Choralfestis settoimpress
FESTIVAL IS NOW IN ITS 28TH YEAR AND INCREASINGLY POPULAR BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD
CHOIRS are making sure their harmonies are pitch perfect for the upcoming Sligo International Choral Festival, which starts this Friday.
Now in its 28th year, the festival attracts groups from across Ireland and abroad for the three- day event of top- class music.
This year sees 49 choirs travelling to the Northwest, with High Hopes Homeless Choir the headline event.
This is one of the biggest choral festivals in Ireland and the array of talent being showcased is supreme.
The festival was launched by Note- Orious 4, a local Barbershop, who are celebrating winning Gold at the recent Convention in Cork.
The group comprises of Niamh O’Driscoll, Susan Leonard, Marie Conway and Berna Kavanagh and they were on hand in Alfie’s Barbers to sing a few tunes.
As the year is almost coming to an end, this festival brings the town alive with music before the mad Christmas rush.
Events will be taking place in venues and pop- up locations all across the town.
It includes competitive and non- competitive singing across a wide range of styles, ages and ensembles — from school choirs and jazz orchestras to gospel and barbershop choirs.
Sean Larkin, festival chairman said: “With many events taking place in venues around the town of Sligo there will be great opportunities for audi- ences to engage with all forms of choral music over the three days of the festival.
“There are the core competitions which the choirs will be taking part in but choirs will be popping up in pubs, restaurants, shopping centres and even barber shops over the three days, bringing right onto the streets of the town,” he added.
The Sligo International Choral Festival was established in 1988 by local businessmen, John Ryan and Joe Kelly. The first festival was held in Summerhill College. It was a oneday event and featured 12 Irish choirs, three competitions and the prize money totalled £ 1,000. Since then, 1,200 choirs, including 45,000 singers, have performed at the festival, with choirs travelling from 33 different countries over the years. It has added some 110,000 bed nights and € 15 million to Sligo’s economy and is now the second largest event of its kind in Ireland. Competitions for the 2016 event will take place in both the Gillooly Hall and Sligo Cathedral on Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12. The themes for this year’s competitions include, Barber Shop Choirs, Young People, Text by WB Yeats and Secondary School Choirs. A new edition is one reflecting the music associated with the 1916 Rising and the First World War. The High Hopes Choir will open the festival on Friday at the Gala Concert in the Knocknarea Arena from 8pm. This will be the first time that the High Hopes Choir performs in Sligo and a civil reception is being planned to welcome the choir to the town. Sligo’s Orpheus Choir and friends will join High Hopes in song. On Saturday evening, the Sligo Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra will perform a concert at the Gillooly Hall before the Sligo Champion Grand Prix, Prize Winners competition.
Outside of the competitions and formal concerts, the singing will also spill out onto the streets with the festival fringe events. Acapella in the City, which takes places throughout Saturday, is a fun way for audiences to engage with choirs who will perform throughout Sligo town in pubs, restaurants, shopping centres, various stores and barber shops. The music will continue at the Festival Club, which will take place at the Sligo Park hotel from 10.30pm on Saturday.
See www. sligochoralfest. com