IRISH and international choirs met as strangers and left as friends at last weekend’s Limerick Sings International Choral Festival.
International choirs Háskólakórinn (Iceland), SandvikaKoret (Norway), Singers Marin (US), Vocation (US) sang to appreciative audiences across Limerick and made an excursion to the Cliffs of Moher for a very special event.
On Friday The King’s Singers performed for the opening gala concert hosted by RTÉ Lyric fm’s Lorcan Murray. Blowing the roof off the University Concert Hall in a very special performance with audience members calling it a “spell-binding” evening.
On Saturday the newly formed Limerick Sings Outdoor Chorus Festival choir, made up of 275 singers from choirs from USA, Norway, Iceland joined forces with choirs from Dublin, Wicklow, the Netherlands and Louth for what has become of the of the Festival’s stand out moments – singing ‘What a Wonderful World’ at the Cliffs of Moher in the morning sunshine as visitor’s the cliffs listened on in awe. Renowned choral director Ruaidhrí Ó Dálaigh and The Ramparts choir led proceedings after one 45-minute rehearsal earlier that morning.
The festivities then moved to Redemptorist Church with each choir performing a number of songs in their own unique sound.
Other highlights across the weekend included the free, fun-filled Choral Trail with pop up performances at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, the Hunt Museum, the International Rugby Experience and Milford Care Centre.
On Sunday afternoon (11 June), it was standing room only in the Holy Trinity Church, Adare for the final concert of the Festival where choirs Silvertones (Wexford), Voices of the Boyne (Louth), VoiceOver (Waterford); Kingswood Community Choir (Dublin) and Aoide Voices (Limerick) displayed their talents with songs such as, ‘Beautiful Day’, ‘I’ll Tell me Ma’ to a sold out audience. It seemed fitting that SiyahambaI, a traditional Zulu song, sang by Aoide Voices was the final song of the Festival as the sun set on a fantastic choral weekend.
Sinead Hope, Artistic Director of Limerick Sings International Choral Festival said, “Seeing the Festival going from strength to strength makes all the efforts that go into planning the Festival worth it. It is hugely gratifying and uplifting to see all of these choirs from near and far who meet as strangers and leave as friends come together and experience our wonderful city and region. It’s going to be hard to top 2023 but we are already making plans for 2024!”
Keep an eye on limericksings.com for news of the 2024 Festival which will take place in June next year.
275 singers from choirs from USA, Norway, Iceland joined forces with choirs from Dublin and Wicklow singing ‘What a Wonderful World’ at the Cliffs of Moher.
