winner, 1995
Secret Garden
Secret Garden represented Norway at Eurovision 1995 in Dublin with “Nocturne”, and won.
- what
- Irish-Norwegian musical group
- contest
- 1995
- win
- 1995
- music
- new age music
- active
- since 1995
- members
- Fionnuala Sherry, Rolf Løvland past and present
- sang for
- Norway
Biography
Secret Garden is an Irish-Norwegian act led by the violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and the composer and pianist Rolf Løvland, and known for new-age music. The two came to fame by winning the 1995 contest in Dublin for Norway with “Nocturne”, a piece that has only 24 words. In a partnership of more than 25 years, Secret Garden has sold millions of albums around the world.
Written by ESC Predictions, 8 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, “Secret Garden (duo)”.
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The act’s own accounts, as listed on Wikidata. If one is wrong or out of date, tell us and we’ll take it down.
At Eurovision
One song, and what became of it.
-
1995 Dublin
“Nocturne”
Winner Won the contest with 148 points, ahead of 22 other songs.
- Sung in
- Norwegian
- Written by
- Rolf Løvland, Petter Skavlan
- Conductor
- Geir Langslet
- Running order
- 5th of 23
Play: Secret Garden — “Nocturne”, the winning performance at Eurovision 1995 hear it YouTube the contest’s channel Spotify search Apple Music search
The story of Eurovision 1995: Ireland asks not to have to host again, and a 24-word song wins
In the drama file
The scene from our index of scandals, mishaps and lore that Secret Garden is part of.
- 1995 Nocturne Moments people still talk about
In our contest stories
What we wrote about Secret Garden, year by year. Follow a link for the rest of that night.
- 1995 Nocturne
Norway won with a piece that was barely a song at all. "Nocturne", by Secret Garden, was almost entirely instrumental. It has 24 words, sung briefly at the beginning and again at the end.
- 1995 Nocturne
And Ireland had a hand in it after all. Secret Garden was a partnership between Løvland and an Irish violinist, Fionnuala Sherry. They had met at the previous year's contest in the same building, where she was playing in the orchestra and he was there as the writer of Norway's entry.
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. Biographical details from Wikidata. The photo is from Wikimedia Commons and is credited beside it. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.