Calary Concert tonight; Pavarotti of the organ in Derry this Friday; Glenageary choir to sing mass in neighbouring church; Classical Music in Delgany; Trinity College Chapel Choir Celebrates 250 Years of Music; Christ Church Cathedral Past Choristers Association; Sligo International Choral Festival 2012
Calary Concert tonight
The National Chamber Choir will sing in Calary church, Co. Wicklow, tonight Wednesday evening at 8pm. Tickets, which are essential, may be booked at derekneilson@eircom.com or at 01–2818146 or 01–2818118.
Pavarotti of the organ in Derry this Friday
With the events of UK City of Culture 2013 just around the corner in Londonderry, St Columb’s Cathedral is to host one of the world’s foremost concert organists in a special musical event this Friday evening at 7.30 p m.
Carlo Curley, dubbed by the press The Pavarotti of the Organ, will be giving a recital of most user-friendly and easy listening music on the superb Wells-Kennedy organ which was restored and greatly enlarged in the Cathedral at a cost of over £550,000 back in 2006. It was Carlo who actually gave the opening recital back then when he drew an audience of between 600 and 700.
As he prepares to return to Londonderry, in a programme every bit as likely to include the Liberty Bell as J S Bach (!), interest has been expressed in his visit from music lovers all over Northern Ireland. In fact, a couple from Cambridgeshire who are going to be visiting relatives locally this weekend, contacted Dean Morton for details of the Carlo concert.
Born into a musical family in North Carolina in 1952, he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and coached privately with renowned pedagogues Arthur Poister and Robert Elmore. Ultimately, he studied with two of the world’s greatest organists: America’s legendary Virgil Fox and Great Britain’s Sir George Thalben-Ball.
Early in his career, he was invited by the President to play at the White House, and made history as the first classical organist to give a solo organ recital there. Today, he tours the world, having played in every state and province in North America and Canada, as well as Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Hong Kong. His concert tour of Japan with the King’s Singers, sponsored by Rolex, was warmly received and a sell-out everywhere.
Carlo Curley has played before crowned heads of Europe, including the late Princess Grace of Monaco, the Princess Royal of England, and several Command Performances for the Danish Royal Family. He has made private recordings for the Sultan of Oman.
Wherever he goes, Carlo Curley’s charismatic personality inevitably finds its way onto TV and radio. His network TV appearances in the United States, England, Australia and Japan are well known.
In England, Mr. Curley has made innumerable appearances for the BBC including organ spectaculars from the Cathedrals at Ely, Lichfield, Norwich, Guildford and Gloucester. CLASSIC FM broadcast live his concert at Westminster Abbey, given in aid of the Abbey Choir School and the Royal School of Church Music.
Carlo Curley records exclusively for Decca International, including CDs and the first-ever commercial video of a classical organ performance, Organ Imperial. The Carlo Curley Classic Collection comprising 3 DVDs has recently been released world-wide. His recordings have been voted “Best of the Month” by Stereo Review in the USA, “Record of the Year” in Scandinavia, and “Laser Disc of Exceptional Merit” by FM Fan in Japan, where his CDs enjoy particularly brisk sales.
The Dean of Derry, Dr William Morton, extends a warm invitation to all who would like to come along on Friday evening for what he says will be a “truly memorable evening.”
Glenageary choir to sing mass in neighbouring church
Next Sunday 22nd April, St Paul’s Church Choir, Glenageary, Co Dublin considers it will be making history. The choir will sing at the 6.30pm Mass in the neighbouring church of Our Lady of Victories together with the resident choir there. Over the last few years, St Paul’s choir has been getting to know some neighbouring choirs, and for the last 2 years have enjoyed having Our Lady of Victories Choir sing with them in St Paul’s to help celebrate its patronal festival each January. On Sunday the celebrant will be Revd Fr Henry Nevin PP and the cantor will be Revd Paul Arbuthnot (curate St Paul’s). Music directed by Brian McCann and Derek Verso with Barry Courtney, organist. Similarly, last year St Paul’s Choir combined with the choir of Monkstown Parish Church to sing Choral Evensong together and it is planned that this will take place again on 20th May, this time in St Paul’s Church.
Classical Music in Delgany
An evening of classical music will take place in Christ Church, Delgany on 28th April, in aid of the Old Schoolhouse renovation fund. The concert will feature Geraldine O’Doherty on harp, David O’Doherty on violin, Moya O’Grady on Cello and Edel O’Brien, mezzo–soprano. The concert gets underway at 8.00 pm. €10
Your song could go global
As the Anglican Church of Canada prepares for the 2014 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it seeks original music compositions: A Canadian writing team preparing materials for the 2014 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is seeking original music compositions. If chosen, your song could be sung around the world for this important ecumenical event. The team seeks songs suitable for congregations and with words in French or English—ideally both. They can be hymns, praise choruses or shorter songs and must speak to the 2014 theme “Has Christ Been Divided?” based on 1 Corinthians 1:1-17. The deadline is May 31 and songs may be submitted by email.
http://news.anglican.ca/news/stories/2484
Trinity College Chapel Choir Celebrates 250 Years of Music
The chapel of Trinity College Dublin was filled with beautiful music at a Festival Eucharist to celebrate 250 years of the chapel choir. Former choir members joined current choristers along with former Archbishop of Dublin, John Neill and Senator Sean Barrett. The special service was broadcast live on Lyric FM. The choir was conducted by Margaret Bridge and the chapel’s musical director, Dr Kerry Houston, played the organ while Darren Magee and Fergal McMullen played fiddle and trumpet respectively.
The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, Rt Revd Michael Burrows, himself a former Church of Ireland Chaplain of Trinity College. He recalled in his time as chaplain learning “the line” of every building putting up posters to advertise the music in the chapel. He said that the role of the chaplain was not simply a student service but to provide a service to the college. “I could not have done the work without the work of the choir and its music. This is a place where the whole college can come together. This is a place where the college can still have a proper familial feeling.”
At a reception following the service Dean of Residence and Church of Ireland chaplain, Revd Darren McCallig, paid tribute to all who made the service possible. Quoting the poet John O’Donoghue, Revd McCallig said: “music is what language would love to be if it could”. But he said that beauty did not happen by accident – it happened because talented people came together to rehearse so that everyone who came through the chapel door got a “moment of peace and beauty”.
Director of music at the chapel, Dr Kerry Houston, thanked all who had travelled long distances to join the celebration. “The value here is that we do this week by week and what we do week by week is what makes this so valuable.” He thanked Margaret Bridge for conducting the choir so magnificently and organ scholar, Kevin O’Sullivan.
Provost Prendergast observed that living in the Provost’s house, he had the opportunity to cross the cobbles and hear the uplifting music of the choir. He said the talent of the chapel choir had been heard around the world and commented that they were proud of tradition and respectful of the past but that the choir was evolving and was dynamic and contemporary.
Christ Church Cathedral Past Choristers Association
The second reunion of the Christ Church Cathedral Past Choristers Association will take place on Saturday June 16. The event is a relatively new initiative aimed at reconnecting those who have been part of the cathedral’s long musical past. All former choir members are warmly invited to attend.
A rehearsal will begin at 2.00 pm before Evensong at 5.00 pm when the past choristers will sing alongside the present Cathedral Choir. After the service, the Dean will kindly host a reception for all participants in the crypt.
All former choir members are welcome to join in the rehearsal and sing evensong. Those who might prefer not to sing are welcome to the service and reception afterwards.
Please contact Victor Coe at pastchoristers@cccdub.ie or by writing to him at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin Past Choristers, Christ Church Cathedral, Christ Church Place, Dublin 8. The association is also on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/pastchoristers.
Sligo International Choral Festival 2012
PR – Cead Mile Failte! A Hundred Thousand Welcomes – to the 24TH Annual SLIGO INTERNATIONAL CHORAL FESTIVAL from November 8th – 11th 2012. Following the success of the workshops last year, we will repeat these again in November with the Adult Choirs Workshop on the Thursday night and the Schools/Youth Choirs workshops on the Friday morning. Our competition venues, once again, will be THE MERCY COLLEGE and the nearby ST.ANNE’S CHURCH as well as The Sligo Park Hotel. We are really excited about the introduction of 2 new competitions this year – Sacred Music for authentic Church Choirs and BEST OVERALL CHOIR OF THE FESTIVAL.