Choir Fest at the Church, 2017.

Christchurch Cathedral Waterford, May 2017

Written by Pat McEvoy, Arts Correspondent, Waterford News & Star, ‘A View from the Green Room’.

Choir Fest at the Church

Waterford Male Voice Choir, as usual, ended their season with another May stand-out concert. This time they’ve moved from the Tower Hotel Ballroom to the magnificent Christchurch Cathedral and have invited Norwegian chamber choir Baerum Chamber Choir, Violinist Siobhan Doyle and local WLRFM celebrity Teresanne O’Reilly on board as hostess. 

As always, the choir’s concert is superbly organised. To the last detail. There’s a full FOH team and the choir are available at the entrance for meet-and-greet. Everyone seems to be on first-name terms and the pride the choir takes in their work is a delight. And rightly so. 

The choir is first-class. There’s a mellow rounded sound that ebbs and swells and Musical Director Cian O’Carroll has some interesting arrangements and provides a sparkling commentary. It’s easy to enjoy a concert when the MD is buzzin’ along with it.  Cian recognises the importance in diversifying from traditional arrangements so that the choir always seem to be bringing something original or identifiably their own to the pieces. 

The concert opens with ‘What a Wonderful World’. The old Satchmo classic is full of warmth and comfort and is followed by an Elvis classic ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. It’s always a good idea to open with the familiar because it gives the MD the opportunity to introduce new work. A Michael McGlynn traditional air ‘Geantraí’ really tests the choir’s accuracy with tricky entries and exits, a challenging rhythm and a final counter-melody.  Waterford composer Dr. Greg Scanlon has penned an interesting ‘Our Father’ and the choir’s interpretation is prayerful and respectful underpinning the elegant flowing phrases that radiate faith and the comfort of the Lord’s Prayer. A final bible-thumpin’ ‘Joshua Fit the Battle’ features excellent work from accompanist Cecilia Kehoe who thumped out a great beat and the repeated emphasis on demolition expert Joshua and Jericho’s unstable masonry gives great energy to the piece. The Robbie Williams ‘Angels’ has become their  signature piece and the up-tempo ‘New York, New York’ has the audience swaying and singing along and probably wishing that there was some more up-tempo pieces on the programme.

Guest Violinist Siobhán Doyle has family connections with the choir. Her grandfather Jim is a long-time member and as proud as a lotto-winning peacock when his granddaughter took to the floor. The sweet tone and expressive phrasing of two Kreisler pieces – Liebesleid and Schon Rosmarin – are dreamy and romantic with melodies that flow around the great old cathedral and a Caprice, by Italian Baroque violinist and composer Pietro Locatelli, that is played almost entirely down the neck of the instrument, dazzles in its difficulty. Siobhán’s ‘Meditation from Thais’ is a big hit with the big attendance. It’s easy to see why the Massenet features at concerts. A sumptuous melody, that is repeated and gradually becomes more passionate, with a linking fragile cadenza is achingly beautiful. 

The Choir make friends on their travels and have invited Norwegian choir Baerum Kammerkor to perform. Well, of course, Musical Director Ingeborg Aadland speaks English like a Cathedral Close native and has a witty personality to boot as she introduces their programme. It’s a chamber choir who sing difficult pieces entirely a capella. Their opening Daemon is the very divil with its murmuring melody and counter melody pulsing around the lines as the Devil’s name is repeated throughout giving a Gothic horror feel to the piece. The flowing tuneful melody of  Rachmaninov’s Bogoroditse Devo is a welcome contrast before a shouty, noisy ‘Libera Me’,  that is sung in the Office of the Dead before the coffin heads off down the aisle, is a sort of horror-heads-up to us all. A selection of traditional Norwegian airs are thankfully more tranquil and the choir wrap up with three traditional Irish pieces that are warmly applauded by the audience. 

It’s been a good night in the old Cathedral.