First Anninversary - Winnie Hughes - An Appreciation

Winnie Hughes was the 6th Musical Director of the Cavan Singers, appointed in 2005. She was no stranger to us however, as we had often performed with both her Loreto College Cavan School Choir and Chamber Choir in concerts and carol services in the previous decade. She also conducted us when we performed with Cavan Cathedral Choir, St Patricks’s College Choir and Cavan Sinfonia.
Winnie was equally at home conducting massed choirs singing sacred works, professional soloists, or smaller groups singing contemporary and popular classics. Variety was certainly the spice of our life with Winnie – we never knew what surprise the Tuesday night rehearsal might bring - she taught us songs without words, she introduced Barbershop singing, she even gave us kazoos!
Winnie was the classic “larger than life” MD – she loved music, travel, history, wine and good company, and was never happier than when all of them were combined. She looked forward to planning the next trip, be it with the choir, her close friends, or her family. She took the choir on adventures as far and wide as Barcelona and the Flat Lake Festival in Monaghan!
When illness struck, Winnie appointed our accompanist Sue King as interim MD, a role Sue assumed with supreme grace. Winnie resumed her singing with the Longford County Choir, and wrapped herself in her family and friends. She died on December 1st 2013.
Cavan Singers were invited by her husband Kevin and sons Gareth and Harry to join the Longford County Choir colleagues to sing her funeral Mass with her friend Fintan Farrelly. For Winnie we sang, from The Armed Man, a final Benedictus. Ní beidh a leithéid ann arís.
Mags Amond, PRO

Don Oíche Úd I mBeithil...

This Christmas Carol season we have a new piece to sing for you, arranged by our Musical Director Paul Flynn, with translation into Irish by local poet Noel Monahan. We are especially delighted with this, as Noel is a founder tenor with the choir.

Don Oíche Úd I mBeithil

Don oíche úd i mBeithil
beidh tagairt faoi ghrian go brách
Don oíche úd i mBeithil,
go dtáinig an Briathar slán;
Tá gríos-ghrua ar speartha
‘san talamh ‘na chlúdach ban;
Féach Íosagán sa cliabhán
‘San Mhaighdean in aoibhneas grá.
Ar leaca loma sléibhe
‘sé ghlacann ne h-aoirí scáth
Ar oscailt gheal ne spéire
ta teach-taire Dé ar fáil
Céad glóir’ anois don Aithair
i bhfaitheasaibh thuas go hard
Is feasta fós ar talamh
do fhearaibh dea mhéin síocháin.

Our Christmas Diary

Our 2014 Christmas Diary Dates...
Friday November 7th @ 8.30; Golf Club Memorial Service in memory of deceased members.
Choir trip to sing in Prague Choral Festival: November 27th-30th - details to follow.
Wednesday December 10th - Cathedral of SS Patrick & Phelim, Carol Service with Cavan Cathedral Choir
Sunday December 14th - Church of Ireland Carol Service with Cavan No.1 school
Saturday December 20th @ 11.00 a.m.: Carol Service with Friends of Cavan General Oncology Unit in Hotel Kilmore
Saturday Dec. 20th @ 2pm-4pm - Carol Singing for Charity in Cavan town
Sunday Dec. 21st - Carol Service Baptist Church

Library Exhibition - with some added singing!

Exhibition of memories...

"2 for 1" Celebration - a Civic Reception and a Library Exhibition

We are currently up to fever pitch preparing for a very special evening in October. Two celebrations in one, so to speak.

Civic Reception
Cavan County Council is holding a Civic Reception in our honour, to mark our 30 years singing in the community. We are very proud to accept this invitation, and will perform in the Council Chamber in the Courthouse to mark the occasion. We will sing Cantar and Cavan Girl, directed (in his maiden flight with us!) by Paul Flynn and accompanied by Eileen Tackney.

Library Exhibition
The Johnston Central Library hosting an exhibition to celebrate the first 30 years of Cavan Singers.
We are preparing and exhibition of photographs, programs, recordings, musical scores and artefacts to celebrate our 30th Birthday - see a selection below. The exhibition is to be opened on Thursday October 2nd by our Minister for Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, Heather Humpheys. We will sing some popular numbers - Viva La Vida and Java Jive - once again with Paul and Eileen Tackney. We look forward to meeting our Musical Directors of the past, and especially to a reunion of some of our founder members.
The Committee is grateful for all the help and support it has received to help our preparations to date - Adult Education Office CMETB, Library and Arts Office staff, Cavan County Council Executive Office Staff, Cavan County Museum, Loreto College Cavan, Abbeyset, Mel’s Signs, Blacks Printers, Lorraine Teevan Photography, Anglo Celt, Joe Keenan, Elena Brennan Design, Dollé Cullivan, and Dermot McMonagle.

New Season, New Director

Here our Chair Rachael Cullivan Elliot is are sadly saying "Thank You for the Music", on behalf of us all, to our retiring Musical Director Sue King, at our summer party in the Hotel Kilmore in May.









Now we extend a warm Céad Míle Fáilte to our new Musical Director Paul Flynn, who has sung with us in the past (Bass and Barbershop). Here is his current CV!!

Paul Flynn is from Lucan, Co. Dublin. In 2000, he graduated with a BA in music from Trinity College Dublin, specialising in composition with Kevin O’Connell and Donnacha Dennehy. In 2009 he was awarded an M. Litt. in musicology from the same college. He is also a fully qualified post-primary teacher and has also completed postgraduate studies in Theology.
He has extensive experience of the choral genre not only through composition but also through conducting and singing with many choirs including the Mornington Singers, Trinity College Dublin Chapel Choir and St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir, Dublin. In 2006, he won the Christ Church Cathedral Festival Composition Competition. He received the International Composer Honourable Mention in the 2009 POLYPHONOS competition with The Esoterics choir, Seattle, USA. In 2013, Paul was awarded first place in the Corpus Christi Chorale Composition Competition in Texas with his setting of Sub Tuum Praesiduium. He has had works performed in many venues both in Ireland, Austria, USA, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, including recent performances by the men of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Recently, his work Hymnus Sancti Camelaci was selected to represent Ireland at the 2014 ISCM World Music Days Festival in Poland.
He currently directs the Choir of the RC Parish of St. Michael’s, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. He acts as a music advisor, liturgical music consultant and has directed many music events and concerts. He is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre (www.cmc.ie) and is an active member of the AIC (Association of Irish Composers: www.composers.ie).