Stringschool Summercamp 2010

Pulling out all the stops at Stringschool Summer Camp

The young participants of the Cathy Desmond Stringschool Summer Camp gave a special lunchtime performance at Colaiste Muire last week. Over the course of the week long course, the participants discovered a range of musical styles and rhythms and had a chance to try out a selection of musical instruments They delighted their audience of family and friends as they demonstrated their new skills acquired within the week .

Arias and High Emotions in Clarecastle

It was a night of high emotion in Clarecastle as the local community turned out in force to bid Bon Voyage and Farewell to local young tenor Dean Power. Usually I am not a fan of these pot pourri evenings where one can spend a good proportion of the concert time applauding but this was just the right format for this particular occasion.

The repertoire was light and frothy with Dean opening the procedings with You are My Heart's Delight Lehar? He was joined by young tenors Ross Scanlon and Peter Donohue, mezzo soprano Naomi O' Connell. But the real surprise of the night was American baritone, Adrian Rosa who tells me is shortly heading to Seattle to play Mazetto in Don Giovanni. Great poise and stage presence , a treat. Katie Daly gave an Irish lullaby just the sort of gentle treatment required . The stand out moment however came towards the end of the second half with the number from Jekyll and Hyde, 'This is the Moment'. Just the right song for the occasion and the lyrics perfectly apt for the moment.

Everybody wept, the piano player ( rather wonderful Mairead Hurley) the tenor , the ladies in the front row. We continued to wallow as the group who have been singing together since teenage years sang what else but Time to Say Goodbye. One sensed it would never be quite the same again. Here is wishing him well in his new endeavours

Musical Postcards France NCH 20th July

My last trip to Dublin was to see one of the musical world's longest serving stars in Paul McCartney. By contrast this trip was to see rising star Dean Power at this premier concert venue. Alice and I came up by train and hopped on a bus at Heuston that brought us all the way to Stephen's green . The conductor saw to it that we were alerted to the right stop, a stones throw from Earlsfort Tce. Doesn't it make you feel good to meet cheerful people. On into the hall where an hour before the concert, there was a buzz with a queue forming for cancellations. We bumped into Ennis tenor Tony Murray also up to support fellow tenor.