22.05.2012
Christ Church Cathedral Choir Summer Concert
Christ Church Cathedral has announced its first ever Summer Concert is to take place on June 21 at 7.30 pm. The concert will feature some of the finest and most exhilarating choral music ever written. Sung by one of Ireland’s finest choirs, the evening will include Sir Hubert Parry’s masterpiece, ‘Songs of Farewell’, Leonard Bernstein’s beautiful ‘Chichester Psalms’, the ‘Westside Story’ of the choral world and a number of traditional Irish and contemporary works for solo harp by internationally renowned harpist, Dianne Marshall.
Sir Hubert Parry’s six–part motet suite, ‘Songs of Farewell’, written in the last years of his life, draws together psalms, poetry and beautiful choral writing to stunning and often moving effect. Best known as the composer of ‘Jerusalem’, Parry is considered one of the leaders of the English musical renaissance in the 1880s, inspiring a whole generation of English composers. His genius is best represented by this work.
Leonard Bernstein has been described as a 20th Century Renaissance man, daring to be versatile in an age of specialisation. The first indigenous American to really challenge the global domination of musical life by Europeans, he came to symbolise the optimism and can–do attitude of the American way. Commissioned by the Cathedrals of Chichester and Salisbury to compose a setting from the book of Psalms, the result was his serene masterpiece, ‘Chichester Psalms’, in which he rediscovered tonality after a brief foray into serialism.
Under the baton of Ian Keatley, organist and director of music at Christ Church Cathedral, the choir will also be joined by musicians Dianne Marshall, Chris Stynes and David Bremner. Recently appointed Director of Music at Christ Church, Ian Keatley previously worked as Director of Music at the prestigious Westminster Abbey Choir School and Deputy Master of Music at the Chapels Royal, Her Majesty’s Tower of London. He has performed for royal and state occasions and numerous organ recitals at Westminster Abbey as well as Westminster Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral. He also performed an organ and bagpipe duet recital with Her Majesty The Queen’s Piper at Westminster Abbey, a first for the recital series at the Abbey.
Renowned harpist, Dianne Marshall has performed extensively throughout the world. She has toured with the European Opera Company and performed at both the European Harp Symposium and the World Harp Congress. Chris Stynes is one of Ireland’s rising percussionists and regularly performs with many of Ireland’s leading professional groups including Wexford Festival Opera and the RTÉ Performing groups.
David Bremner is a composer, pianist and assistant organist at Christ Church Cathedral. Having composed since an early age, he commenced formal study with Richard Baker while at Oxford University and later studied composition and electronic music with experimental Austrian polymath Karl Stirner.
Established in 1493, Christ Church Cathedral Choir is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s finest vocal ensembles, regularly recording, broadcasting and touring worldwide. The choir took part in the very first performance of Handel’s Messiah in Dublin in 1742. With the largest repertoire of any cathedral choir in the country, covering more than five centuries and including many works commissioned especially for it, the choir sings at three cathedral services a week and is often in demand for television and radio broadcasts in both the UK and Ireland, including BBC Radio 3’s iconic Choral Evensong and RTÉ’s Sunday Worship. The choir has toured extensively in Ireland, England and France and has performed in concerts and at services in New Zealand, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and at Westminster Abbey. The choir also undertook a week’s residency at St Paul’s Cathedral in London and a highly successful tour of the United States. Most recently, the choir traveled to Loreto in Italy by special invitation to perform Handel’s Messiah.
Tickets for the summer concert cost €15 (€12 concession) and can be purchased
online at http://store.