Bray Choral Society

Bray Choral Society

Future Events Update

By

In the next few years we have a very exciting programme of major concerts, including

  • Summer 2014: Ola Gjeilo Sunrise Mass and Richard Blackford Mirror of Perfection (both Irish premières)
  • Summer 2015: Dvorak Stabat Mater
  • Summer 2016: Elgar Dream of Gerontius

As well as our regular Christmas concerts in December of each year. In addition, this year we will be joining with Opera Theatre Company for their concert at the Mermaid Theatre, Bray, just before Christmas to showcase young Irish opera talent, where we will join acclaimed Irish soprano Virginia Kerr together with three young soloists from Opera Theatre Company including brilliant young soprano Margaret Bridge, who is from Bray, as well as Cormac Lawlor and Lawrence Fahy (to be confirmed).

We are very excited about our programme for 2014. Both Richard Blackford and Ola Gjeilo are contemporary composers who write music of great beauty; very accessible and easy to enjoy. Blackford is well known especially for his music for theatre and film; extracts from his Mirror of Perfection are frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Mirror of Perfection is a choral setting of recently-discovered poems by St. Francis of Assisi. Ola Gjeilo is a young Norwegian composer, presently working in America; his choral music is very beautiful, and complements the Blackford piece very well. We are also in the early stages of planning another major concert in partnership with Fergus Sheil and Wide Open Music for late 2014; we hope to be able to make a full public announcement about this by the end of the year.

For our 2015 summer concert we are planning to have the Wexford Sinfonia, whose Musical Director is Fergus Sheil, as our orchestra; Fergus Sheil conducted the recent performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Choral), in which we took part, at Greystones earlier this year. If all goes to plan, we will perform the Dvorak Stabat Mater with Wexford Sinfonia in Bray conducted by our own Frank Kelly and again a few days later in Wexford Opera House conducted by Fergus Sheil.

2016 marks our 30th anniversary and for such a significant date we plan a big concert in the National Concert Hall. We have long dreamed of doing the Dream of Gerontius, but it is a big undertaking; for our 30th anniversary, it is just the right work.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Choral) at Greystones

By

On 15th June 2013 Bray Choral Society took part in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Choral) at Greystones. The concert was promoted by Fergus Sheil and Wide Open Music; Fergus Sheil has since been appointed Artistic Director or Opera Theatre Company. Bray Choral Society was joined by Wicklow Choral Society and a number of other singers; we formed about two thirds of the choir. We joined the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and soloists Miriam Murphy (soprano), Imelda Drumm (mezzo), Michael Wade Lee (tenor) and Manfred Hemm (bass). The programme opened with two short extracts from Wide Open Opera’s recent production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (the Prelude and Liebstod); the main event was the Beethoven 9th Symphony. The performance in Greystones was a fantastic success and was hugely appreciated by the audience.

The performance was presented in three venues with different groups of choirs. Some members of Bray Choral Society also went to Carlow on 14th to support the Carlow Choral Society and other massed choirs in the performance there, and some also went to Drogheda on 16th to support the massed choirs taking part in that performance. Those performances were also very well received by the audiences.