Thursday 27 March 2014

Spinning plates with Alan Leech!

Last Tuesday evening we had a wonderful choral workshop with Alan from the AOIC. Alan is currently a full time tenor with The National Chamber Choir of Ireland. He is also a lecturer in Voice at the Leinster School of Music & Drama, and Mater Dei Teacher Training College Dublin.
He put us through our paces and stepped us through one of our favourite pieces, Gabriel Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine. He gave us helpful exercises and pointers, all delivered with good humour. Thank you Alan, we promise to put it all to good use, and that we will all try to keep all of our plates spinning in the air!

Sunday 9 March 2014

Friends Remembered

We sang to remember departed friends on Saturday evening in St Clare's Chapel with Fr Kevin Donohoe. We were joined by families and friends of choir members (and some very tiny future members!). We supported each other in our sadness, and we celebrated our continued friendships and the joy we share in singing together. We sang our debut of the "Benedictus" from Karl Jenkins's "The Armed Man", which we had sung with the Longford Choir at Winnie's funeral Mass. Martina Lee Boyle (soprano) lead us in the psalm "Shepherd Us O Lord."
After the mass we had a meal in the Farnham Arms Hotel, and a post prandial 'singsong' with Dessie Ronan on piano, and Gerry O'Keeffe (tenor) on Spot Prizes, and a hilarious reprise by Mary Haren (alto) of her epic 1997 poem "Roman Holiday", complete with author's commentary!