Busy Tipperary choir finishes off season with a wonderful summer concert
Belle Voci Choir Clonmel
Belle Voci Choir from Clonmel finished out the year with a summer concert on the 13th of June in Old St Marys Church.
On this occasion the choir sang a mix of songs from their repertoire and 7 new pieces, including the two pieces that won us joint second place in Limerick Choral Festival at the beginning of the year.
The choir has had ar as we welcomed six new members in January, and immediately threw them in at the deep end by working on our competition pieces.
Then we were invited by Tipperary County Council to sing in the Town Hall after the parade on St Patrick’s Day. We were happy to accept, and very honoured by the invitation.
Since then we have been hard at work preparing for this summer concert and planning a choir trip to Vienna in November.
Our special guests this year were The New Inn Voices, directed by Jayne McConnon, who took second place alongside the Belles in Limerick and we were delighted to share the stage with them again.
The audience were treated to a wonderful evening of song on this occasion, as usual MC’d and conducted by our talented choral director Eamon O’Malley.
We sang 12 songs, some sacred music, a few old favourites like Danny Boy, and a few more contemporary pieces like What Was I Made For from the Barbie film, Here Comes the Sun by The Beetles and She Used to be Mine from the musical Waitress, finishing the evening with Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell, one of our competition pieces for Limerick this year.
The New Inn Voices sang 7 pieces among them Moon River, Down to the River to Pray, and an upbeat version of I got Rhythm, which was one of their competition pieces for Limerick. It was lovely to enjoy listening to them with none of the nerves of competition.
The New Inn Voices will now take a well-deserved rest before their next performance, on September the 14th, as part of a Choral Trails organised by the Cashel Arts Festival. The Belles will also be participating in that event along with, I’m sure, many other wonderful choirs; so one for the diary/calendar/reminder apps!
The audience arrival is one of my favourite moments of a concert. Seeing familiar faces in the crowd, fellow choir members pointing out family members, the buzz of greetings and conversation while everyone finds their seats.
It helps distract from the anticipation and nerves before we stand up to sing.
We are, as always, forever grateful to the community of Old Saint Mary’s Church and Dean Mulhall for allowing us the use of the church with its beautiful acoustics for the evening, and for all the work they do behind the scenes to prepare the Church for us. Thanks also to Michael Murphy T.D. for his continued and loyal support in attending our concerts and for the generous surprise donation to our raffle. One lucky winner, and a guest, will be having dinner in the members club in Leinster House.
And last but not least, we were delighted to welcome Siobhan Ambrose who attended in the stead of Mayor Pat English. As always Belle Voci would like to thank Tipperary County Council for their continued support throughout the year. The support of the County Council is vital for the arts in any town, and we are lucky that Clonmel takes such an interest in promoting music in all its forms.
And finally, to our Musical Director, Eamon O’Malley, thank you for your patience, your good humour, your professionalism, your belief in us, and your love of music that is always obvious.
Written by Christene Taylor