World premiere of piece of Drogheda music this weekend

THE World Premiere of ‘ The Sabbath Rang Slowly’, a new work about Drogheda, for symphony orchestra by the composer Michael Holohan will be aired at The 23rd Festival of Youth Orchestras on Saturday 10th February, 2018 at 3pm in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

This new piece was inspired by the sounds of the bells of St Peter’s Church of Ireland and the clock bells of The old Tholsel building (now the town’s Tourist Office). The title derives from a line in the beautiful poem ‘Fern Hill’ by the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. The composer has always loved the sounds of the bells of St Peters especially the change ringing on Sunday mornings before Service. He notated the music from the bell patterns and then combined them with the sounds of The Tholsel clock and his own original music for orchestra.

Michael was delighted when the wonderful Helen Leahy asked him to compose a new piece for her Drogheda Young Orchestral Players. He is really looking forward to the premiere of the The Sabbath Rang Slowly and returning to the National Concert Hall where he has had many notable successes in the past, with works such as Running Beast, Shackleton, From Gallipoli to the GPO , The Forge and Cromwell.

Michael would especially like to thank Helen, her loyal helpers, the parents and The Drogheda Young Orchestral Players for all their hard work in preparing the new piece and he also wishes them the best of luck next Saturday as the orchestra represents Drogheda for the first time in The National Concert Hall, Dublin,

The 2018 Festival of Youth Orchestras will see almost 500 young musicians take to the stage of the National Concert Hall to perform a variety of music played by young people for young people – from the standard classical repertoire to music from the movies, pop tunes arranged for orchestra and new music by Irish Composers. The 2018 edition will include Hungarian Dances by Brahms, music from Star Wars, Carmen, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Sesame Street, Duke Ellington and much more. There will also be modern Irish works by Elaine Agnew, Vincent Kennedy and Michael Holohan. It’s a family-friendly event not to be missed.