Acclaimed composer and poet unite to mark Bray Choral Society's anniversary
The Bray Choral Society, under the direction of Frank Kelly, presented a fabulous evening of music on Sunday, May 25, at Holy Redeemer Church, in celebration of its 40th anniversary. The programme featured a specially commissioned work by acclaimed composer Howard Goodall, 'The Creation Song of the Choir of Light', written to mark the choir's significant milestone.
The highlight of the evening was The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, originally commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum. Composed in 1999. The work is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict, part of the broader and devastating Balkan wars of the early 1990s.
Accompanied by imagery projected on screens in the church, the performance was widely praised as both powerful and deeply moving and was met huge applause from a full Holy Redeemer Church. The performance in Bray followed a similarly spellbinding concert in St Andrew's Church, in Westland Row, on Saturday.
Keith Brennan, the poet and farmer from Roscommon, was commissioned to write the lyrics to 'The Creation Song of the Choir of Light'. He told RTE's Philip Boucher Hayes how it came about and described working with Howard Goodall to compose the piece.
'Howard Goodall, had seen and heard my writing about my life on a small, unkempt, half-wild, Roscommon farm. And he thought to set some of that life and home to music. I have never done anything of the sort. To take my words and have them weaved into the sung air seemed, still seems, like a kind of magic,' he said.
"The piece begins on a morning on the farm. The ragged thorn hedges. The curl of wind through trees. The rising tide of birdsong that breaks over the fields. I talk to Howard. Of pine martins. Sapphire-eyed sparrowhawks. Of farmer friends in love with cuckoos and swallows. Of the leverets I find in the rushy lee of a field. The furious greening that grips the spring world.
'The ramshackle hedges and pastures that let slip tumbles of wildflowers from the fields that flow out and along roads and across woodlands. He talked to me of choral music. Of Brexit and of culture wars. The public and private loneliness of Covid. Of how community can be made by music. Song.
'And because, as both Howard and I believe, wherever we share with one another the experience of beautiful things, the divides are blurred,' he continued. 'The gap between people close and is bridged. We are pulled a little closer in the sharing. And in the sharing we build community. So it is in my farm. So it is in my neighbours' fields. And so it will be, I think, when the choir sing.'
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Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Irish Independent
Acclaimed composer and poet unite to mark Bray Choral Society's anniversary
The Bray Choral Society, under the direction of Frank Kelly, presented a fabulous evening of music on Sunday, May 25, at Holy Redeemer Church, in celebration of its 40th anniversary. The programme featured a specially commissioned work by acclaimed composer Howard Goodall, 'The Creation Song of the Choir of Light', written to mark the choir's significant milestone. The highlight of the evening was The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, originally commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum. Composed in 1999. The work is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict, part of the broader and devastating Balkan wars of the early 1990s. Accompanied by imagery projected on screens in the church, the performance was widely praised as both powerful and deeply moving and was met huge applause from a full Holy Redeemer Church. The performance in Bray followed a similarly spellbinding concert in St Andrew's Church, in Westland Row, on Saturday. Keith Brennan, the poet and farmer from Roscommon, was commissioned to write the lyrics to 'The Creation Song of the Choir of Light'. He told RTE's Philip Boucher Hayes how it came about and described working with Howard Goodall to compose the piece. 'Howard Goodall, had seen and heard my writing about my life on a small, unkempt, half-wild, Roscommon farm. And he thought to set some of that life and home to music. I have never done anything of the sort. To take my words and have them weaved into the sung air seemed, still seems, like a kind of magic,' he said. "The piece begins on a morning on the farm. The ragged thorn hedges. The curl of wind through trees. The rising tide of birdsong that breaks over the fields. I talk to Howard. Of pine martins. Sapphire-eyed sparrowhawks. Of farmer friends in love with cuckoos and swallows. Of the leverets I find in the rushy lee of a field. The furious greening that grips the spring world. 'The ramshackle hedges and pastures that let slip tumbles of wildflowers from the fields that flow out and along roads and across woodlands. He talked to me of choral music. Of Brexit and of culture wars. The public and private loneliness of Covid. Of how community can be made by music. Song. 'And because, as both Howard and I believe, wherever we share with one another the experience of beautiful things, the divides are blurred,' he continued. 'The gap between people close and is bridged. We are pulled a little closer in the sharing. And in the sharing we build community. So it is in my farm. So it is in my neighbours' fields. And so it will be, I think, when the choir sing.'
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Author interview: 'What are the politics of belonging if you don't have it'
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Her poise is exquisite — she is totally in control, and that gave me the idea of dancers at play. They are still inhabiting the dance with their bodies, though not with discipline.' This idea came to Sarah when she was on a six-week writing retreat on the shores of Lake Como in the spring of 2023. 'Ripeness' is a gorgeous book; sunny, sensual and absorbing. The author writes so brilliantly about the physicality of dance, and the scenes of childbirth and new life are exquisitely described. 'The villa was absolutely gorgeous. It had been used for artists since the 19th century as a place to go to support yourself in the summer, and that gave me the setting. 'But being liberated for six weeks didn't work for me at all. It turns out that I actually need the rhythms of domestic life. I need to be cooking and doing laundry and looking after people. Though, obviously you need a balance.' Sarah's first novel, Cold Earth, was published when her two sons were small. 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'I was a friend's birth companion shortly after my son was born, and it made me realise that most women never see birth. 'My son was five months old, so it was vivid. I knew exactly what she was going through and how it felt, but it made me think that the only women who see birth now are professionals, and it must have been so different in the days when you helped your friend or your sister and would have known what was going to happen.' Lydia's baby is going for adoption, and she refuses to see him. My second son was a home birth, and the midwife told me that one of her most important roles, straight after the birth, was to hand the baby to the mother. She said that otherwise the mother might walk off 'I thought, how could anybody do such a thing, but I can, kind of, imagine it. All that work; hours and hours and hours of it — and you just want to lie down and have a cup of tea.' Sarah has always taught and has no trouble with public speaking. 'Put me in front of an audience of 500 and tell me to talk for an hour — I will be fine. But send me to a party, and I will want to hide behind a curtain with a book. I met the woman who is still my best friend at somebody's seventh birthday party. 'I hid behind one end of the curtain, and she hid behind the other. We met in the middle.' Currently on a year's break from UCD, Sarah is doing some freelance teaching. 'I absolutely love it,' she says, 'and can't imagine not doing it in some form. I find it very generative because it forces me to think properly about what I'm doing. So much of my practice is playful and experimental. It's a good being made to think rigorously about it.' What is the benefit to students of an MA in creative writing? 'It won't make a good writer out of people who are not, but it can intensify a process that would have happened over a long time. 'You can help people to experiment, to think well about reading and writing, and to bounce off each other. 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The Irish Sun
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