Cathedral recital series marks 25th season
The 25th series of Galway Cathedral Recitals will take place this summer and in honour of this landmark anniversary, the line-up will include three mixed genre concerts and three organ-only performances. All concerts will take place on Thursday evenings at 8pm, starting on July 5.
The opening concert on July 5, is a new departure for Galway Cathedral Recitals; a movie screening with live improvised organ music.
The 1928 classic silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc will be presented in association with the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUIG. Irish organist and Benedictine priest John Columba McCann will improvise a live sound-track to the movie, which will be shown on an extra-large screen. Seating will be arranged so that the audience will see both the movie and the organist at work in this huge auditorium with stained glass lighting. The screening will be introduced by Dr Tony Tracy, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUIG.
The series will continue on July 12 when distinguished Italian organist, composer and improviser Eugenio Maria Fagiani will perform masterworks by Bach, Franck and Respighi. He will also improvise on well-known themes submitted to him on the night.
On July 19, female vocal ensemble Schola Gregoriana Maynooth, directed by Galwegian Darina McCarthy, will present a programme of music centred on St Malachy and St Hildegard. They will be joined by uilleann piper Michael Vignoles and organist Raymond O’Donnell to create a unique sound combining ancient and modern melodies.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.