Cork’s Choral Festival: Sing out loud and proud
FROM the towns and cities of Ireland, from every corner of Europe, even from North America they are ironing their outfits, packing their bags, and heading for Leeside.
One of the world’s premier choral events is gearing up, and for five days next week you will hear velvety voices and heavenly harmonies on every side, not just in official venues but in streets, pubs, churches and libraries too.
Cork International Choral Festival, now in its 61st year, celebrates the joy of the human voice and the beauty of song in a way that touches us all. It’s not just the music-lovers that benefit of course — having over 5,000 participants descend on the city, along with at least as many followers and fans, means very welcome business for hotels and guest houses, restaurants and pubs, shops and attractions.
Cork is fortunate to have such a long-running success on its patch —legacy of the visionary Aloys Fleischmann who, at a time when such an ambition seemed ridiculous, pushed forward a dream he was determined should happen.
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TWO PREMIERES
Taking part in the Cork International Choral Festival is an experience that competitors never forget. Nor do composers. Two native musicians who are particularly looking forward to next week are Ian Wilson and Eoghan Desmond.
Wilson was commissioned to write a new choral piece especially for the 61st Festival and his work, ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’ will be premiered in the lofty surroundings of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. Eoghan Desmond was chosen as the winner of the 2015 SeanÓ Riada Composition Competition with his piece, ‘Mother Goose’s Melodies’, and the premiere of this will follow Wilson’s on the same night.
Born in Belfast (but now domiciled in Cork where his wife teaches at UCC), Wilson studied music and composition at the University of Ulster and became a full-time composer in 1998. A brave decision?
“Well, probably you could call it foolhardy but it was what I wanted to do,” he says. He writes both choral and instrumental pieces, from opera to chamber music, for amateurs as well as professionals.
‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’ was composed in honour of the 150th anniversary of WB Yeats’ birth and uses as its base the poet’s so-called Apocalyptic poems which were inspired by sources as various as Theosophy and the writings of William Blake.
“I wanted to get away from the more familiar mythical, legendary work and move more towards the darker, terrifying side. It allows you to respond in a very different way.”
The principal attraction of these poems for him, says Wilson, lies as much in the language as the subject matter.
“Together those elements create very striking imagery which I was excited to set to music. I hoped that these wild and vivid images would lead me towards sounds which could somehow reflect the drama and awe with which Yeats imbues his visions.”
He was delighted to work with the Chamber Choir because they have done a number of his works over the years, “and they can sing anything you can write”.
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O RIADA COMPOSITION
For Cork-born (now Dublin-based) Eoghan Desmond, winning the 2015 Sean O Riada Composition Competition had particular piquancy on not just one but two levels.
“I have a very personal attachment to O Riada, having attended a Gaelscoil named after him. It was while I was actually at that school — and later, when I trained as a chorister at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral — that I began to compose, so now to have a prize in his name awarded for a piece which will receive its premiere in the very cathedral where I had my first choral training, feels like completing a circle.”
SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE
As a member of Irish Composers’ Collective, Desmond has had his own composiitions performed in Ireland by several leading groups. His composition ‘Mother Goose’s Melodies’ came out on top in a year that saw a high standard of entry. The members of the judging panel, composers Rhona Clarke and Ian Wilson, and Paul Hillier, artistic director and conductor of Chamber Choir Ireland, found his piece “full of character, with an individual voice coming through”.
Desmond was thrilled to win. “Not least because I started to write this piece not very long after last year’s festival seminar on new choral music. I was very much inspired by last year’s winning setting of Donal MacErlaine’s Solomon Grundy.”
He admits to being very excited, therefore, at being included in this year’s seminar, “having set not just one but six nursery rhymes from my childhood!”.
It all promises to make for a hugely enjoyable festival.
Music of the Baroque with Madrigal ‘75, Wed Apr 29, City Hall: Handel, Telemann, Purcell, Monteverdi, Vivaldi. Pure pleasure.
Rajaton, Thur Apr 30, City Hall: superstar Finnish a capella group, acclaimed worldwide for its incredible rendering of both classic pieces and familiar hits in a polished repertoire that spans the genres.
The Two Cathedrals, Fri, May 1: Premieres from Ian Wilson and Eoghan Desmond at St Fin Barre’s, 7.30pm, with Chamber Choir Ireland, followed by Evocations at the North Cathedral, 10.30pm, where German ensemble VocaMe, foremost exponents of early vocal music, with pieces from Hildegard von Bingen and Kassia, accompanied by Michael Popp.
The Fleischmann International Trophy Competition, Sat May 2 City Hall: World-class amateur choirs compete to the utmost for the honour of carrying off one of the most prestigious prizes on the international scene.
Closing Gala Concert, Sun May 3, City Hall: This brings all the choirs and countries together in a glorious kaleidoscope of costume, colour and carolling. The pride other countries take in their national dress and decoration should shame us into reviving our own traditions. Plus throughout the Festival, fringe concerts, the Choral Trail, and more.
Tickets and full event info from www.corkchoral.ie; on 021 450 1673; and from the Festival Box office at the Everyman Theatre in Cork.
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