Sunday 22 May 2011

Wonderful weekend in Dunmore

Cavan Singers travelled to the Dunmore Choir Festival this weekend, and what a wonderful weekend it turned out to be! Hosted by the Dunmore Choir, two nights of choral singing by choirs from all over Ireland took place in an excellent venue, the concert hall of Dunmore Community School. We sang on the Saturday night to a packed house, preceded on the programme by choirs from Kiltimagh, Drunshambo, and followed by choirs from Celbridge and Dunmore. It was great for the choirs to hear each other sing in a relaxed setting. Each choir sang a short programme, the finale was a mass chorus of Handl's Hallelujah, and the hosts made a presentation to each of the Musical Directors.
Congratulations to the organisers in Dunmore, and our thanks for the refreshments provided in Walsh's afterwards.
Cavan Singers stayed in the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris, where we met with the Celbridge choir, whose MD is Cavan's own Ciaran Duffy, who has often sung with Cavan Singers in the past. The two choirs joined in a livley Après Sing which is runoured to have lasted into the wee small hours...but as the saying goes, "what goes on tour..."!


Wednesday 18 May 2011

Sucessful Summer Proms 2011

We have just had two wonderful evenings in the Town Hall Cavan, at our Summer Proms in aid of Cavan Cystic Fibrosis. Our choir, led by Winnie Hughes our Musical Director and Sue Donohoe our accompanist, sang with local soloists Carmel O'Donoghue, John O'Grady and Cian Brady. Cian also performed a duet with Pauline Brady (soprano), and John O'Grady was joined by his band. The programme also featured a lively traditional Irish section also, featuring local musicians Aoife Cunningham, Karen Dolan, Gareth and Seamus Tierney and dancers Áine and Claire McDermott.
The Proms was streamed live by Drumlin Media on Monday night, which meant that family members and indeed choir members were able to watch from afar on the web. The video stream is available here ...Enjoy!
Many thanks to Brain Daly for this.