Author: Eoin McAuley

A special mention to Cleanmarine MenoMin (the brand for menopause! google it! ) for supporting the Culwick Choral Society.

We hope you all enjoyed the Summer break. But I’m sure you missed the singing too – now it’s time to start rehearsing again. We start on Thursday 8th September in Wesley House, Leeson Park at 7:30pm as usual.

It seems odd to be thinking about Christmas already, but we need to get working on the pieces for our Christmas concert. There’ll be lots of new stuff to learn and old favourites to remember.

New Members are welcome. If you think you might like to sing with us, come along and give it a try.

Tickets €25 @ www.eventbrite.co.uk

CULWICK CHORAL SOCIETY PRESENTS

Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria

Culwick Choral Society
Conductor: David Leigh

St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Saturday 28th May 2022 at 8pm

Admission: €25
Tickets available at www.eventbrite.ie

We’re delighted to be back singing major choral works, so Vivaldi’s lively Gloria is a great way to celebrate. Written in about 1715, it is a song of praise to God which is both boisterous and in other places contemplative.

We’re also conscious of the hard times we’ve all had to endure over the last two years, with many of us losing friends or loved ones. Fauré’s Requiem was written to console the bereaved – its unusual 20th-century harmonies make it one of the most beautiful and popular choral works.

On Friday 10th December 2021 at 8.00 pm the Culwick Choral Society, under the watchful eye of conductor David Leigh, present ‘A Culwick Christmas’, an evening of traditional Christmas carols, songs and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with special guests The Boy Choristers of St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir and Stuart Nicholson, Master of the Music, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Organist. Olivia O’Leary will compere the evening.

Join us for an evening full of Christmas cheer. Tickets priced at €25 from Eventbrite only. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-culwick-christmas-tickets-208691922157

Please note current conditions in relation to attending the concert:

• A valid vaccination/recovery cert must be shown to gain entry. Please bring photo ID.
• Masks must be worn at all times when moving around in the Cathedral
• If you have COVID-19 symptoms we would ask that you do not attend. – please check www.hse.ie for further information.
• The Culwick reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of attendance in line with any changing government regulations, and will communicate any new conditions if they come into effect.

We are delighted to have returned to live rehearsals following a year and a half of online rehearsals. It has been such a difficult time for so many people and it is so good to be back in the rehearsal room together to celebrate life through singing!

If you love to sing then we would love to have you as a member. Under the direction of our esteemed Musical Director, David Leigh, we are now preparing for our Christmas concert which will take place in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in December.

We rehearse on Thursdays at 7.30 pm, close to the city centre. If you are interested just message us here or email our registrar: culwickregistrar@gmail.com

The Culwick Choral Society wishes all our friends a very happy and safe Easter. 

On Thursday April 8 we will perform a selection of Passiontide and Easter Choruses from Handel’s Messiah in a virtual concert with our Musical Director, David Leigh. If you love to sing the Messiah why not join us on the night and sing with us! We will sing with a Culwick Choral Society backing track from a performance in St Patrick’s Cathedral. All participants will be muted so we will all be singing along with a recorded version of the Culwick Choral Society!

If you are interested in joining us please contact us at culwickregistrar@gmail.com 
We’d love to have you with us for some singing, community and fun!

Ian Kelly, who died on 13th January 2021, was a committed and much-loved member of the Culwick Choral Society.

Ian served as a committee member of the Society in many roles and as President from 1989-1993. Through his auspices, the Culwick rehearsed in the Presbyterian Centre in St Stephen’s Green and Merrion Square, prior to moving to Wesley House where we currently rehearse.

One of Ian’s many contributions to the Society was his organisation of the summer singing club. Ian with his great friend, Finbar Callanan, and their wives, Ivy and the late Maureen, organised the venue, arranged for a musical director and accompanist for the club and sourced the music for the participants. Ivy and Maureen provided tea and biscuits for each rehearsal and organised food for the end of summer party. Through the efforts of Ian and Finbar new members got to know their choral colleagues and everyone greatly enjoyed those summer nights of singing.

Ian was an accomplished pianist and great organiser and leader of sing songs at every Culwick social event. Among his many talents was his ability to write comic verse which he put to music with Finbar. We were greatly entertained by both of them at every Culwick party.

After retirement, Ian continued to support the Culwick Choral Society, dropping backstage after each concert in the NCH for a chat with his colleagues. It was always such a pleasure to see him.

In 2018 The Culwick Choral Society celebrated its 120th anniversary with a party attended by current and past members. Ian was a very welcome guest on the night, met up with many old friends, and clearly enjoyed the evening reminiscing and singing with fellow choristers.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Magda O’Connell, who died on 5^th December 2020, was a committed and much loved member of the Culwick Choral Society for 28 years.  Magda joined the choir as a soprano in 1992.  One of her first choral performances was in the Bach Mass in B Minor with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in 1993, and, over the years, she enjoyed singing the great choral works, including those by Monteverdi, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Bach and Mendelssohn.  In September 1995 she sang with the Culwick at ‘Voices of the World’ – a choral spectacular at Lansdowne Road with over 6,000 singers from around the world.  The concert was broadcast by RTE that year on Christmas Eve. 

In 1998, on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of Culwick, Magda co-edited a history of the Society ‘The Culwick Choral Society Celebrates One Hundred Years 1888-1998’  which was published that year.  

Magda served as a committee member of the Culwick Choral Society both as Hon sec and subsequently as President from 2004-08, and led the Society with efficiency and empathy. Magda continued through the years to quietly support the Society and one of her great informal contributions was her gentle welcome and support for new members when they first joined. Together with her commitment to the Culwick, Magda was a great supporter of choral music in Ireland and served as a Director and Company Secretary of the Irish Association of Choirs, the forerunner of Sing Ireland.  

Apart from our biannual concerts in the NCH Magda supported all informal events organised by the Culwick.  She greatly enjoyed our Christmas and Spring parties and always participated wholeheartedly.  For many years Magda was part of the winning team in the Quartets competition.

 In 2018 The Culwick Choral Society celebrated its 120th anniversary with a party attended by current and past members. Magda met up with many old friends on the night and clearly enjoyed the evening reminiscing and singing with fellow choristers. 

Magda continued to sing with us, even embracing zoom rehearsals, until she became ill earlier this year.   She will be greatly missed by all her friends in the Culwick Choral Society.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis.

 As we are currently unable to meet during the Covid pandemic, the Culwick Choral Society continues to rehearse online on Zoom. Our Musical Director, David Leigh, has chosen a wonderful selection of pieces for us this term.  We are singing some traditional Irish songs, including a beautiful arrangement by Eoin Conway of The Parting Glass, and magnificent classical pieces like Laudate Dominum by Mozart and Te Deum by Haydn. We also intend to rehearse a number of traditional carols in the run-up to Christmas. The choir is provided rehearsal tracks for each line and sheet music, free of charge, and we use these to familiarise ourselves with our line at home. David plays through the individual soprano, alto, tenor and bass lines at the rehearsal and we all then sing through the pieces together.
 
If you love singing and have been thinking about joining a choir, why not join us online and sing with us, free of charge, for a few weeks.  
 
For further information contact: culwickregistrar@gmail.com