St Nicholas Christmas Fayre, 2017

We were delighted to contribute by singing a selection of Christmas carols at this annual event.

It was great to have friends from the Dominican church choir and elsewhere join us on the day.

PRESS RELEASE: Join Galway Choral Association in celebrating 20 years of singing

If you love singing and would like a new challenge, the Galway Choral Association wants to hear from you! The Association is a 60–voice community choir and has vacancies for men and women who want to make great choral music.

Next year is the association’s 20th anniversary, and they will host a special Gala concert in January to mark the occasion. The programme will include Fauré’s “Requiem”, featuring Galway natives soprano Aisling Kenny and organist, David Grealy. Later in 2018, the choir will visit Germany, to sing Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem” with Ulm Chor Levantate, who visited Galway in 2016.

The choir welcomes both former members and new friends. “We have men and women of all ages and stages, and want to hear from anyone who is interested in joining a choir,” says chairperson Carol Duffy. “Choral experience and the ability to read music are helpful, but definitely not necessary, as GCA provides comprehensive rehearsals and learning-tools. Our members often include people who are taking up a new hobby before they retire, or when the kids leave home. With enthusiasm and dedication, anything is possible.”

The number of choirs in Galway has increased dramatically as group-singing becomes more popular. “Joining a choir like GCA has many positives, including known mental health benefits”, Carol Duffy said. “An establsihed choir like ours has the knowledge and relationships to organise concerts easily, and we have connections to many organisations around Galway. Our musical director, Norman, and accompanist, Dympna O’Byrne, are extremely accomplished musicians. They encourage us to reach high standards, and this enables us to perform a variety of choral works, while raising funds for various local charities. Our 2017 summer concert raised €1000 for COPE Galway, and it was fabulous to help them in this way.”

“I’m delighted to be doing Faure’s Requiem” said musical director, Norman Duffy. “Galway Choral is a versatile choir, performing works from sacred choral standards right through to modern compositions, spirituals, folk-songs and songs from musicals. We will also prepare a few Irish songs to share with our friends in Germany.”

The choir rehearses on Sunday from 7.30 - 9.30 pm in St. Patrick’s Band Hall beside Galway Railway Station, and Norman promises that each evening will be enjoyable. Their season runs from September to June, and new members are accepted in September and February. Prospective members may attend up to three rehearsals before deciding to join.

To arrange a voice-range test, email admin@galwaychoral.ie, or phone Norman Duffy on 085-144-1614.

Choir Photograph, June 2017

A higher-resolution, uncropped picture, suitable for printing, is available here: to get it on to your computer, go to that photo and then click the Download button near the top left hand side.  It may be cropped etc as required for various purposes.

Thank You from COPE Galway

Presented the profits from our Summer Concert to COPE Galway.

    

Left to right:  Michael O'Hare, Carol Duffy, Mary Curtin, Craig Steven, Marie-Anne Michel (COPE Galway) and Norman Duffy.

The following letter was received from COPE Galway:

11 August 2017

Dear Members of the Galway Choral Association,

On behalf of all in COPE Galway, I would like to express our most sincere thanks to you for your donation of €1,030.01 towards our vital services in Galway.

As you know COPE Galway services help those from our community experiencing homelessness, domestic violence and we support older people in Galway to stay living in their home longer.

In 2016 we worked with 1,214 people experiencing homelessness, supported 314 women and their 158 children experiencing domestic violence and provided women with 719 Outreach appointments, and we produced and delivered 44,565 meals to older people in Galway City and parts of the county.
Support like yours is making a real difference across our community and enables us to continue to offer practical and emotional supports for some of our most vulnerable.

All of the people who will benefit from your donation are members of our society, and when we make them stronger, we’re building a better Galway for all of us. Thank you for seeing that potential – and for acting on it so generously.

Again, thank you so much for your support!

With warmest regards,



Marie-Anne Michel
Community Fundraiser
COPE Galway – fundraising@copegalway.ie – 091 778750

P.S. If you would like to tour any of our services or find out more about the impact your gift has please call us on 091 778750. We would be delighted to hear from you. Thank you again.

Press Release: Choral Showcase for COPE Galway

A Summer Choral Showcase this Saturday will raise much-needed funds for local charity COPE Galway, and give a taste of the breadth of musical talent in the city.

Galway Choral Association, directed by Norman Duffy, will present a summer concert featuring choral arrangements of popular songs, spirituals and folk-songs.

Also performing are the Scoil Íde National School choir from Salthill, and the NUIG Chamber Ensemble who will play excerpts from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No 2 in Bm. We can look forward to a guest performance by Galway’s premier male voice a cappella group, too.

“We are delighted to give Scoil Íde’s choir a chance to sing for a general audience” says Carol Duffy, Chairperson of Galway Choral Association. ”We first met them at the Mental Health Awareness Day concert in October last year, and we were stunned by their enthusiasm for music, and by the high standards which choir director Claire Hynes has reached with them.”

“Our summer concert traditionally draws from a range of sources, rather than focussing on just one work” says musical director Norman Duffy. “Although lighter than some of our typical works, the four-part settings of popular music like “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles and Stephen Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer” are challenging to sing, while still being accessible to a wide audience.”

Marie-Anne from COPE Galway and Norman, launching our summer concert

One of the choir’s aims is to create a spirit of enjoyment and camaraderie among choir members, and supporting groups like COPE Galway is an important part of this. COPE Galway is a local organisation providing support and services for people affected by homelessness, women and children experiencing domestic violence, and for older people, by supporting home, promoting community and reducing isolation.

The concert is being held at 8pm on Saturday 24 June in St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, in Market Street. Tickets are €15 (€12 concession or €25 for the whole family) and are available from the Opus II in High St (091 500 300), COPE Galway’s shop in St Augustine Street (091 569 715), Scoil Íde, or from choir members. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the door, so that visitors to Galway don’t miss out.

Our next concert: Summer Choral Showcase, 24 June 2017

Photos from our December 2016 concert

A lovely slideshow of pictures from our concert in the Town Hall Theatre in December 2016 is a available here.