Concert at Myles Hall, Wesley College
5th November 2005
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess medley
Mascagni: Easter Hymn
Wagner: Pilgrims’ Chorus
Faure: Cantique De Jean Racine
Mozart: Ave Verum
Jenkins: Agnus Dei from The Armed Man
Gilbert & Sullivan: When the Foeman Bares his Steel (Pirates of Penzance)
Beatles: Medley
Carpenters: Medley
(arr Rutter) When the Saints
1st April 2012
National Concert Hall
A wonderful evening!
A big “Thank You” goes out to all the DCC’s supporters who attended our performance of Dvořák’s “Requiem”, a gorgeous piece which had not been performed in Ireland in many years, at the National Concert Hall on 1st April 2012 at 8pm.
Antonín Dvořák composed this Requiem mass for choir, soloists, and orchestra in 1890, at the beginning of his peak creative period. The construction of the mass is not typical: the composition is divided in two basic parts (conducive to an intermission – this piece is well suited to the concert hall), each of which begins with the original interconnection of several liturgical sequences. Likewise, Dvořák inserted between the “Sanctus” and “Agnus Dei” a lyrical movement, “Pie Jesu“, created on the basis of the final text of the “Dies Irae” sequence. Its basic melodic motif is created by two ascending half-tones and a very sorrowful diminished third, which begins the opus and continues in many variations as the main motif running through the entire work.
Dvořák himself conducted the first performance of this work in Birmingham, England, on 9 October 1891, shortly after it was written. Now, 120 years later in Dublin, you can experience it yourself, as performed by your own Dublin County Choir, the Orchestra of St. Cecilia, and all our talented soloists, under the baton of our director, Colin Block.
Credits: Wikipedia & YouTube
4th December 2011
National Concert Hall
Once again, the ever professional young performers of the Billie Barry Stage School brought their charm and style to the festivities with a delightful number from Half a Sixpence and some classic Christmas show-stoppers. Niamh Murray delighted young and old with her story telling and her golden voice, whether singing with Celine Kelly at the piano, or with the Royal Irish Acadamy of Music Wind Ensemble conducted by Fergus O’Carroll, and indeed, your own Dublin County Choir accompanied on the organ by John Dexter and conducted by Colin Block. The RIAM band performed a selection of carols with an infectious energy that had all the toes in the house tapping. We sang some beautiful old Christmas favourites and some new favorites as well, and the weather this year allowed safe passage for the fans, friends, and families of all. Our thanks go out to them, and to our dedicated musical team, the composers, and each and every performer!
12th November 2011
Church of St John the Evangelist, Ballinteer
The story and legend of St Nicolas of Myra according to composer Benjamin Britten was brought to life by a dedicated and talented corps of singers, instrumentalists, soloists, leaders, conductors, and teachers of all ages in the beautiful acoustic of St John’s Church, Ballinteer, with tenor Jacek Wislocki singing the part of St Nicolas.
16th April 2011
National Concert Hall
For this spring concert, the Dublin County Choir performed a joint concert with le Choeur Polyphonique de Lévis, our friends from Québec, Canada. It was a very multicultural program with classics in Irish, English, French, Latin and Italian and traditional songs from both sides of the Atlantic. Our director, Colin Block, arranged a very special anthem for this concert: “I Believe / J’imagine”, the theme from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics for orchestra, choir, and soloists with words in French, Irish, and English, just for this occasion. Good times were had by all. Merci beaucoup, le Choeur Polyphonique, for the music, laughter and friendship!
5 December 2010 saw this year’s edition of the DCC’s popular Christmas special, featuring our longtime guest artists, soprano Niamh Murray, and the Billie Barry Children. It was the second time we did both matinee and evening versions of the show, and there was a great showing by our devoted audience, many of whom came to the concert hall despite the ice and snow. We promise better weather next year!
24th April 2010
National Concert Hall
INGOLDSBY: MAGNIFICAT
This is a setting for choir and orchestra of the text in Irish (Mórann m’anam an Tiarna….) of the great Marian canticle. The work lasts about 7 minutes and is in a modern but accessible idiom. The composer, Brian Ingoldsby, sings bass in the choir, which is giving the work its first performance in this concert.
BEETHOVEN: MASS IN C
Beethoven was following in the footsteps of Haydn in this Mass setting. In 1806 he was commissioned to compose it by Haydn’s former employer, Prince Esterhazy, for the name-day of his wife; by this time Haydn (who had done this work in several previous years) was now elderly and retired. Though similar in scale and form to Haydn’s settings for that occasion, it is distinctively Beethoven. It includes some glorious passages for the quartet of soloists as well as fine writing for the choir.
ROSSINI: STABAT MATER
This is a setting in ten movements of the famous medieval hymn describing the anguish of Mary as she sees her divine son on the cross. While not on the very grand scale of Dvořák’s setting (which the choir performed a few years ago), it is nonetheless a considerable work. The great composer of operas draws upon all his skills in that genre to produce memorable tunes, and shows that he could match the best symphonic composers as well. This is a good opportunity to hear a live performance of a work that doesn’t often feature on the Concert Hall stage.
6 December 2009 saw this year’s edition of the DCC’s popular Christmas special, featuring our longtime guest artists, soprano Niamh Murray, the Billie Barry Children and the Royal Irish Academy of Music Wind Ensemble. For the first time we did both matinee and evening versions of the show.
The first of the DCC’s own concerts of the ’09-’10 season took place on 14 November 2009 in the splendid acoustic of the Church of St Thérèse, Mount Merrion. This was the choir’s second performance at this venue. A capacity audience enjoyed the choir’s typically eclectic programme, the first half of the concert ranging from the Habañera in Bizet’s Carmen to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (in an arrangement created specially for us by our conductor Colin Block). The second half was made up of the Sleep Well chorus from Bach’s St John Passion, followed by the main offering, the Mozart Vespers. The evening’s music was enhanced by the fine voices of soloists Kay Lynch (soprano), Clíona McDonough (alto), Niall Chorell (tenor) and Jeffrey Ledwidge (bass).
On 10 September 2009, the choir joined the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and some of Ireland’s most popular vocalists at the National Concert Hall in the sell-out ‘Mooney’s Tunes’ concert organised by RTÉ presenter Derek Mooney. The programme for this was made up of Derek’s listeners’ choices. The DCC, versatile as always, was happy to oblige, with numbers ranging from ‘Two Little Boys’ to the Hallelujah Chorus.