Feast of Festive Music in Nenagh

Ormond Octaves will donate funds to Children’s Grief Centre

As a celebration of the festive season in Nenagh, there's nothing quite like the sound of the beautiful carol, Oh Holy Night, being sung at the annual Christmas Charity Concert of the Ormond Octaves Choir in Saint Mary of the Rosary Church.

Expect the roof of the lovely, vaulted building to virtually lift as special guest bass baritone, Derek Ryan and the choir deliver a crescendo finish to what is expected to be a delightful night of carols and other favourite songs on Friday, December 16 (8pm).

After being silenced by the pandemic for over two years, the 60-member choir and special guests return for their first concert in Nenagh since 2019 – all delighted that funds generated from the concert will go to the Children's Grief Centre, a charity which is doing tremendous work here in our own community and right throughout the Mid-West in helping children devastated by grief caused by traumas such as death, separation and divorce.

FESTIVE FAVOURITES

So come along on Friday night, December 16, and treat yourself to favourite carols such as In the Bleak Midwinter, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Walking In The Air and, of course, the aforementioned beautiful Oh Holy Night.

Keeping with the festive theme, guest tenor Willie O' Brien will accompany the choir with his exquisite rendition of Christmas 1915, while Robbie Powell's delivery of, It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, should go down a treat.

Let the choir transport you on a musical journey of lovely songs that made hits down through the decades, memorable numbers such as Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love to Billy Joel's The Piano Man, not to mention some of the best hits recorded by Simon and Garfunkel and the Coldplay hit, Viva la Vida.

Other favourites included on the programme are the highly popular Shallow, made famous by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga; the Keane hit, Somewhere Only We Know; Dreams by the Cranberries; U2's With or Without Your and the Elbow hit, One Day Like This.

Soloists will include Liam Brennan who will sing Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Eithne Kennedy will perform Nella Fantasia, the delightful song from the 1986 film, The Mission.

Derek Ryan will treat the audience to some of his favourites including, If I Were A Richman, Annie Laurie and You Are My Heart's Delight, while Willie O' Brien will sing the poignant Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from the musical, Les Miserables.

Other songs will include Mary Meagher performance of the lovely Kacey Musgrave number, Rainbow and the beautiful, Breath of Heaven. Peter Gleeson will sing Isle of Inisfree, Liam Gleeson will recite the hilarious Pam Ayres poem, Satnav, while the duo of young musicians, Clodagh Moylan and Róisín Duffy, will play The Swallow Slipjig and the lovely Auldyn River.

SYMPHONY OF SOUNDS

Choir founder and musical director, Niamh Ryan, has been working with the Octaves for months for what is anticipated will be a memorable performance by the four-part choir comprised of altos, basses, sopranos and tenors, whose symphony of sounds have thrilled audiences since the Octaves were established in 2008. The choir and solo performers will be backed by a full band to create a wonderful sound.

After overheads, all proceeds from the concert will be presented to the Children's Grief Centre - the charity chosen after the choir learned of the great work of the charity from Killaloe woman, Olive Foley, wife of the late rugby legend Anthony Foley, whose sudden death in the prime of his life in 2016 left Olive and her two young sons devastated by the loss of a much-loved husband and father.

Tickets (€20) for the concert can be purchased from any member of the choir, from Cinnamon Alley restaurant or at the door on the night.