A Tale of Two Masses: November Concerts in Waterford and Dublin

 In its first visit to Waterford, the internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices and its conductor Bernie Sherlock explore a Tale of Two Masses written almost 500 hundred years apart: the sublime Missa Aeterna Christi Munera by Palestrina, and the prophetic and unconventional Missa Tiburtina by Giles Swayne.

"I'm delighted that New Dublin Voices is giving what I am fairly sure will be the Irish premiere of my Missa Tiburtina - a piece dating from 1984 (the height of the Thatcher years) which looks at a religious ritual with which we are familiar, in the context of the realities of a greedy & divided world." (Giles Swayne)

Fresh from its clean sweep of 6 awards at the 11th International Choir Contest of Flanders-Maasmechelen in Belgium (including Choir of the Festival and Best Contemporary Work), NDV will also pay tribute to Waterford-based composer, Ben Hanlon, who has written two works in the last two years for the choir. New Dublin Voices will also perform a selection of other sacred pieces including Beati Quorum Via by Stanford and Z. Randall Stroope’s The Conversion of Saul, his graphic and electrifying depiction of Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus.

Christ Church Cathedral Waterford, Saturday November 5th at 8pm.

This programme will be repeated in Dublin in St. Ann’s Church Dawson St, on Friday November 11^th at 8pm.

Tickets: €15/€10 (conc.) available at the door

or

contact info@newdublinvoices.com

New Dublin Voices Sweeps the Board in Belgium!

The Irish chamber choir New Dublin Voices swept the boards at a major international choral competition in Belgium over the weekend.

New Dublin Voices, a non-professional chamber choir under the direction of conductor Bernie Sherlock, was competing in the biennial International Choir Contest of Flanders-Maasmechelen where it not only won first prize but also swept all other available prizes: best performance of the specially commissioned set work, best folksong, best performance of a contemporary piece (O frondens virga by the Irish composer Ben Hanlon), the Audience Prize, and Choir of the Festival.

11 choirs in all – from Germany, Russia, Latvia, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as Ireland – were selected to take part in the competition which was judged by an international panel of 5 adjudicators. Performances were spread over the two days and the results were announced late on Sunday night. New Dublin Voices, which receives no sponsorship or government funding, amassed close to €4000 in prize money.

"I'm delighted we hit our top form this weekend and did so well," said conductor Bernie Sherlock. "Apart from anything else, New Dublin Voices needs the money! This means we can start planning to travel somewhere else next year."

Click here for the official results.

Auditions

Auditions for new members - September 2011

Rehearsals in City Centre Tuesday evenings

The multi-award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices is currently auditioning for a small number of vacancies. We are looking for experienced singers who read music well and enjoy singing challenging choral music, mostly a capella.

What to do

Please email info@newdublinvoices.com with relevant information about your choral experience. You will then be contacted about an audition.

Summer Concerts

Multi-award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices presents:

SUMMER CONCERTS

A selection of highlights from the past year

NEW DUBLIN VOICES

Conductor, Bernie Sherlock

St. Thomas' Church, Mount Merrion

Saturday, June 11^th @ 8pm

University Church, St. Stephen's Green

Thursday, June 16^th @ 8pm

In 2010/2011, New Dublin Voices drew more crowds, did more world and Irish premieres, performed more strange and intriguing pieces as well as great classics, won more prizes, launched 2 CDs, and continued making sure audiences enjoyed listening as much as NDV did performing.

Now, to wrap up another wonderful season, NDV is giving two Dublin concerts full of highlights from the past 9 months. The wide range of NDV's repertoire will be on display, and there will be something for everyone.

€15 (€10 conc.) at the door

Or reserve in advance via info@newdublinvoices.com

Lux Aeterna - Concert, April 20th 2011

INNSBRUCK MEETS DUBLIN

Wed April 20^th, Christ Church Cathedral

Sacred Choral Music – ancient to contemporary

Ireland's international award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices joins forces with Vokalensemble Vocappella Innsbruck for a concert of sacred music – ranging from ancient to contemporary – on Holy Wednesday (April 20) in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral.

Separately and together the two choirs undertake a gripping musical journey, from music long associated with Holy Week – including the famous Miserere by Allegri – to sacred works by living composers currently enjoying huge popularity – including Arvo Pärt, Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen – to exciting new voices, including the Irish premieres of a Crucifixus by Stéphan Nicolay of France, Regina Caeli by the English Cecilia McDowell and O vos omnes by Dublin-born Michael McGlynn.

Claudio Büchler, ConductorOther composers include Gesualdo, Poulenc and Josep Vila i Casañas. The conductors for these performances are Bernie Sherlock and Claudio Büchler – known to Irish audiences from his previous work here with Opera Ireland and the National Chamber Choir – who will also direct the combined choirs in the concert's substantial closing item, the light-filled, multi-part Lux aeterna by Lauridsen with organist David Bremner.

Venue:             Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

Date:               Wednesday, April 20

Time:               8pm

Tickets:           €15 (€10 conc) www.tickets.ie or at the door

Programme:

Allegri             Miserere         

Lauridsen        Lux aeterna     

Pärt                 Magnificat                  

Pärt                 Nunc dimittis             

Whitacre          Lux arumque                                                                          

Gesualdo         O vos omnes              

McGlynn        O vos omnes (Irish premiere)             

Nicolay           Crucifixus (Irish premiere)                 

McDowell       Regina caeli (Irish premiere)              

Vila                  Sanctus-Benedictus

Bruckner         Ave Maria                  

Bruckner         Christus factus est

Poulenc           O magnum mysterium 

Vokalensemble Vocappella Innsbruck

About Vokalensemble Vocappella Innsbruck:

Vokalensemble Vocappella Innsbruck was founded by conductor Bernhard Sieberer in 1990. The 20 singers - most alumni and current students of the University Mozarteum in Innsbruck - enjoy performing music composed for chamber ensembles. They have performed many concerts in Austria and abroad (Italy, Egypt, Lithuania, Germany and Spain) with music from the medieval to the contemporary. The choir regularly works with Aura Musicale Budapest. Their latest concert was entitled 'Fire, Fire!', with the famous Norwegian guitarist Rolf Lislevand.

http://www.vocappella.com

About Claudio Büchler:

The son of Argentinian parents, Claudio Büchler was born in Oslo and grew up in Austria. He started studying piano at the age of six and later took up the French horn. From 1973 on, he continued his higher education in conducting, composition and horn at the Faculty of Music in the University of Vienna. He took his diploma in orchestral conducting under Otmar Suitner in 1981. He also participated in conducting courses and master classes with Leonard Bernstein and Gerd Albrecht.

As a conductor and chorus master, Claudio has worked with many different orchestras and choirs, such as the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Hungarian Salieri Chamber Orchestra, the Wiener Konzertverein, the NCC and the Kammmerchor Walther von der Vogelweide. His interest lies in music of all times and genres; he has been working mainly in opera and therefore his repertoire of conducted operas is wide. He has held conducting positions in Vienna, Passau, Regensburg, Magdeburg, Dublin and Innsbruck. As guest conductor, he worked at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, at the Opera of Monte Carlo; with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, at the Opera of La Plata, Argentina; with the National Chamber Choir of Ireland in Dublin and with the Orchestra of Tirana, to name but a few.

Currently, Claudio is the chief conductor of the Innsbruck University Orchestra.