Agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom! 15th August 2010
Over the past week the Girls and Men of our choirs have been singing in residence at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin where they performed works by Dyson, Monteverdi, Philip Moore, Mozart, Peter Nardone, Jack Ossewaarde, Smart, Alan Smith, David Ashley White, Willcocks, Magnus Williamson, and gave the Irish première of James MacMillan’s “Ave Maria”. We are immensely grateful to Richard McVeigh, Assistant Organist of Winchester Cathedral, who directed the choirs with sensitivity and skill, deputising for our Director of Music who remained in Northampton to be with his wife who has just returned home from a twelve-week hospitalisation. We also offer sincere thanks to our Vocal Coach and Singing Teacher Heather Bentley who took additional rehearsals, coached soloists, warmed-up the choirs at
the daily rehearsals and dealt with all the tour logistics. The choirs were accompanied by Roger Palmer, one of our Assistant Organists, and some of the voluntaries were played by our Senior Organ Scholar Nathan Lam and by Mr McVeigh. We were also delighted to sing a Mass at the Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, where the choir was made to feel most welcome. This was the final tour for five of our senior choral scholars, who between them have contributed over fifty years’ service to the choir, as well as two of our senior girl choristers who go
on to read music at RSAMD in Glasgow and Royal Holloway in London.