We should take great pride in our girl choristers who gave us a heart warming performance in their concert on Monday. Yes, we men of the choir were there supporting the larger works, and isn’t it amusing that it has taken Fraser Wilson with his Sheffield BA Mus to teach us to sing in Irish, and wasn’t it about time!
Mingled among the great works of the Mozart in D Mass and Parry’s ‘My Soul there is a country’, were many pieces where the girls sang on their own. Then to our great pleasure we were to hear Maya McNair on the violin followed by Megan Jones on her harp with two delightful Irish pieces.
It was lovely to hear the harp, made in Marley Park Craft Centre, sound around the nave. Catherine Neenan lightened us up on the piano with ‘Jackson Street Blues’. The final instrumentalist was Saorla Wright on the cello, and I caught that impish glance at accompanying Fraser to ensure they both ended together.
There were many lovely vocal solos but I can only single out a few. Head Chorister, Kate Somers, combined very well with the other soloists in the Mass in D and then gave us a charming ‘Wee Hughie’ later in the program. Relatively new to solo singing, but most professional, were Killian Rogan, alto, and tenor Emmet Kiberd. Daisy Magahy Buckley sang ‘Panis Angelicus’ with the decorum it demands. We were to hear again Fraser Wilson’s arrangement of ‘The Angel Gabriel’ from our recording with Cliona Rogan and Megan Jones. Kiah Ronaldson tenderly and beautifully sang Michael Vulpius’s ‘There is a flower’ and Sally Anne McCarthy sang with feeling ‘Once upon a dream’, with a flavour of Tchaikovsky. Early in the program Megan Jones sang two traditional Irish pieces emphasising that Irish is a lovely language to sing in. I should also mention that, concealed in ‘Treoraigh mé, a Thiarna’, was the very familiar ‘Lead me Lord’ by Wesley, where Nina Barry-Duke and Isabelle McGeough combined beautifully as the soloists.
But, someone please let us know, where do Fraser and Rosemary get the time and the energy to bring this choir to its high level of achievement? We, the parish, the choir, parents and friends say thanks for a wonderful evening of music.
Bobby Barden