Back Home – A Christmas Concert

With so many of our family and friends returning home for Christmas this year, what better way to welcome them back home than with an evening of music, spoken word, and plenty of Christmas cheer!

To Be Irish presents Back Home, a special in-person and live streamed concert for everyone who calls Ireland home. Whether you’ve moved back from abroad, are home for the holidays, or are newly settled in the Emerald Isle, we welcome you with open arms as we celebrate the season.

Join us at the EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum as Paul Noonan of Bell X1 takes to the stage for a cosy evening of festive feels. Featuring special guests spoken word artist Erin Fornoff, folk singer Aoife Scott, cellist Patrick Dexter, harpist Claire O’Donnell, and members of musical group Cuckoo’s Nest. Hosted by singer-songwriter and presenter Zeinab Elguzouli.

To attend this special event in-person with a friend or family member, simply fill out the short form at the link below and tell us your story of calling Ireland home.

Submit Your Story To Claim Your Tickets

Paul Noonan is a Dublin based songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the frontman of the Irish group Bell X1 and recently joined forces with HousePlants, as well as a solo artist and collaborator on various musical projects including Printer Clips, Starboard Home, and Imagining Ireland : 21st Century Song.

Aoife Scott Award winning folk singer Aoife Scott is a songwriter based in Dublin, Ireland. Born into the legendary Black Family (Aoife’s mother is Frances Black and her Aunt is Mary Black) Aoife is steadily rising to the top of the traditional and folk music scene and has long enjoyed success as an established artist in her own right. Fragile and ethereal one minute and strong and vibrant the next, her dynamic and profound vocals explore the emotional depths of her lyrics, leaving the audience entranced.

Erin Fornoff is an American-born, new Irish citizen from the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Called a ‘story-telling poet’ and ‘as close to music as poetry gets’ she has performed her poetry at hundreds of festivals and events across Ireland, UK, and the USA including twice at Glastonbury Festival and a national Irish and UK tour. She has featured on BBC3 The Verb, at Hozier and James Taylor concerts, and her poems have been included in Best New English and Irish Poets 2016. Her debut collection Hymn to the Reckless (Dedalus Press 2017) was shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Award for best first collection in Ireland and named by The Millions as a ‘Must Read.’

Patrick Dexter is a globally-renowned cellist from Ireland. Though Patrick spent much of youth in Dublin, he now makes music in a tiny stone cottage in County Mayo, surrounded by immense amounts of nature. The remoteness provided both solace from the business of city life and excellent fodder for writing music. During the Coronavirus lockdown, Patrick developed a habit of practicing the cello outside. One day, he posted a video of himself online, and the Internet took the wheel (as it tends to do). His performances started to rack up tens of millions of views, and messages from people all over the world who had taken comfort in his rich, expansive playing flooded in. In April 2022, Patrick released his debut album, Solace. Exploring themes of home, the natural world, and the dichotomy of despair and joy found in both the landscape of the west of Ireland and the sonic depth of the cello (one of classical music’s most arresting instruments), Solace weaves through a complex and fascinating history of traditional Irish music, as well as Patrick’s own personal history.

Back Home is presented and supported by To Be Irish, an initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs.