The Glas-na-Bradan Wood Soundwalk: Listening for the Future, by Robert Coleman and featuring a live performance by HIVE Choir

In 2021 planting began at the Glas-na-Bradan Wood in the Belfast Hills. Since then composer and sound artist Robert Coleman has been following and documenting the growth of this new native forest. Through his research, field-recordings and interviews with the tree-planters, this soundwalk explores the site in its present day, its history and its potential in the future.

Participants in the soundwalk will be guided along a route through the Glas-na-Bradan Wood. They will be introduced to the biodiversity there through listening to field-recordings which Robert recorded on-site over the last year through a variety of methods. Robert has also collected data which will allow participants to listen to the projected future soundscape of the forest in years to come. This will facilitate a new mode of understanding the scale of changes taking place in our local environment and habitats, and in doing so provide an insight into the biodiversity on the island of Ireland.

HIVE Choir will further explore these themes with a live on-site performance intertwined into the narrative of the walk.

All this will be brought into the context of the local community at Glas-na-Bradan through recorded interviews with the tree-planters. Over the past two planting seasons they have shared their stories, connections to Glas-na-Bradan and hopes for the future of the site, while contributing to the future of this forest.