East Clare voices come together for seasonal concert

A PRE-Christmas treat is in store in Scariff this weekend when over 100 choir singers from across East Clare perform a seasonal concert, aptly called Glór na Nollag.
The Sacred Heart Church in Scariff will be the atmospheric venue for this concert on Friday and Saturday night, which will feature three East Clare choirs – The East Clare Community Choir, Scariff Community College Choir and the East Clare National School Choir.
The East Clare Community Choir formed last January and currently has 46 members. It is a four-part soprano, alto, tenor, bass choir of men and women from the area. Since its formation, it has regular rehearsals and has performed in the church in Whitegate in April, at the Mountshannon Arts Festival in June and in the New Ross Choral Festival in May. John O’Brien, musical director of the choral concert, said that the choir is “coming along nicely”. “The choir has gelled together well and are constantly expanding their repertoire. It is becoming a strong choir. Most of the members hadn’t sang in a formal choir before but had been involved in parish folk groups and other singing groups before and some in the East Clare Musical Society, so this is a new venture for most but they adapted very well and all are enjoying their involvement in the choir. For this concert, they have taken on some challenging numbers and are doing very well,” he commented.
The Scariff Community College Choir has 30 members, boys and girls, from all years in the school. “I direct this choir, so I’m very familiar with them by now. It’s a three-part choir and they perform well as a choir,” John added. The secondary school choir will have a number of instrumentalists from the school playing with them at the concert, as well as some solo traditional music. “Musicians on concertina, fiddle, tin whistle and flute will play at the concert, mainly traditional pieces but also accompanying the choir for some songs,” he explained.
The third choir involved in Glór na Nollag are representatives of fifth and sixth classes in some of the national schools in East Clare. “We contacted all of the primary schools, which are feeder schools for Scariff Community College, asking them to put forward some pupils to join the East Clare National Schools Choir, including Whitegate, Feakle, Mountshannon, Ogonnelloe, Killanena, Flagmount, Scariff and Broadford. About five years ago, we did something similar with the national schools and they joined some local traditional musicians, including Martin Hayes, for a concert, which was recorded on a CD. So essentially, the concert this year is an expansion of that idea, taking in the secondary school age group and the adult choir,” John remarked. There are 27 children in the national schools choir, between the ages of 11 and 13. “It is always a worry how children will sing together in a choir but these children are very good and this choir works very well and will bring another very special element to the concert.”
Each of the choirs will perform about eight songs at the concert, with the choirs coming together as a mass choir towards the end of the performance for a number of songs. “The choral singing will be interspersed with seasonal readings and reflections which will be read by students from Scariff Community College, as well as some instrumental performances and solo singing from Edel O’Grady, a past pupil of the college, Paul Conroy and Niamh Brody, who are all talented singers,” John added.
All of the choirs have been busy rehearsing for the concert in recent weeks, in the purpose-built music room in Scariff Community College. The East Clare Community Choir have been rehearsing twice weekly for up to three months, while the Scariff Community College has been rehearsing once a week and the National Schools Choir every Saturday morning for over a month. “At this stage, pieces are coming together very well and we’re all happy with the standard of performances. Everyone involved is putting a lot of hard work into this, but the feeling of accomplishment when we master a song is great. It is very enjoyable at this stage and we hope that comes across at the concert,” he said.
The concert will fundraise for local charities in the East Clare area.
“Our idea is that this will be a seasonal musical treat for people. The church is a beautiful setting for a choir concert, with the added element of this concert being candlelit, it really will be quite atmospheric and festive. It will be some time out to reflect and relax in the lead-up to Christmas and listen to some beautiful choral singing and music, performed by members of the locality. Really, it is a celebration of community and Christmas and what can be done when communities come together. We hope it will be very special,” he commented.
The concert will start at 8pm in the Sacred Heart Church in Scariff on Friday and Saturday night, with doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from Rogers Centra in Scariff and Tracey’s Service Station in Scariff.