1916 centenary: Enthusiastic crowds refuse to let it rain on their parade

Gale force winds and torrential rain showers couldn’t dampen the spirits in Collins Barracks yesterday as more than 1,000 singers joined forces for the Nation’s Voice.

Thirty-one choirs from 19 counties in Ireland took to the stage in the courtyard of the National Museum to commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising in front of President Michael D Higgins and acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The President and Mr Kenny entered the barracks in separate motorcades but to very different welcomes. The acting Taoiseach waved to the queuing crowd but few hands rose up in return. When President Higgins came along with his wife Sabina the crowd cheered and waved at their arrival.

RTÉ broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan was the master of ceremonies. She too got a presidential welcome when she walked out on to the windswept stage. The crowd whooped and whistled as she introduced the event.

The rafters of the makeshift marquee shook as the gale force winds blew through the stage and the rain pelted down before a single voice had begun to sing. Accompanied by the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ was the first performance by the 1,100 voices from around Ireland.

The City of Cork Male Voice Choir, the Cork City Sings! In 2016 and the Lismore Choir were just some of the groups that came together to create A Nation’s Voice.

Speakers and lights rocked from side to side as the wind whipped around the courtyard but the voices overpowered the elements.

The strength of the orchestra also overpowered the Irish elements as the musicians outplayed the wind with Sean O’Riada’s ‘Mise Eire’ and excerpts from Bill Whelan’s ‘The Connemara Suite.’ Helena Wood on violin and Zoe Conway on fiddle mesmerised the soaked crowd with their solo performances, every face was lit up in a smile as they applauded the musicians.

The choirs and orchestra performed a world premiere of Shaun Davey’s ‘One Hundred Years a Nation’, which was specially created for the commemoration. President Higgins described it as a national event and a community event.

“As 2016 unfolds, I am quite certain that our artists, in every creative discipline, will give us moments that will stir our collective imagination and make the centenary a wonderful, shared, unifying year for all the people of this island.”