Waterford City Choir

2004 - 2005 season

Towards Christmas we put together a varied collection of short items old and new, and in addition to a Waterford performance we brought it to Kilmacthomas on the invitation of Mahon Valley A. M. P. S. as a benefit event for the local children's playground project.

On February 18th 2005 we joined with Cork 2005/Opera 2005 and conductor Kevin Mallon in the Cork Opera House for Mozart's Requiem. We were not mentioned in the advance publicity nor on the tickets, and an Irish Times reporter wrote about plastic beermugs and members of the audience who arrived late and applauded at inappropriate times but he/she made no mention of either the performers or the quality of the performance. Anyway, we have established the fact that Waterford is a suburb of Cork (City of Culture 2005).

Still to come is the Stainer Crucifixion in Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford at 8 p.m. on Thursday 24 March (a day early, of course).

2003 - 2004 season

Anne laid down the baton, and Brian Brown took over...

Main event of the year was a performance of the Mozart Requiem (in Waterford and in Kilkenny). This is sometimes known as Mozart's Requiem, having been apparently signed and dated by the composer a year after he died... possibly the original ghost-writer.

2002 - 2003 season

As the choir approaches a significant milestone, being almost ten years in existence, we are taking a look back over those years and revisiting some of the music that we have most enjoyed. We entered two competitions in the Kilcoole Music Festival, and came away with two cups... For Christmas we recorded three carols for Lyric FM... Plans for the rest of the season included performances in late April, and the AIMS Music Festival in New Ross in May.... well, we did some of that, but Anne Barry (director and conductor) broke her hand and drastic cutbacks followed. New Ross was a case of "I can lick you with one hand tied behind my back": a good effort but not entirely as one would wish.

Pat Crotty

Pat, a long-time member of the choir, died in January 2000 of cancer. Kathleen O'Driscoll has written a note about him here. He is sadly missed....hnd

About the choir

We are an adult mixed-voice choir (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) of about fifty members. An ability to read music is NOT a requirement, to start with! ... we learn as we sing. Many of us had no formal training when we started. Would you like to join? (N.B. This is Waterford, Eire, not USA or elsewhere!) New members are welcome; why not contact the conductor now?

Repertoire

We sing a wide range of material, from early Renaissance to contemporary music, including some of the larger classic choral works. This has included works by Bruckner, Fauré, Haydn, Mozart, John Rutter, Antonin Tucapsky, Dvorak, Bach, Duruflé, Byrd, Runswick, Greg Scanlon, Matthias, Brahms, Brian Brown, Borodin, Elgar, Henry VIII (guess what that was!) ... and of course carols at Christmas.

Rehearsals

Rehearsals take place on Monday nights (except for Bank Holidays and summer holidays), generally from 8.00 to 10.15 p.m. in St. Patrick's United Church, Patrick Street, Waterford.

Performances

Performances include Christmas concerts on our own or with other choirs, competitions, lunch-time recitals and in alternate years large-scale concerts with orchestra and soloists.

The Orchestra and Soloists

The big concerts give us the opportunity to work with professional musicians, both instrumental and vocal. 

Concert April 2000

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (German Requiem)... in German
Borodin: Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor)... in English (not Russian!) (click here for a biography, but stop it loading after a minute or two if you have a modem - even a fast one - the music clips take hours to load)... performances jointly with the Lismore Choir, soloists Helen Hassett and Owen Lynch, and orchestra...
also featuring the first performance of Millennium Trinity Fanfare by Greg Scanlon (orchestra)

(Now on CD.... but not for sale!?)

Lunchtime Concert Saturday 12th June 1999

Bach, Duruflé, Byrd, Runswick... and that was a short one!
13.15 in St. Patrick's United Church, Waterford

Cork Choral Festival 1999

The choir took part in the 1999 Choral Festiva; click here for a report under the byline of Michelle Clancy of the Munster Express. We came first in our section and received a most unusual piece of sculpture and many positive comments from the judges. The photograph, I am glad to say, is NOT of us. The report itself I found quite disappointing in that it says nothing whatever about the quality of the performance. What does one have to do to get a serious critical review? And how can I tell from the rest of the report what really happened in Cork? I went to a lovely lunchtime concert by a Welsh female choir (they sang Ar Hyd Y Nos, and other pieces) in a "shopping area".... (by ... a rather hot under the collar ..hnd)

December 1998 Performance: Christmas Concert with Madrigallery and Andreja Malir (Harp) in Waterford (1998.12.11) and Dungarvan (1998.12.12).

May 1998 Concerts

 ... that will give you an idea of one of our large concerts ...

The poetry page

For further information please contact the conductor 

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