March - April 2000

A very special hello to all our friends in England and Ireland this time. In May Philips is releasing a new compilation CD we've named "Dreamcatcher". It contains 18 songs taken from all 3 CDs. The release will be backed up by an extensive TV campaign starting in May, and in the last week of the month we will finally be touring England with our whole band. All the tour dates will be announced here on our web-site, and we're sure you will hear about it in the UK media and press.

The UK dates and concert halls are in the final processing, but one date is confirmed already: Finally Secret Garden is playing in Dublin on the 1st of June. This will be a very special occasion for Fionnuala, since it is the first full concert on home ground -ever! In fact this concert will mark the 5-year anniversary of the Eurovision Song contest win in 1995 with Nocturne. So it will be a night of celebration, great memories and intense emotions for all of us. We hope to see all our Irish friends there!

Our first album "Songs from a Secret Garden" was very successful in the UK market. But since then both "White Stones" and "Dawn of a New Century" have only been available on import. The new compilation album "Dreamcatcher" will hopefully create some new exposure and awareness for us. We are very excited about the record and all the support and expectations from Philips - our record people. The cover will feature a photo of Fionnuala layered in a beautiful Irish scenery. We hope that "Dreamcatcher" will be a good representation of the last two albums for those of you that have only been able to get a hold of "Songs from a Secret Garden".

The month of March gave us a chance to visit New York again - for business meetings and creative affairs. We are in the planning stage of the North American tour in the fall. All details will be published in our home page later. April is hopefully a creative period for us. We are pre recording new compositions in Kristiansand, and we hope that some of that will be the backbone for a new album next year.

Last week we received the sad news that one of our most supportive radio programs in the USA - Nightscapes - was cancelled. We want to give a special thank you to the program host - Anne Williams - who has been featuring Secret Garden frequently for listeners in the northeast for the past years.

It's finally spring in the northern part of the world - the best time of year! Enjoy the beautiful changes in life and nature, and may the season revitalise and inspire you!

All the best
Rolf and Fionnuala