We are off to Lisbon Sings! festival

We are currently rehearsing for our trip to Portugal in November, where we represent Ireland at the Lisbon Sings! choral Festival. We join choirs from Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, and Zimbabwe.

https://www.interkultur.com/events/2024/lisbon/

Cavan Heritage Podcast

It was a delight to be invited to record a podcast for part of Cavan Heritage project. The recording was in the studio at Cavan House. Our host was Savina Donohoe (former Director of Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff and long time supporter of Cavan Singers), working with producer Alan and sound engineer Tina.

Cavan Singers were represented by Dermot MacMonagle, Jan van Haster, and Mags Amond. Savina asked about the history of the choir, the special moments in the past, our present activities, and our hopes for the future. It was a privilege to represent the choir. We will post a link to the podcast when it is ready to air.

Thank you Savina for the invitation.

Alan, Savina, and Tina at work in the recording studio, Cana House, Cavan

Mags, Dermot, Jan being recorded for podcast at Cavan House Cavan

Our best wishes to Canon Mark Lidwill

It was our delight to sing in the Church of Ireland in Cavan Town yesterday evening, to wish a good retirement to Canon Mark Lidwill. Although we are a secular community choir, we sing each Christmas at many churches in Cavan. (One of the treats of the year for many of us is that this gives us the chance to see the Nativity Play performed by the local school children, produced by Barbara Lidwill and the teachers).

This time the young students sang The Lord Bless You and Keep You; the older students from the Royal School sang May The Road Rise To Meet You; we sang Cantique de Jean Racine. Thanks to Martina Lee Boyle and Paula O'Neill for stepping up to conduct and accompany us.

When the cetemony was over, we were all invited to the Royal School, where Principal Padraig Corley and his staff hosted a social celebration so the congregation and the choir could wish well to Mark and Barbara.

we love to go a wanderin'

 In 2014, Judith Cullivan, daughter of alto Dollé, drew a graphic representation of all the places we'd sung in the first 30 years of Cavan Singers. In 2024, Carrie Lewis (sop) updated it, adding other places we'd sung in the next 10 years. Roll on November when we travel to sing in Lisbon, Portugal.

2024 Proms Programme and all that jazz

 

This is what we sang on both evening of our 2024 Proms in Farnham Estate Cavan ...

Jazz

Cavan Singers

All That Jazz Music - Kander; Lyrics - Ebb 

Fly Me to the Moon Music & Lyrics - Howard

Java Jive Music - Oakland; Lyrics - Drake

Moon RiverMusic - Mancini; Lyrics - Mercer

Solo – Brian McKeever

Cavan Girl Music & Lyrics - Moore

Classical

Cavan Singers

Cantique de Jean Racine Music - Fauré; Lyrics - Racine

Duet - Martina Lee Boyle & Pauline Brady 

Sull’aria Music - Mozart; Lyrics - Da Pointe

Poem - Noel Monaghan

                Cavan Singers, Founded, 1984

Cavan Singers

Va Pensiero Music - Verdi; Lyrics - Solera

Good Night Dear Heart – Music - Forrest; Lyrics - Richardson & Twain

[In Memory of Our Deceased Members]

Guests

Fr. Darragh Connolly & Sue Donohoe

Because Music & Lyrics - Teschemacher & d’Hardelot

Bring Him Home Music & Lyrics - Boublil, Kretxmer & Schonberg

Nessun Dorma Music & Lyrics- Puccini

Interval

Jazz Group - In Denial

             Sway Music & Lyrics -  Ruiz & Demetrio

Ain’t That a Kick in The Head? Music & Lyrics- Van Heusen

Cavan Woodwind

Penny Lane Music  & Lyrics - McCartney & Lennon

Eleanor Rigby Music & Lyrics - McCartney & Lennon

Popular

Cavan Singers

Bohemian Rhapsody* Music & Lyrics - Mercury

Isn’t She Lovely Music & Lyrics - Wonder

Fernando Music - Andersson; Lyrics - Ulvaeus

Solo - Terry O’Connor

New York New York Music - Kander; Lyrics - Ebb

Cavan Singers (Popular – most recent pieces)

Can’t Help Falling in Love Music & Lyrics by Weiss, Peritti, Creatore

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow Music & Lyrics - McVie

*for both evenings, when the audience called for an encore, we sang this again; Peter Denton's guitar solo was definitely a bit hit!

40 years of singing - it's a wrap (until we start up for the next 40 years)

Thank you to everyone who came to our Proms concerts over the last two nights - we loved performing our program for you, and we ourselves enjoyed hearing our guest artists.

40 years done, 40 (and more) to go ...

Cavan Singers, founded 1984 - a poem for us by Noel Monahan

In noel Monahan's latest book of poetry, Journey Upstream [pub. Salmon Poetry], we are on page 63. The other poems are beautiful and thought provoking, but we may be a little biased in thinking the one about us is the best: