Solstice Songs at St Columba's

St Columba's Choral Gathering

                                                                 

Baritone Owen Gilhooly 

Twilight prevailed  all day on the shortest day of the year in Ennis making the candlelit Gothic interior of St Columba's Church seem all the more cheerful decked out in all its Christmas adornments. There was a good house for a concert of seasonal repertoire by soprano, Helen Houlihan and baritone, Owen Gilhooly with the Ennis Cathedral Choir under director, Michael Hennessy accompanied by Irina Dernova. The programme was a classy affair, a blend of sacred and secular, rare gems and familiar favourites.
The opening solo  of the first half was a baritone aria from Christmas Oratorio by JS Bach, very likely a premiere in Clare of this sacred  repertoire. It seems an Avé Maria attributed to Caccini  may be ersatz  Baroque but it is glorious  nonetheless and Helen Houlihan delivered the  slow moving melody with a  beautifully sustained  tone. There was touch of Hollywood in Malotte's setting of the Lord's Prayer with which  she opened the second half. The choir answered an aria from Handel's Messiah with a jaunty rendition of the chorus For Unto Us a Child is Born.  How lovely to hear an Irish carol (Wexford Carol) in the selection, a very effective collaboration between soprano and choir. The mixed voice Cathedral Choir fitted snugly  under the Gothic arch  and sounded confident in the less familiar secular repertoire.

Seasonal Refreshments

Limerick baritone, Owen Gilhooly is currently enjoying international critical acclaim and listening to him tonight , it was easy to see why. He has  fabulous control. Shimmering pianissimos led to  gradual  crescendos with a pure tone throughout. Even with the most familiar repertoire, every nuance of emotion is articulated in heartfelt renditions that make even the most familiar carol sound fresh. You can hear Owen talking about his highlights of  a hectic 2012 and  his forthcoming projects in the audioboo below recorded just after the performance.

The reverberant acoustic was not always kind to the piano in the florid baroque lines more usually heard on strings and harpsichord and one wonders if the organ might have fared better for the this repertoire.  This is the second occasion that I have reported on this line up. In Songs for a Summer Evening I commented that the presentation would have been improved if the vocal introductions had been trimmed.Tonight I felt the opposite and  a sentence or two setting the context of the less familiar repertoire would have enhanced the presentation. The evening was a fund raiser for the Society of St Vincent de Paul and all performers had generously donated their time.
The audience lingered quite a while  for mulled wine cups and minced pies in the vestry for a convivial mull over the lovely evening.of song in Bindon St

Venue Notes: As always the beauty of the many lit candles created a magical ambiance in this beautiful venue which has served several musical evenings  in this month alone. I suggest that  lights in the nave could have come down even more to enhance the effect of candellight.

 Owen Gilhooly  ’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Baritone Owen Gilhooly  ’ on Audioboo

Related posts Cool Blackwater Barber

Set List
Somewhere In My Memory Williams Choir
Grosser Herr JS Bach from Christmas Oratorio Owen
Ave Verum Mozart  Helen
But Who May Abide Handel 
Panis Angelicus Franck owen & Helen
Ave Maria Caccini helen 
O Holy Night A Adam Owen & Helen 
The Lord's Prayer Malotte Helen
Ave Maria  Scubert Owen
Wiegenlied Reger Helen
Little Rd to Bethlehem  Holst Owen
Once in Royal David's City  Andrea Sheahan and Choir
For Unto Us a Child is Born  Handel Choir 
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Choir
A|deste Fidelis Owen and Choir
Wexford CarolHelen and Choir
Hark the Herald Angels Sing Choir
Silent NightChoir
The Holy City Owen Helen and Choir

Ennis Cathedral End of Term Choral Endeavours

The Cathedral Choir under director , Michael Hennessy, rounded off their season with a concert at Ennis Cathedral with special guests, Holy Family Chamber Choir
and soprano  Helen Houlihan at Cathedral Of St Peter & Paul on Thursday 28th June 

Following a set by the junior guests, the choir sang numbers by Karl Jenkins, Faure and  Billy Joel, finishing with a number from Fiddler on the Roof . Helen in terracotta ensemble sang a dream sequence of numbers including Beautiful Dreamer, I Dreamed a Dream (Les Mis) and The Quest  from Man of La Mancha (To Dream the Impossible Dream)

The orchestra were led by Hugh Connolly and cathedral organist, Leon Walsh opened the evening with a rousing War March of the Priests by Mendelssohn.

Songs for a Summer Evening

I  expected a treat when the Lions Club of Ennis presented a very enjoyable song recital at Danlann an Chlár last night and got it. Featuring established operatic soloists Helen Houlihan and Owen Gilhooly, it featured a range of genres with  songs from opera, musical theatre and Irish  parlour songs . They were sympathetically accompanied at the piano by Adare based pianist, Irina Denova . 

The operatic meat of the programme was contained in the first half with arias and duets by Lehar, Bizet and Puccini . The programme opened with two  Novello duets demonstrating a charming sense of teamwork and rapport from the outset between the two, both of them convincingly assuming the roles contained within the repertoire.  Owen's solo number  from Merry Widow was suitably  insouciant following Helen's bravura rendition of Oscar Strauss's 'My Hero' .  Helen  looked every inch the star in no less than two glamorous outfits and this soprano featured in my highlights of 2011 

The Ennis Cathedral Choir more usually tucked away in the gallery looked and sounded splendid  with conductor Michael Hennessy. The Jenkins, Pie Jesu featuring  youngster Andrea Sheehan and soprano Veronica Belis was particularly effective and very moving . Tenor, Tony Murray made a further foray onto the platform when the baritone theatrically feigned to forget the words of a Percy French number adding to the general  good humour. 

Houlihan & Gilhooly

Although both singers  proved adept at adapting their style to deliver simpler folk songs effectively, the real surprise of the evening was Gilhooly's control and lightness of touch.  I had heard this artist several times this season, most recently in splendid form in Brahms Requiem at UCH.  and in Haydn's Thereseinmesse  Although well known on the Irish and international opera scene, his voice proved to be a supple instrument in the lighter musical theatre repertoire and there was a sense that he relished the repertoire. The sentimental  music hall number, Macushla was a high point in the first half and I swear he had a tear in his eye in the big number from Les Mis, 'Bring Him Home'.  With a busy season of operatic engagements ahead, he will be heard singing  roles by Sibelius and Rimsky Korsakov  in Buxton and nearer to home at Lismore Opera as Figaro in the Barber of Seville. 

Winners of Clare's Got Talent, all girl song and dance team, 12 +1 were utterly charming and Karoline O Sullivan added an aria from Bohemian Girl fitting in with the general nostalgic tenor of the evening.

The evening was conceived by Helen I understand as a fundraiser for Clarecastle Day Centre and Canteen  and the artists had generously donated their considerable talents. There was a good attendance. I met Alison Bowyer, of impeccable operatic lineage herself who  tells me that there will be  a new show at the Knappogue Castle  with hot off the manuscript arrangements from Colman Pearce  and  daughter Stephanie, a CM past pupil was busy rehearsing for a performance of Oklahoma in Bejing! 

Congratulations to the Lions Club in association with Colaiste Muire  for organising the event. Outgoing District Governor, Terence Mangan was in attendance. In terms of  professional performances, the presentation  of superb singing in a comfortable venue was on a high level.  While it was comprehensive programme, some of the spoken introductions  would have benefited from being trimmed a bit.  The pair can be heard again on August 3rd as guests of Kilkee Civic Trust  . Well worth an excursion!

Summer Music Galway in Ennis

Beethoven Violin Concerto

The staff and senior students of Summer Music in Galway, the  long established summer music school gave a terrific concert at Danlann, Ennis Co Clare on Monday night.  The main work offered was Beethoven's Violin Concerto with David Stewart as soloist. The concert master of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra appeared to really relish the performance and was well served by the orchestra under Paul Ezergalis.  I was struck by the prominent role of principal bassoon and Michael Dooley did justice to the numerous duet moments in the work. Michael was also credited with a chaming arrangement of an Irving Berlin medley.  The strings were a liitle over emphatic  for my taste and might have aimed for a more relaxed feel for this 1930's popular repertoire. There was a selection of operatic arias by Mozart and Rossini  from a quartet of singers,  including Sarah Ellen Murphy and  Helen Houlihan, the context set  in amusing introductions by  soprano, Edel O'Brien.  There was rare treat in an arrangement of a piece called Cousins featuring a rich and warm duet combination of cornet and trombone.

Regrettably for such a high calibre of musical treats,  the audience number was roughly the same as the number in the orchestra. I think it is very difficult to gather an audience for a one off event unless it is hooked to another group or is publicised as part of an overall festival or sequence of events. I think there is some scope for a number of groups to pool their advertising resources and market Ennis as a multi faceted music hub and promote  their events in a combined effort . Come for Willie Clancy Week  and stay on for Summer Music.  Leaving that aside with two music schools and numerous choral groups in Ennis, it should be possible without too much advertising, to bring in larger audiences than are usual at classical events in Ennis. Musicians themselves I believe have a certain responsibility not only to perfrom but also to form an audience for fellow performers and to encourage our students in this regard. Although I still comb the local papers for news of events, I tend to look now online for information which I would not have done a year ago.   In fact, it was a text message that brought me along on this particular evening as I had missed seeing the printed advertising .

The next event in this venue will be  a  youth opera , Deep Waters  8pm Thursday 11th August .