Cór Mhaigh Eo leave Monégasques breathless

Cór Mhaigh Eo leave Monégasques breathless


FOLLOWING their recent success at the Kiltimagh Choral Festival, where they won three trophies, including Choir of the Festival, Cor Mhaigh Eo embarked on a prestigious visit to Monaco over St Patrick’s weekend. This recent performance of Cór Mhaigh Eo in Monaco has cemented the already strong ties between Mayo and the Principality of Monaco with Cór Mhaigh Eo performing twice in the Principality, under the auspices of the Princess Grace Irish Library and Église Saint Charles.
On Saturday March 16, the choir performed at the Chapelle de la Visitation, Monaco-Ville. This seventeenth century baroque chapel houses Barbara Piasecka Johnson’s collection of sacred art — namely paintings by Carlo Bononi, Simone Cantarini, the Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, Jusepe de Ribera and Peter Paul Rubens amongst others. The audience was treated to a wide repertoire ranging from sixteenth century choral music to contemporary choral and secular works. The Westport-based men’s vocal group ‘Coda’, which is made up of seven members of the choir, also performed, and some traditional tunes were provided by Orla Uí Dhomhnaill and Brian Lennon.
Some of the dignitaries who attended were His Excellency Peter K Murphy, Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the Principality of Monaco and his wife Jacqueline; His Excellency Philippe Blanchi, former Ambassador of the Principality of Monaco and Trustee of the Princess Grace Irish Library; Marc Devito, Honorary Consul of Canada in Monaco; Professor Ríonach uí ÓgΡin, Ireland Fund of Monaco, Academic-in-Residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library and Director of the National Folklore Collection at UCD; Father William McCandless, Saint Charles Church, Monaco; Father Walter Raymond, St Paul’s Anglican Church, Monaco and Father Mamdouh Abu Sada, School of Joy, Bethlehem.
The seeds for this visit were sown following the visit of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and his then fiancée, Miss Charlene Wittstock, to County Mayo in April 2011. The royal couple visited the site of Princess Grace’s ancestral home just outside Newport. Princess Grace’s grandfather John Kelly was born in a cottage overlooking the Leg of Mutton Lake (between Castlebar and Newport) in 1847, two years into the Great Famine. He emigrated to the United States in 1869 and married fellow Irish emigrant Mary Ann Costello in 1870. The youngest of their ten children – John Brendan Kelly, the Princess’s father – was one of the most accomplished American oarsmen in the history of the sport of rowing and was a triple Olympic Medalist. In 1918, he founded a brickwork contracting company that later became one of the most successful in Philadelphia.
On St Patrick’s Day, the choir took part in the English-language mass said by Father William McCandless in the Eglise Saint-Charles, Monte-Carlo. Following the mass, the Monégasque residents were treated to an impromptu and colourful St Patrick’s Day parade, which is said to have rivalled the annual Grand Prix.
“Sometimes we may spend a weekend that is exceptional, sometimes we meet a group of people who are a total delight to come across, and sometimes we come upon a musical performance that takes our breath away,” said Francis O Hara, Trustee of the Princess Grace Irish Library. “Cór Mhaigh Eo managed all three in Monaco during a glorious St Patrick’s weekend.”
Cór Mhaigh Eo would like to acknowledge the support they received from Culture Ireland for this trip.