Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society wins AIMS award for Phantom of the Opera show

COSMS Chairperson Helen O’Hanlon receiving the Christy Butler AIMS Award for Best Technical in the Gilbert Section from AIMS President Feargal Kavanagh and Vice President Gerry Sweeney.

Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society is celebrating winning a coveted AIMS award for its 2023 annual show.

The Irish amateur premiere production of The Phantom of the Opera.

The Society received the Best Technical award in the Gilbert Section of the Association of Irish Musical Societies awards at a gala ceremony in the INEC in Killarney last Saturday night.

The award was presented for the production’s outstanding lighting, sound and special effects.

The show’s lighting was designed by Alan McCormack and supplied by Dungarvan based DBL Lighting & Sound while the show’s sound was the work of AV Star Systems in Thurles.

Ray Nolan, Bobby Landers and Martin Morrissey were responsible for the special effects.

Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society PRO Caolan Deehy-Power said everyone in the Society was delighted to receive this award and also delighted that Michael O’Hara was runner-up in the Best Stage Management category for his stage management of the Phantom show, which was staged at the Strand Theatre in Carrick for six sell-out nights in April.

He pointed out that it was particularly special to bring home the Best Technical Award trophy as it’s named in memory of the late Christy Butler, who did the lighting for Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society shows for many years.

He is father of Liam Butler who has starred in many leading roles in Carrick Musical Society production and also directed many of its shows.

The Christy Butler Trophy was presented to AIMS by the Butler family so it was amazing that it was coming back home to Carrick-on-Suir, said Caolan, who played the role of Richard Firman in Phantom of the Opera.

Twenty-eight Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society members attended the AIMS Awards in Killarney last weekend.

The celebrations kicked off on Friday with a fancy dress party and climaxed with the gala awards ceremony attended by more than 1,200 people representing amateur musical societies from all over the country.