Originally set up as a
ter-centenary choir for the 300th Anniversary of the signing of the 1691
Siege of Limerick, the choir later evolved into Voices of Limerick in 1992.
In the early years Barra O’Tuama invited Voices of Limerick to join in his Opera
Gala Concerts to sing many of the great Grand Opera Choruses, this provided the
choir with the opportunity to perform with some of the finest singers ever to visit our
shores including José Cura, Paolo Gavanelli and Sergei Leiferkus and also with
some of Ireland’s leading singers including Cara O’Sullivan, Virginia Kerr,
Orla Boylan, Mairéad Buicke, Frank Patterson and Suzanne Murphy. The choir has
also performed with both the RTE Symphony and Concert Orchestras.
Voices of Limerick are invited to perform at many
events including Limerick Sings International Choral Festival and also perform
their own gala concert every two years.
In 2014 the choir was delighted to receive funding from the City of
Culture which enabled them to perform the very successful Classics for Culture, an
evening of choral music, solo songs and arias.
The accompanist was our good friend and honorary life member, Phillip
Thomas.
Voices
of Limerick enjoys singing many of the great choral
arrangements and has also performed works that have been arranged specially for
the choir itself. In their 2014 Classics for Culture concert the choir
premiered an arrangement by Colman Pearce and
dedicated to Voices of Limerick,
of that lovely ballad ‘Where the Shannon River meets the Sea’, in recognition
of Limerick’s year as National City of Culture.
Voices of Limerick are celebrating their Silver Anniversary with a Gala Concert in UCH on Saturday 11th November. Joining us on this occasion are the fabulous soprano Sinead Campbell Wallace and tenor Stephen Aviss.
Musical Director since the beginning is Colette Davis, whose extraordinary dedication & musical knowledge are a constant inspiration to the members will conduct, while
Internationally acclaimed pianist, vocal coach and conductor Phillip Thomas is accompanist for the evening.
The programme for the concert is a mix of some of our older, favourite repertoire as well as new pieces that we have done this year. These include Edgar’s Requiem Aeternam, Bell Chorus from I Pagliacci and Nessun dorma.
We are delighted that so many of our founding members are still with us and will be on stage with us on Saturday.
