Thanks for checking us out at PCST Conference 2025!
Live Performance: Tuesday, May 27, 2025 // 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM // Performances Track 3 // P& J Live – Conference Suite 3
See programme
Who is John and what is HIVE Choir?
HIVE Choir is a vocal ensemble led by artist and researcher John D’Arcy based at Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast.
On this page are some projects that might interest you – also feel free to check out the other project pages here on our website.
Stay in touch: contact HIVE Choir director John D’Arcy via LinkedIn , Instagram or email hi (at) hivechoir.com
Follow @hivechoir on Instagram // See John’s profile at Queen’s University Belfast
Visual Presentation at PCST 2025
Learn more about the projects below…
Songs of Genomics (2023-24)
Watch the highlights of Songs of Genomics live in Oxford above ^. Watch the full concert here.
Songs of Genomics is a series of songs responding to University of Oxford’s Centre for Personalised Medicine’s research into the human experience of genetic testing. Some songs quote directly from patient testimonies and government policies in pastiches of English folk, R’n’B and Baroque motet. Others songs created in a workshop with participants adopt chants, hand signals and catchy melodies for large crowd participation.
The ‘Songs of Genomics’ songbook was premiered in Belfast in 2023 and presented in Oxford in 2024.
Download the ‘Songs of Genomics’ songbook
HIVEsplaining: The Bog (2025)
‘The Bog’ is a songbook about the science, history and mythology of peatlands. The song ‘Pandora’s Bog’ uses diagrams of peatland biology as graphic scores. ‘Cure Boggin’ recites plants and their uses in traditional medicine. ‘Epibogue’ replaces the lyrics of the classic ‘Bog Down in the Valley-o’ with techniques for bog regeneration and sustainability.
Premiered at Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Bellaghy in February 2025.
HIVEsplaining: Growing Up (2024)
‘Growing Up’ is a musical exploration of what it means to grow and age, considering how we get bigger, learn, make memories and eventually die. The song ‘Making Sense’ translates recordings of baby babble into lullaby melodies. ‘Reminiscence’ invites the audience to try memorisation techniques and create a new song in the process. ‘Requiem for HIVE’ quotes thanatology in improvised polyphony.
Premiered at Belfast Central Library in February 2024.
HIVEsplaining: The Sea (2023)
‘The Sea’ is a songbook that navigates the expansive topic of life at and below sea level. Songs layer traditional Irish songs of nautical emigration, quote verbatim an interview about emergent sea power technologies, and recite the names of streets and towns that are predicted to be submerged in future flooding.
Premiered at Bangor by the sea in February 2023.
HIVEsplaining: Birds! (2022)
On February 19th 2022, HIVE returned to NI Science Festival, to alight on a new research topic to hatch a fully-fledged new show – HIVEsplaining: Birds!
For 2022’s HIVEsplaining, our vocal brood put all our eggs in one basket and fluttered around to learn more about birds: their bodies, their migrations, and how they relate to our wider ecosystem. HIVE hopped through books, articles and the hidden nests of the internet to help peck apart the big questions: Why do we love the sound of birdsong? What do birds think? And why are we so jealous of their power of flight?
So join HIVE Choir for an artistic exploration of all things ornithological. As usual, expect them to ruffle some feathers as they wing-it with some alternative musical notation, improvisation and sound games. Get ready to warble, caw, cheep, chatter, and chirp as HIVE take wing on a musical adventure through the world of birds.
HIVEsplaining: Your Ears (2021)
– an online concert with NI Science Festival
On 26 February 2021, HIVE broke the 4th wall of the laptop screen with their interactive online concert HIVEsplaining: Your Ears – a musical exploration of the science behind human hearing in collaboration with NI Science Festival and Sonic Arts Research Centre!
Press release:
Belfast’s resident weirdo vocal group HIVE Choir are breaking the 4th wall of the laptop screen to bring you an interactive online concert. HIVE Choir love finding interesting tidbits from books, articles and deep corners of the internet, cutting them up and turning it into music. This year, they’re using their deep-diving skills to teach you everything they think you need to know about a subject of their choice, in the first-ever HIVEsplaining! And their chosen subject is… the human ear!
So join HIVE Choir for an artistic exploration of the science behind your hearing. Using alternative musical notation, improvisation, and sound games, HIVE will take you on an adventure through the world of aural diversity.