laoise O’Brien has spent the past twenty-five years championing an instrument often unfairly perceived as an instrument of torture, the recorder. Join Laoise as she embarks on a journey to tell the story of the recorder and its development during the ages.

An audio portrait of painter James Hanley, told through the eyes of his sitters, fellow artists, buyers, family and friends, a story of being creative, connecting and making a life in the uncertain world of the arts.

Micil Ned Quinn from Mullaghbawn in Co. Armagh was immersed in the folk arts from childhood and grew up to be a renowned traditional singer and songwriter. This programme celebrates and reflects upon the rural life and culture from which he came and that he himself embodied. (First tx 190323)

Ireland is on the verge of losing its population of breeding curlew, but could our songs, stories and art help us to save it?

An examination of the earliest notated music in Ireland: Medieval Monastic Chant.

We Only Want The Earth: Can music help us face the climate crisis?