More than 5,000 singers for this year's Cork International Choral Festival

Carmina Burana promises to be a highlight of the choral festival in Cork, writes Jo Kerrigan.

FOR 60 years, the Cork International Choral Festival has heralded the coming of May as surely as the lengthening evenings and the blooming of the hawthorn.

Whatever the weather chooses to do, one thing is certain — on Leeside, music and song, creative competition and colourful costumes, will fill not only theatres, but also streets, shops, hotels, restaurants, to overflowing. Choirs will arrive by plane, by ferry, by the busload, accompanied by friends, relatives, supporters.