ENTERTAINMENT: Ballintubber Abbey to host performance of Fauré’s ‘Requiem’

Two Mayo choirs will join together this Sunday evening, November 19, in Ballintubber Abbey, to perform the ‘Requiem’ by Gabriel Fauré. Louisburgh Voices and Cór Mhaigh Eo’s special performance will raise funds for the Ballintubber Abbey Trust and for the Daisy Lodge, Cong, which is being set up to provide support to children being treated for cancer and their families.

Both choirs will be conducted by Dr Brian Lennon (conductor of Cór Mhaigh Eo) and will be accompanied by the ConTempo String Quartet and Michael Quinn on the organ. The soloists are soprano Nan Fee and baritone Owen Gilhooly-Miles.

Along with Fauré’s beautiful ‘Requiem’, the programme will also include Fauré’s ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’, Saint-Saëns’ ‘Prière’ for cello and organ, with Adrian Mantu (of the ConTempo Quartet) and Massenet’s poignant ‘Méditation’ with violinist Bogdan Sofei (ConTempo Quartet).

Established in 1994, Cór Mhaigh Eo regularly take part in International Choral Festivals and has performed in Scotland, Latvia, Italy, Spain and Monaco. They were also part of the 120-strong Peace Choir in the Concert for Peace, Knock Basilica 2016; the Armed Man performance at the National Concert Hall in February 2017 with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra; and both live performances of Handel’s Messiah in Knock Basilica in 2017 and 2018, directed by Proinnsías Ó Duinn. They were also chosen by Sing Ireland for ‘An Island Sings’, a new work by Elaine Agnew, which was premiered in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, in March 2019.

Louisburgh Voices is a mixed-voice adult choir, established by Pauline Graham and Michael Quinn, which includes singers from the Louisburgh, Killeen, Lecanvey, and Westport areas. The choir performed Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas in Louisburgh in 2019, and previously collaborated with Cór Mhaigh Eo for a performance of Fauré’s Requiem. They have also sung at the Mayo International Choral Festival, and for a Burns Night event at Glen Keen Farm, which raised funds for Mayo Roscommon Hospice.

Quinn and Graham also co-founded the Louisburgh Music School. An established organist, Quinn has collaborated with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and performed Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He has given organ recitals in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, and has accompanied many choirs, including Cór Mhaigh Eo, Ballina’s St Muredach’s Cathedral Choir and Dublin’s Lassus Scholars.

The ConTempo Quartet is a major international presence in the world of chamber music, with performances at leading concert venues in London, Paris and Berlin to their credit, as well as several international awards. Established in Bucharest in 1995, the four members of the quartet are Bogdan Sofei (violin I), Ingrid Nicola (violin II), Andreea Banciu (viola) and Adrian Mantu (cello). They were selected as the Galway Music Residency’s ensemble in residence in 2003 and RTÉ Quartet in Residence in 2013. In 2016, the members of the quartet were awarded Honorary Doctorates in Music from the University of Galway for their service to Galway in the areas of music performance and education.

The evening’s solo singers are of excellent stock too. Soprano Nan Fee has performed throughout Ireland and abroad, in repertoire ranging from choral to popular genres. Growing up in a musical family in Tyrone, she sang with the Ulster Youth Choir and later with the Hallé Choir, Manchester, and the Oriana Choir, London. She has performed in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland, including the Celtic Connections Festival, Glasgow, and her musical homage to Kate Bush has led to sold-out performances at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, and at Westival, Westport’s annual art and music festival.

Owen Gilhooly-Miles is an established operatic soloist, having performed at Covent Garden and the BBC Proms in London, in addition to regular appearances with Scottish Opera, Opera North, Irish National Opera, and Wexford Festival Opera, in repertoire ranging from Mozart and Rossini to Verdi and Puccini. In concert, he has performed Fauré’s Requiem with the Ulster Orchestra, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Carmina Burana with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah with the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

• The concert will take place in Ballintubber Abbey on Sunday, November 19, at 5pm. For tickets (€25 each), contact the Clew Bay Hotel, Westport, on 098 28088; Parsons’ Shoes, Castlebar, on 094 9021064; Tuffy’s Gala, Louisburgh, on 098 66394. The concert is supported by Mayo County Council Arts Office.