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NI Water staff choir, St Anne’s Cathedral, Whitehead Ladies, Cantamus, Rosemount Male Voice, and the Miskelly Chorale

Enjoy the great variety of music and meet the singers, the choirs and the people behind the scenes who give the thriving choral tradition in Ulster its international reputation.

In the last of the current series, Sing Out celebrates the thriving popularity and the very high standard of choral music in Northern Ireland.

Who are all these people who sing and why do they do it? Sing Out is an opportunity to enjoy the choirs singing and talking about their passion and get an insight into this wonderful world of music, where absolutely anyone can be a participant, and where musical expertise can range from beginners to highly sophisticated.

This week, in Belfast, John Anderson will meet the staff choir of one of N.I.’s biggest companies – N I Water, join the Whitehead Ladies Choir in concert, talk to Raymond Kelly about his two Derry choirs, Rosemount Male Voice Choir and Cantamus. Plus a feature on the busy daily life of music in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast and there’s also a quick song from the Miskelly Chorale. The series is an affectionate and unashamedly biased celebration of choral music and people in Northern Ireland today.

30 minutes

Last on

Tue 19 Jun 2018 19:30

Clip

Music in the programme

Cantamus

Walking On Sunshine: Kimberley Rew arr Mac Huff

Rosemount Male Voice Choir

Step In Time (from Mary Poppins): Richard & Robert Sherman

Northern Ireland Water Staff Choir

Don’t Stop: Christine McVie arr Kirby Shaw
New River Train: Raffi Cavoukian arr Clare Galway
Si Njay Njay Njay:  trad Zulu arr Alexander L’Estrange
Barbara Ann: Fred Fassert arr Clare Galway

St Anne’s Cathedral Choir

Christ Triumphant: Words Michael Saward   Tune Guiting Power,   John Barnard
Psalm 54: Chant Harry Bramma
Responses: Ed Jones
Glory to Thee, my God, this night: Words Thomas Ken Music   Thomas Tallis
O Thou, The Central Orb: Words   H R Bramley Music    Charles Wood

Whitehead Ladies Choir


Dream A Little Dream Of Me: Words Gus Kahn:  Music Schwandt/Andree  arr Mac Huff
The Impossible Dream (Man of La Mancha) :  Words Joe Darion  Music Mitch Leigh  arr Wikeley
Down By The Riverside: Traditional African-American
All That Jazz(Chicago);  Words Fred Ebb  Music John Kander  arr Mac Huff

Miskelly Chorale

Puttin’ On The Ritz: Irving Berlin  arr Shaw

Cantamus

Cantamus

Cantamus has found a niche for itself in Derry and beyond with a lighter and easy listening repertoire.  Apart from their many concerts, they also compete in competitions across Ireland, with very many wins to their credit:

Sligo International Choral Festival (2009/2011), City of Derry Choral Festival (2014),

Bangor International Choral Festival (2016): winners of the mixed voice category, the Marine Court Shield for the best performance of the festival, and also Best Northern Ireland Choir at the festival.  Bangor International Choral Festival (2017), successful in both the Mixed Voice and the Sacred Music competitions.

In May the choir co-hosted a concert of choral music in Christ Church in Derry with Rosemount Male Voice Choir and welcomed the Caliente Community Chorus, from New Mexico, as their guests. The proceeds of the concert were in aid of Foyle Hospice and Foyle Search & Rescue.


Rosemount Male Voice Choir,

Rosemount Male Voice Choir,

The Rosemount Male Voice Choir, under the direction of Raymond Kelly and accompanied by his brother, Maurice, was specifically formed in 2012 for past pupils of Rosemount Primary School to perform at a concert at the Millennium Forum in Derry celebrating the school’s 100th anniversary.

They entered their first choral festival in Sligo in 2012 and were delighted when they were awarded 2nd place, beaten only by an excellent Welsh male voice choir. Rosemount MVC have performed at other events in the city and one of their most memorable performances was for “The Return of Colmcille”, which was held in Derry in June 2013.  Undoubtedly, the choir’s greatest achievements to date include winning the male voice choir section in the Derry’s Choral Festival in 2016 and the Pop, Jazz and Gospel competition in 2017. In Bangor’s 25th Anniversary Choral Festival in April of this year, the Rosemount MVC fought off competition from the male voice choirs from Dublin, Mayo, Cavan and Armagh to win.

The Northern Ireland Water Choir

The Northern Ireland Water Choir

The Northern Ireland Water Choir was setup in 2016. 

It plays an important role in employee engagement and encourages participation from across the organisation. It is not solely for Belfast employees, it has members from all over Northern Ireland. 

With such a big company the choir also brings together diverse employee groups, people who might not otherwise meet each other.  It’s a great boost to morale, and has provided employees with the opportunity to meet up bi-weekly to practice for internal employee performances.  It also has raised money for a charity close to their hearts, Wateraid.

With a constantly increasing repertoire, the very enthusiastic choir is led by Clare Galway and this appearance on Sing Out is their first broadcast performance. 

St Anne's Cathedral choir: Boys and Girls

St Anne's Cathedral choir: Boys and Girls

The cathedral has a long history of having boy choristers in its choirs.  Currently, boys aged 6-13 sing in the cathedral choir – they rehearse and sing for services after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on alternate Sundays.  They are given a free music education, including singing lessons, from highly-qualified musicians.

Girls

Formed in the autumn of 2012, the girls choir consists of 20 girls aged 11-18 from various schools in Belfast. They sing Choral Evensong on Mondays and Wednesdays and both the Eucharist and Evensong every other Sunday. Already a musically accomplished ensemble, they have broadcast on ±«Óătv Radio Ulster, recorded part of a soundtrack for the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, and toured France in the summer of 2015.

St Anne's Cathedral choir: Lay Clerks and Choral Scholars

St Anne's Cathedral choir: Lay Clerks and Choral Scholars

The choir has a team of singers who provide the alto, tenor and bass parts of the choir. The lay clerks and choral scholars are excellent musicians who sing with the various treble/soprano lines at weekends, and at all the major festivals.

Junior Girls

The girls junior choir meets on Fridays after school, and the majority of its members are drawn from the cathedral’s choir schools. The age-range of this choir is deliberately lower than that of the main girls choir, so as to allow younger girls to take part in the musical life of the cathedral, and to provide training for those who may wish to join the main girls choir when they reach the appropriate age.

The Whitehead Ladies Choir

The Whitehead Ladies Choir

The Whitehead Ladies Choir was founded in 2015.  They are a group of 35 singers who were brought together by their love of music.  Inspired by their Musical Director Diane Creighton and accompanist Karl Bennett, the ladies would proudly describe themselves as a ‘loyal, dedicated and lively group’.  Their ever expanding repertoire is very varied, ranging from  current popular songs to sacred music.  And they also support the memory of the terrific compositions and arrangements of one of Northern Ireland’s great musicians, Havelock Nelson. They say that singing the choir gives them an opportunity to entertain and escape from their otherwise busy professional and family lives.  Performing in their local community, the choir contribute to the musical life of the town, raising funds for local charities. 

Broadcasts

  • Sun 17 Jun 2018 18:30
  • Tue 19 Jun 2018 19:30