Six short reports with links
A Taste of Tabernacles. Israel: a light to the nations – in Music and Words
This presentation in Music and Words will be held in a central location in Belfast Monday 12 March 2012, 7.30pm. Adm free: by ticket
Special musical guest: Serguei Popov, Finland; The Shalom Dance team. Featured Speaker: David Parsons, ICEJ Media Director, Jerusalem.
For further info please contact Brian Silvester, icej.brian@btinternet.com
Also an event in the North West: for details contact Brian at email above.
Irish tenor special guest at male choir concert
Portadown Times – Acclaimed Irish tenor Finbar Wright is the special guest at Portadown Male Voice Choir concert in Craigavon Civic Centre on Friday, March 23 (7.45pm). A one-man entertainment package, Finbar’s repertoire ranges from his beloved Irish folk songs to opera, through Spanish rhythms like ‘La Bamba’. And along the way he interprets the finest of opera, to Willie Nelson-type country, spirituals and rock classics. Not to mention the melodies from great song writers like Cole Porter and Jerome Kern. A highly educated man (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Divinity, Higher Diploma in Music), the man from Kinsale, County Cork, is proud of his eclectic and multi-lingual range of singing – and, of course, his unique voice.
http://www.portadowntimes.co.uk/lifestyle/irish_tenor_special_guest_at_male_choir_concert_1_3582455
Bishop defends decision on organ
Irish Times – The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Colm O’Reilly, has defended his decision to award a contract to restore the organ at St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford to an Italian firm, writes Patsy McGarry.
He was responding to a representation from Fine Gael TD James Bannon in favour of the Irish firm that built the original organ, which was destroyed in a fire in 2009. Bishop O’Reilly said his decision was on “the basis of musicality, design of the organ and value for money”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0228/1224312482080.html
School music lessons ‘lack music’
BBC – There is not enough music in music lessons in many schools in England, say Ofsted inspectors.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17226187
Family Folk in Concert to support cross–community project
A great night of music and entertainment is promised on Friday March 9 when the Delabridge 2012 cross community project presents Family Folk in concert in Holy Trinity Parish Hall, Banbridge.
Hailing from the Ards Peninsula, Family Folk boasts a wide repertoire of Irish and Ulster Scots traditional music. The band comprises Paddy Bell and his brother–in–law Lawrence Brown, Paddy’s sons Stephen and Alan and daughter Karen Burrows, and Stuart McCrea, nephew to Paddy and Lawrence. All experienced musicians, they have been playing together as a family since the younger members were children and formed as a group four years ago when ‘Auntie Minnie,’ now aged 104, requested her musical relatives do a ‘wee turn’ to mark her 100th birthday!
Applications invited for organ scholarships
Applications are open for an organ scholarship with the Down and Dromore and Connor Organ Scholarship Management Board.
The scholarships are intended to train musicians in the service of the church, in the Anglican tradition both at the organ and in leading a choir. Tuition in choral training is an integral part of the course.
No previous experience is necessary but applicants should be proficient on the keyboard to approximately grade five piano or equivalent. There are no lower or upper age limits and candidates who have previously been unsuccessful are welcome to re–apply.
The Board’s tutors are Dr Donald Davison, St John’s, Malone; Mr Michael McCracken, Down Cathedral; Mr Ian Mills, St Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderry; and Mr Philip Stopford, at St Molua’s, Stormont. Lessons will generally be given in these churches.
The Board usually awards six scholarships annually, dividing them between the two dioceses. Scholarships are tenable for three years, subject to a satisfactory assessment at the end of each of the first two years. Tuition is delivered fortnightly, free of charge, by one of the tutors and a certificate is awarded on completion of the course.
Application forms are available from rectors or from Church of Ireland House, Donegall Street, Belfast. Completed forms should be submitted to St Molua’s Rectory, 3 Rosepark, Belfast, BT5 7RG, no later than Friday March 23.