Brona leads RTECO in concert
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VIOLINIST Brona Cahill is looking forward to leading the RTE Concert Orchestra when they perform at the gala concert marking Setanta Choir’s 40th anniversary in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dundalk later this month.
One of the aspects of playing with the RTE Concert Orchestra which she enjoys most is going out on the road and playing at different venues around the country and as a self-professed proud Dundalk woman, Brona is delighted to get the opportunity to lead the orchestra in her hometown.
‘I am really excited about playing in Dundalk as it’s about eight years since I played here and it’s always nice to play in your home town.’
In fact, the orchestra’s involvement with the concert has come about because Setanta Choir director Una Murphy asked Brona if she would be able to get the ball rolling and Brona was only too happy oblige.
‘ There’s a really nice programme for the concert which takes place on Sunday February 25th and another Dundalk musician, flautist Voureen Ryan is also playing in the orchestra.’
The concert also features violinist Jennifer Murphy from Ballymascanlon as well as a number of guest soloists.
Setanta Choir themselves will, of course, take centre stage, and Brona notes that her cousins Corina and Clodagh Drumm and their dad Paul are members of the choir.
‘It should be a really good night and I think everyone is looking forward to it as I’m always banging on about Dundalk and how great it is.’
Coming from an intensely musical family - her mother Olivia nee Heaney taught Irish dancing for many years - Brona is one of the generation of violinists from north Louth who began studying music with the late Fr Brendan McNally.
‘He sent me off to study at the Guildhall in London for four years and I then did a Masters in Music in America,’ she recalls.
Brona gained great experience while studying, playing with and leading chamber orchestras and piano trios. She returned home and played with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, The Irish Baroque Orchestra, Opera Theatre Company the Crash Ensemble and Camerata Ireland before joining the RTE Concert Orchestra.
‘I rally enjoy playing with the RTE Concert Orchestra as we are very busy and our work is very varied.’
She travels from her Dundalk home to Dublin for orchestral rehearsals which take place in the Radio Centre in Donnybrook and the orchestra usually has at least one or two concerts a week in the National Concert Hall.
‘What I love about the orchestra is that it’s so versatile. We perform all sorts of music, from baroque to opera, chamber work, film scores, classics, and pop as well as performing in big arenas with Jenny Green.’
The concert orchestra is also very much in demand for recordings and tv programmes, and Brona laughs at how a bunch of scruffy looking musicians came into play with them one morning. ‘We didn’t know them from Adam but as soon as they started playing, everyone knew they were good and the session was just electric.’ Turns out they had been playing with Kodaline just before they became famous. ‘It was just magic,’ she says.
‘As the concert orchestra is quite small, there are only forty of us, we all know each other really well, and we can also go on tour around the country and play in places like Dundalk.’
Alongside her work with the RTE Concert Orchestra, Brona has collaborated with Joanne Quigley in organising concerts in Newry and hopes to get a series of chamber concerts going in Dundalk. ‘I would love to get more classical music played in Dundalk - that’s my next goal,’ she says.
Tickets for Setanta’s Gala Concert in St Patrick’s are priced €25, family ticket €50, and are on sale from The Greenmount Restaurant, Clanbrassil St, Mrs Deli’s, Seatown, or www,setantachoir.com.