Creators of "You Raise Me Up" Secret Garden

SYDNEY, Australia - There is a song that has been sung at Australian weddings when the father of the bride reaches for a tissue. It has been played at graduations when the last chord makes the whole hall hold its breath. It has been hummed in hospital waiting rooms, in lonely cars after night shifts, in the quiet kitchen of a mother who just needed to feel that someone, somewhere, understood.

The song is "You Raise Me Up".

And for 22 years, the two people who wrote it - Norwegian composer Rolf Løvland and Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry, the Grammy‑nominated duo Secret Garden - have not performed it live in Australia. That silence ends this November.

A song born from sorrow, lived through joy

"You Raise Me Up" 

was never meant to be a hit. Løvland wrote the melody in 2001 after the sudden death of his mother. It was a private eulogy, a quiet breath of grief. Later, Irish songwriter Brendan Graham added words inspired by a Celtic prayer. What emerged was not a pop song, but a modern hymn: a confession that we cannot raise ourselves, and a quiet hope that someone - a parent, a partner, a friend, a stranger - can.

The song has been recorded by more than 1,000 artists, from Josh Groban and Westlife to Il Divo and Celtic Woman. It has been performed at the Olympic Games, the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and the Super Bowl. It has been translated into over 40 languages.

But in Australia, it became something else: a private soundtrack to thousands of small, unspoken moments of being lifted up.

"Who raised you up?" - A question the whole country is asking

"After every concert, people come to us and say: 'That song got me through cancer. That song played at my mother's funeral. That song was our first dance,'" says violinist Fionnuala Sherry. "We don't own it anymore. It belongs to everyone who has ever been raised up by someone else."

That is the spirit of the 2026 Australian tour. Secret Garden is not simply returning to perform. They are returning to listen - to hear the stories of the people who have carried the song in their hearts for two decades.

From Perth to Sydney, Melbourne to Adelaide and Brisbane, audiences will be invited to do something most concerts never ask: sing along. Loudly. With tears, with smiles, with arms around the person next to them.

A chance to say thank you - out loud

For many Australians, "You Raise Me Up" has been a private prayer. This November, Secret Garden wants to turn it into a public chorus of gratitude.

"We want people to think of the person who raised them up - and sing it for them," says Løvland. "Not quietly in their car. Not alone in their earphones. Together, in a room full of strangers who all know exactly how that feels."

The tour will include all the beloved melodies - "Song from a Secret Garden", "Nocturne", "The Promise" - but the centrepiece will be a moment when the lights dim, the piano plays the first notes of "You Raise Me Up", and thousands of voices rise as one.

Give the gift of music. Bring someone you love.

Already, Australians are buying more than one ticket. They are not just securing a seat for themselves - they are gifting the evening to someone else. A daughter buying for her mother. A husband surprising his wife. A friend sending a ticket to the person who stood by them in their hardest year.

"That is exactly what this song is about," says Benny Wang, Director of Wise N Rise, the tour's presenter. "You Raise Me Up is not a solo. It is a duet between the person who lifts and the person who is lifted. So bring that person with you. Let them hear you sing it for them."

This Christmas in July, Secret Garden concert tickets are becoming one of the most meaningful gifts under the tree. Each purchase comes with a 5% discount using code VSTAR, and every ticket plants a tree through the Inspiration Forest initiative. But the real gift is the moment when the lights go down, the first notes play, and two people - or ten, or a whole family - turn to each other and sing.

Don't come alone. Come with the person who raised you up. And let the whole room know it.

A concert with a deeper purpose

Beyond the music, the tour carries an environmental mission. Every ticket sold plants a tree through the Inspiration Forest initiative, helping restore native forests in bushfire‑affected regions. It is a small way of saying that being raised up also means raising up the land that holds us.

Tour dates - November 2026

Perth - 6 November | Riverside Theatre

Sydney - 8 November | Darling Harbour Theatre

Melbourne - 13 November | Palais Theatre

Adelaide - 14 November | Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Brisbane - 15 November | Great Hall, BCEC

Tickets are available now. A 5% discount is available using code VSTAR.

Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane - Ticketek
Melbourne - Ticketmaster

A final word from the artists

"We have waited 22 years to come back," says Sherry. "We did not know that the song would travel this far. But now that we know, we want to sing it with you - not for you."

Løvland adds: "This time, don't hold back. Sing it for the person who raised you up. Let them hear you."