Cashel Choir are the winners at the Cork International Choral Festival!

On the 29th of April, the early morning sun shone as the 'Sunday Morning Singers' choir headed to Cork to take part in the Cork International Choral Festival.  

This choir, the 'Sunday Morning Singers' was founded by past students and family members of Cashel Community School, in order to come together to continue the strong choir tradition and great vocal experiences enjoyed as part of the student community.   Under the talented guidance of Choral Director Helen Colbert, the choir meets on Sunday mornings to practice and perfect their pieces, as well as an occasional coffee to chat and plan ahead!  

Covid unfortunately interfered with some of the plans made along the way but last year, the choir were back in action and enjoyed great success at the AIMS Choral Festival in New Ross last May.  The choir was awarded first place in the female choir competition, winning  the McCullough Pigott Trophy,  first place in the Sacred Music competition, winning the Whitten Haslam Trophy and were awarded second place in the Gerry Slevin Memorial Disney music competition.  Indeed the choir won Best Overall Choir of the Festival scoping up the Pat Dunleavy Trophy for their troubles.

The Sunday Morning Singers perform regularly at local events, particularly during the Cashel Arts Festival and at events in Brú Ború. The year 2022 ended on a high for the choir with a Christmas extravaganza performance at the Cashel Palace Hotel.   Following  on from the successes of 2022, the choir decided to take the plunge and enter the Cork International Choral Festival.  

Founded in 1954 to be a dynamic force in developing choral music in Ireland, the Cork International Choral Festival is held annually, centring around the City Hall, an acoustically superb venue.  One of Europe's premier international choral festivals, Cok is noted for its high standards, eclectic and wide ranging programme. Coming up to the event, the Sunday Morning Singers practised hard and refined their repertoire.  The work was done but the nerves were high!   

The choir performed two pieces at 9:40 am and waited nervously for the results at 12:30 p.m.  Emotions were high when the results were announced of the Upper Voices Choir Competition and Sunday Morning Singers were deigned winners, with the judges noting that the choir were awarded the highest score of all national competitions held on Saturday. High praise was awarded to Helen Colbert for her expert conducting and selection of pieces.  

The choir celebrated their win with an impromptu performance at Cork's Clayton Hotel and joined in the wide range of Festival events.  The international flavour of this festival gave the choir plenty of food for thought for their future performances.  Sunday mornings certainly hit the high notes in Cashel!