Choirs in Dublin?

Papillon87

Does anyone know of any good choirs in the Dublin area for youngish people (20)??

bonz

What's your musical background - have you ever sung in a choir before, and can you read music?

If you're in college in Dublin, UCD and TCD have decent choirs with mainly young people (for obvious reasons).

If you're not in college, and especially if you can read music, the Goethe Institute* choir is good - it's got a big mixture of ages and nationalities, with a lot of young people. They practise in the Goethe Institute library on Merrion Square on Tuesdays at 7.30pm. Their director, John Dexter, is very good and they have a good standard. They're singing Saint-Saens' Oratorio de Noel plus Christmas songs in the NCH in December, then some of the Bach Cantatas in the spring, and the Good Friday concert in St Patrick's Cathedral.

(full disclosure: yes, I do sometimes sing with them )


*the German cultural institute - like the Alliance Francaise, only German. They do lessons, cultural events and so on. The choir is called after the place and operates out of there but is completely separate otherwise.

Papillon87

bonz wrote:

What's your musical background - have you ever sung in a choir before, and can you read music?

If you're in college in Dublin, UCD and TCD have decent choirs with mainly young people (for obvious reasons).

If you're not in college, and especially if you can read music, the Goethe Institute* choir is good - it's got a big mixture of ages and nationalities, with a lot of young people. They practise in the Goethe Institute library on Merrion Square on Tuesdays at 7.30pm. Their director, John Dexter, is very good and they have a good standard. They're singing Saint-Saens' Oratorio de Noel plus Christmas songs in the NCH in December, then some of the Bach Cantatas in the spring, and the Good Friday concert in St Patrick's Cathedral.

(full disclosure: yes, I do sometimes sing with them )


*the German cultural institute - like the Alliance Francaise, only German. They do lessons, cultural events and so on. The choir is called after the place and operates out of there but is completely separate otherwise.

Hi
My background is that my only choral experience was school and church choirs for a few years, won a few competitions and sang a few solos in the NCH etc along the way, but that's it really. I have been taking classical voice training for 7 years now and I am a mezzo soprano. My sight reading is not the best as I did not have the chance to do music at school and my teachers have just taught me voice, no theory apart from the odd tit bit, so I am working on this myself..I'm a fast learner with respects to these things. What is their membership like/audition process? Thanks

bonz

Papillon87 wrote:

Hi
My background is that my only choral experience was school and church choirs for a few years, won a few competitions and sang a few solos in the NCH etc along the way, but that's it really. I have been taking classical voice training for 7 years now and I am a mezzo soprano. My sight reading is not the best as I did not have the chance to do music at school and my teachers have just taught me voice, no theory apart from the odd tit bit, so I am working on this myself..I'm a fast learner with respects to these things. What is their membership like/audition process? Thanks

Hi Papillon - the membership is very mixed in every way - I think the ages go from about 17 to 70 but about half would be in their 20s, while the musical level is also quite mixed*. It's a very friendly choir.

If you'd like to try it out, just come a little early some Tuesday night and look lost - someone will take care of you and introduce you to John Dexter the director, who'll give you an audition at the coffee break.

Meanwhile, 7 years of training - cool! If your voice is well-developed, it opens more possibilities. For example, one of the opera companies in Dublin (I *think* it's Lyric Opera) has an amateur chorus which might be interesting to join.

Or you could try Anúna - they're always looking for new people and you don't really need to be a reader. It's a tiny bit cult-like but it's still Ireland's best-known choir and it's a great learning experience both as a musician and as a performer. If Michael likes you, you get to do lots of touring and interesting gigs. Sometimes they even pay you!

Bonzo

* but the director really is excellent and the sound they achieve at concerts is good

cailinoBAC

The Trinity Choral Society accepts members outside of Trinity.
http://societies.csc.tcd.ie/~choral/php/home.php
The site doesn't look like it's been updated, which is strange, seeing as it's Fresher's week, but most likely their rehearsals start next week at 7.
Also, the chapel choir and singers, but I don't know if they take people outisde Trinity, and I can't find any up to date websites.

http://www.morningtonsingers.org/
This choir was set up by Trinity graduates about 10 years ago, but I'm sure they're open to others now, as long as you have a good voice (and it sounds like you do).

Sorry for the Trinity focus, I don't really know much about other choirs.

tSubh Dearg

You could try the RTE Philharmonic, they might still have a couple of vacancies. I'm a member in my 20's though we are a little in the minority it is getting better.

We do a lot of singing during the year, meeting every Wednesday evening in RTE. There's something about it on the website I think, the person to contact would be Norma O'Connor, she's our administrator and would know about vacancies etc.

This year we're doing Orff, Part (sorry no umlaut but I still haven't figuered them out), Berlioz and lots more.

Papillon87

Hi guys, thanks.

The Philharmonic only seems to have vacancies for tenors, booo! I'm actually in Trinity so I might look into their choirs!

curiousb

Sorry, just noticed the date on this thread..

Hi -

Have you seen www.corus.ie?

It's a relatively new choir with new choirs starting up this September, and is open to all.

Disclaimer: I designed their website!

hisname

The Guild of Choristers of St Cecilia is looking for New Members.

This is a very special Dublin Choir with over 100 years of history singing sacred music.

We sing every Sunday at 9.30am at St Mary's Haddington Road. If you're interested either come and see us after mass or email the director:
GuildofChoristers@gmail.com

This Dublin Choir is also on facebook and Twitter so do follow us and share!

cailinoBAC

http://www.morningtonsingers.org/2013/12/soprano-vacancy-1.html
Mornington singers are looking for a soprano.

iteodon

If you would like to improve your personal musicianship by being part of a choir check out The Lassus Scholars on Facebook. Regular performances of great choral masterpieces, annual concert with orchestra in the National Concert Hall, trips abroad - most recently Paris, forthcoming Rome. Age profile 18 +