CBOI set for Carnegie Hall
The Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland is going to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a concert in New York’s famous Carnegie Hall.
This will be the third time that the orchestra has played the prestigious venue which has showcased the word’s finest musicians from Tchaikovsky and Mahler, to Horowitz, Callas, Bernstein and even the Beatles.
‘We used to do an international tour every two years but at that time we only played two venues in Ireland, Dublin and Belfast,’ she says. ‘ Then after we started the Peace Proms, that grew to fifteen venues in Ireland and England each year. It’s all consuming work which takes up eleven months of the year.’
However, with the orchestra’s 25th anniversary coming up next year, Sharon felt that it was fitting that they do something special to mark the occasion.
‘We have a fabulous support in New York with Ciaran Grant from Brid-a- Crinn and Orla Maguire who co-chaired the voluntary committee six years ago. When I contacted them, they said we absolutely had to play Carnegie Hall to mark our 25th anniversary.’
Likewise, the world famous concert hall were delighted to welcome the orchestra back as they had enjoyed working with them on their previous two visits.
So, the orchestra are set to take to that majestic stage on October 30 2020, almost exactly 25 years to the day that the orchestra first got together.
‘ The kids just screamed with delight when I told them that we were going to New York, they couldn’t believe it,’ reveals Sharon.
There will, however, be a lot of work for Sharon and the orchestra before they fly out to the Big Apple.
While the programme and line-up of guest musicians has yet to be finalised, Sharon says she plans to pick out the very best of what they have been doing in recent years.’
‘We have commissioned a lot of different pieces over the last number of years highlighting Irish culture,’ she says, adding that they now specialise in playing what she calls symphonic Celtic rock.
As usual the orchestra will be accepting new members next August but Sharon says that they would have to be accomplished players to be ready for the tour.
The orchestra, which was established in 1995 as a peace initiative, is composed of 100 talented and dedicated young musicians from all over Ireland and Northern Ireland who get together for rehearsals in Dundalk. Over the past 25 years, the CBOI has played an important role in building and nurturing vital cross border and cross community relations and is regarded internationally as a flagship peace initiative. They have performed around the world in a range of premier venues including Carnegie Hall, New York; the Royal Albert Hall, London; Boston Symphony Hall; Chicago Symphony Hall; and the Oriental Arts Centre Shanghai. They have played for Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle and in 2016 played for Barack Obama in the White House,
Washington D.C. for his final St. Patrick’s Day celebration as President of the US.
The CBOI launched a choir programme for primary schools in 2002. Now, over 30,000 primary school children including 6,000 children from both communities in Northern Ireland, take part in Peace Proms every year. The Peace Proms makes the Arts more accessible to young people, their schools, families and the wider community, celebrating culture and diversity and promotes peace, unity and tolerance through music.