The show must go on!

A community concert arranged for last week by Fermoy student Tynan O’Donoghue, met with an unexpected outcome which saw the staff of Fermoy Community Youth Centre treated to a private concert.

Initially, the Transition Year student had hoped to hold the concert for the Fermoy branch of the Cope Foundation, however, the Foundation unfortunately had to cancel their attendance at the last minute.

As they say, ‘the show must go on’ and the concert, performed by multi-instrumentalist and concert pianist, Paul

Sanchez, went ahead regardless and saw staff at the Palace Theatre treated to a private performance.

According to Tynan, he had hoped that the concert would help him to connect with the wider community.

“‘I wanted to take part in a real-life project that would help me to connect with the local community outside of my school in some way. I was therefore really excited about the opportunity of helping to arrange this special concert.

“‘Everyone has had a difficult time because of Covid-19, so I thought that a Christmas concert on the first day of December would bring a little cheer to everyone at the Cope Foundation and kickstart the festive season for the residents and staff there,” he said.

Paul Sanchez, also known as Girish Patel, who is a teacher in Fermoy, performed a variety of famous classical pieces from Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Tchaikovsky on the day.

Speaking with The Avondhu, Mr Patel noted that while he and Tynan were disappointed that the Cope Foundation had to cancel their attendance, the sparse audience was still ‘delighted’ and ‘thrilled’ with the performance.

“Tynan has enjoyed a life-enhancing experience in the pursuit of helping others less fortunate amongst the local community that will remain with him for years to come, so it was all worthwhile in the end,” Mr Patel enthused.

Kieran Barry and staff of the Palace Theatre and Fermoy Community Youth Centre were thanked for their help and for facilitating the event.