Béal is a production company committed to exploring the relationship between the spoken and sung word, and presenting in performance the manifold ways in which music and text can interact. It is based in Dublin and is directed by David Bremner and Elizabeth Hilliard. Béal’s mission results from a fascination with the capacity of words to be both pure sound and a means of communication, and a desire to share this.

We present work by a diverse range of living composers and poets. Our first venture was a critically-acclaimed festival in 2010. In January 2012 we produced two song recitals featuring newly-commissioned work. Our successful festival in November 2012 featured a mixture of Irish and international work, including a performance by renowned American baritone Thomas Buckner of a Robert Ashley European premiere, and three new commissions: works by Ailís Ní Riain, Tom Johnson, and an innovative work of polyphonic poetry by Billy Mills. In 2016, we held a 2-day festival at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin, Inappropriate Moments, in which we performed the unaccompanied vocal works of Jennifer Walshe, many of which were Irish premieres. We have built an audience that is interested in the cross-fertilisation of music and text and have successfully mounted the premieres of over 20 new Irish works.