Tag Archives: choir

WELL-known Ennis chamber choir, Cantare, are practising hard these days under the very expert baton of choir director, Michael Hennessy with their sights set on competing in the upcoming City of Derry International Choir Festival. The festival is taking place from October 19 to 23 and features a range of singing activities and performances for everyone in a wide variety of venues around Derry and its environs. Cantare will perform against a host of national and international competitors on the afternoon of Saturday, October 22 in the Millennium Forum in the historic walled city. Choirs will travel to Derry from as far afield as Estonia, Sweden and the US, and from closer to home including Dublin and Galway. According to Michael, “It’s great to have the opportunity to compete, to have a Clare choir perform in such a renowned competition. All the members have worked exceptionally hard over the last number of months – I’m confident we can hold our …

ENNIS Cathedral Choir Director Fiona Walsh is hopeful a new musical programme launched this month will strike the right note when it comes to reinvigorating cathedral choral singing. The new Ennis Cathedral programme offers singing opportunities for youngsters, teenagers and adults with Fiona telling us, “We are really trying to elevate the music in the Cathedral and to attract people who really enjoy singing and give them an opportunity to get involved.” She adds, “A huge amount of choirs couldn’t really operate during Covid, we had music at the Cathedral but this is a way for us to get people back singing together.” Part of the new programme will be monthly performances at a special Sunday mass of music by the great church composers Mozart, Mozart, Gounod, Hadyn and Jenkins. Singers interested in joining the choir in delivering this programme are being encouraged to get involved. The adult choir is also actively recruiting 20 male and female teenage voices from …

TALENTED young Clare singers struck gold at the national Community Games finals. A choir made up of 20 children ranging in age from nine to 15 representing the Quin – Clooney Parish brought home gold medals in the under 16 category of the finals in Carlow last weekend. And for those who haven’t yet had an opportunity to hear these award winning singers a performance is planned for Quin village later this month. Una Clune who put the choir together and has been working with the youngsters told us, “We’re thrilled with the win, the kids are so excited and happy.” The choir itself was only set up last May with Una saying the children have been “exceptional” and rehearsed diligently to prepare for the competition. “It involved a huge commitment from each member since May and all through the summer”. Explaining why the choir was set up, “I’m a music teacher and I have been working with choirs for …

THE Healthy Harmony Choir was formed by a group of medical practitioners at Ennis Hospital as a way to unwind and de-stress after a busy day’s work and now two years on, the 30-strong group are singing its praises in terms of its impact on their well-being. Brenda Bleach, a registered advanced nurse practitioner at Ennis Hospital, is one of the choir members and has been involved with the choir since it began. She explained how it got off the ground and why it has become such a popular outlet for staff across the entire UL Hospitals Group. “We started off as staff from Ennis Hospital and we are two years old now. The first year one of the nurses was interested in singing and always wanted a choir, so I ran it by health and wellbeing and asked if it was something we could look at. We started the choir and we didn’t initially have funding. We had paid …

CLARE will be well represented in a choir of over 450 secondary school students from the Killaloe and Limerick dioceses that will give great voice to the Limerick National City of Culture’s programme next Thursday with a first concert of its kind at University Concert Hall. The students from counties Clare, Limerick, Offaly and Tipperary will form the largest choir ever to perform at the University Concert Hall when they deliver their Seinn 2014 performance on  April 3. The event is unique, not just because of the massive size of the choir but because most of its members will be coming together for the first time ever that morning after rehearsing remotely in recent weeks. Lead vocalists and instrumentalists have, however, met up several times in the run-up to the performance. The show, which will feature contemporary music as well as a number of classic hymns, is part of Limerick Diocese’s programme of events to mark Limerick National City of …