Mayo News. Tuesday June 5th.
First Mayo International Choral Festival a great Success
OVER lOO0 singers took part in the first ever Mayo International Choral Festival.
Feedback from all participating choirs from Mayo, Ireland and abroad was very positive, with many saying that a return visit was a definite. The glorious weather added to the atmosphere and certainly put Mayo on the tight stage for future years.
Choirs performed at concerts in Westport, Ballina, Ballintubber Abbey, and Knock Basicila, in addition to taking part in competitions in Castlebar on Saturday, and attending and performing at the GalaChoral Concert in the Royal Theatre on Saturday night. At this concert the majority of prize winning choirs performed.
Edward Horkan, festival chairman, said the success achieved was down to many things. “The good weather was certainly a big help, but more than that we have an extremely hardworking committee and had many volunteers during the weekend to whom we are deeply grateful. The Mayo choirs rowed in behind us and were also one of the essential ingredients to its success. We got great help from our sponsors and we can’t thank them enough”.
Many of the visiting choirs commented on the high level of organisation for a first-time festival and the main observation was the friendliness of the people. In addition to choirs from Norway, Finland and the US, adjudicators travelled from Germany, Estonia and the UK to take part in the event. During downtime choirs toured Mayo and one choir even sang a song on the first station at Croagh Patrick, while the choir from Finland joined in a wedding celebration in Pontoon, entertaining the bride and groom with one of their songs. More took to the Greenway and many engaged in some well deserved retail therapy. The visiting choirs provided a much needed financial boost into the local economy, at a time that’s just outside the main tourist season, with many restaurants booked out in advance.
In the festival opening speech, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Deputy Michael Ring acknowledged the hard work and dedication put in by Edward Horkan and the committee and encouraged communities across .Ireland to work hard to enhance tourism opportunities.
He mentioned the ‘Gathering”- a year long tourism promotion for 2013, starting now, and he encouraged the festival and all organisations to get involved.
Highlights of the weekend included an impromptu singing by three Gospel choirs, who sang an up-tempo version of Amazing Grace all together. The Gala concert on Saturday night which featured the majority of prize-winning choirs, was a real treat for musicians, particularly the last number, conducted by the renowned composer and arranger ‘Gwyn Arch’ when just short of 600 choir members took to the stage and sang the ‘Halleluja Chorus’ as one massed choir, producing a massive wall of vocal sound.
The winner of the premier competition was ‘Enchiriadis’, Malahide, Dublin, who also scooped two other awards. The choirs from Mayo also did extremely well with ‘Gracenotes’ the winning choir in competition C for Femail Voices, while Cill Aodain Choral Society, Ballina Chamber Choir and the Mayo Male Voice Choir received prizes as well.
The theme of the festival is to allow choirs meet with other choirs, relax and enjoy a great weekend in the beautiful West of Ireland and judging by the feedback from the choirs, this theme prevailed throughout the weekend. The festival is funded by South West Mayo Development Company, under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013, and the Irish Government National Development Plan, in addition to support from Failte Ireland and, RTE lyric fm, Mayo County Council, Midwest Radio.
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