Nursing Home Residents to perform for Nursing Homes Week 2023
Sunday August 20, 2023Nursing Home Residents to perform for Nursing Homes Week 2023
Music Speaks – a unique music festival for nursing home residents to participate in – commences Monday 21st August
Videos of residents & Niamh Kavanagh performing available with this release
20th August 2023: Nursing home residents from across the country will sing and play music for a very special performance to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023, which commences tomorrow, Monday 21st August.
The performance is a highlight on the line-up for a very special online music-themed festival titled Music Speaks which nursing home residents and staff will participate in to mark the national celebration of nursing home care, taking place Monday 21st to Sunday 27th August.
Over 100 residents from over 30 nursing homes are participating in the online performance, with renditions of classics such as Danny Boy, Molly Malone, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Can’t Help Falling in Love, You Are My Sunshine, Que Sera, Sera, intertwined with performances by residents on different music instruments, including piano, accordion, bodhrán.
The Music Speaks festival will also include performances from Niamh Kavanagh with Mobile Music Machine, Sive, Ross Scanlon performs John McCormack, John Spillane. Marking the 30th anniversary of her Eurovision success, Niamh performed for residents and staff in Asgard Lodge Nursing Home, Arklow, Co Wicklow. The performance will be broadcast into nursing homes as part of the Music Speaks festival for residents and staff across the country to singalong to and enjoy.
Further, performances from the Irish Traditional Music Archive will be opened up to nursing home residents and an online discussion will be hosted discussing the impact of music on nursing home residents.
Celebrations will be hosted in nursing homes across Ireland to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023, marking the tenth anniversary of the event. Music Speaks will be broadcast across the week for over 400 nursing homes with approximately 25,000 residents to participate in.
Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland CEO states: “We are thrilled to have brought together a very special performance of nursing home residents to kick-start Nursing Homes Week 2023 and our Music Speaks festival. Nursing homes are home to truly very special people, who are tremendous characters and have a rich legacy in song and music. Our Music Speaks performance encompasses one resident who is 100 years of age playing accordion, a 98-year-old delivering an excellent piano solo, a 95-year old singing Boys from the County Armagh. Residents love to sing and perform and the Music Speaks extravaganza honours the talents of the very special people in our society who are nursing home residents.
“Music fulfils an absolutely integral role in nursing home care, providing comfort to residents, stimulating memories, bringing them together, and it gives great joy and happiness. The festival we have created is truly unique, bringing residents together for a very special range of performances and events over the course of a week. It will feature outstanding performers who supported nursing home residents during Covid19, a trip down memory lane for residents via the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and a discussion on the impact of music in our nursing homes. We wish residents and staff a very happy Nursing Homes Week 2023!”
A schedule of events and performances is lined up for Nursing Homes Week 2023. Visit NHI.ie for further information.
Note for Editor
Media can contact Michael McGlynn, NHI Communications & Research Executive, at 087 9082970.
Pictures are available from Julien Behal Photography – 087 9782542.
Video clips of Niamh Kavanagh, Mobile Music Machine and nursing home residents performing are available for media to utilise – click here