Ireland Chamber Choir Trip
November 5, 2018
When the 2017-2018 school year ended, Kent School’s Chamber Choir, along with selected musicians, headed across the Atlantic to go on tour in Ireland with chaperones Barbara Kovacs, Deborah Cardenas, Tom Bouldin, and Jennifer Hobbs. The group landed in Shannon, Ireland, where they met Ann Ellard, their tour guide of Ireland. Although the Chamber Choir had gone to sing, there was also ample free time to explore the country; the group visited Bunratty Castle, Folk Park, Blarney Castle and Stone, and Glendalough and Wicklow Mountains, to name a few.
Altogether, the ensemble had three concerts: St. Mary’s Church of the Sloes, St. Colman’s Hospital, and Christ Church Cathedral; the performance at St. Colman’s Hospital was for the elderly residents of a nursing home. The repertoire of songs included instrumentals and solos, giving students the chance to broaden their horizons in music. In addition to this, the choir had the opportunity to have a clinic with Maria Judge, Head of Musicianship and Academic Studies at the Cork School of Music.
The group had an overall amazing experience; Katherine Herrema ’20 agreed that “the experience of singing in venues like Christ Church Cathedral and St. Mary’s Church of the Sloes was incomparable to any other venue that [she has] ever sung at” and she is “grateful for the opportunity.” Singing in Ireland was truly a remarkable experience, and Chamber Choir cannot wait to have many more prospects of touring in the future.
