As part of the celebrations marking the centenary of James Joyce's Ulysses taking place in Dublin and globally on 16 June 2022, Axis Ballymun presented the world premiere of LUCIA - a suite for guitar and strings composed by multi-award nominated musician Joseph Chester.

Lucia Joyce spent 47 years in institutions as a result of mental illness, including long periods in isolation. She died in the notoriously cruel St Andrew's asylum, Northampton at the age of 75. And yet, in her youth she had shown enormous potential, as a dancer and illustrator. Over the course of two years, Chester took ten key moments from the life of Lucia Joyce, ten facts of her existence, and composed a piece of music for each, to pay tribute to her, to bear witness to her and, in some fantastical, imaginary way, let her speak. The Paris Times wrote that, "James Joyce may yet be known as his daughter's father." Some say she was a muse for Finnegans Wake. Her father described her as, "A fantastic being with a mind as clear and unsparing as the lightning." However, after undergoing tests, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was committed in 1936.She would never know freedom again.

"The music - ornate and elegant - flits from spry to haunting. A quietly beautiful triumph." -The Irish Independent

"In removing conjecture, he draws closer to the heart of his subject matter, each classical guitar track conjuring up images of the dancer in flow" - The Sunday Times

"By any standards this is an extraodinary piece of work" - No More Workhorse

"Deft and well-considered, the work spins and soars. An elegant discordant gem. The guitar cascades, dances and flies." -The Irish Times

"A triumph" - Irish Daily Mail