Cork Choral Festival: Giving voice to The Waste Land, by TS Eliot 

One of the highlights of the Leeside event should be Robert Hollingworth's interpretation of a great poem that has renewed relevance in its centenary year 

British vocal ensemble I Fagiolini will perform at Cork International Choral Festival. Picture: Matthew Brodie

I Fagiolini, the British vocal ensemble founded 35 years ago by Robert Hollingworth, have established a reputation for innovative  programmes and a theatrical approach. They come to the Cork International Choral Festival for the first time to perform their latest project titled ‘Re-Wilding The Waste Land’, which offers meditations in words and music on themes of renewal and regeneration using TS Eliot’s classic poem as a key element.

 The Waste Land is regarded as one of the most important of the 20th century has relevance for today’s audiences as Hollingworth, director and countertenor, explained to me by phone from his base in York University.