Special showcase as Coole Music marks 20th year

The Centre will be a hive of music, song and dance as it welcomes past and present students of Coole Music, as well as individuals and groups with whom the organisation has worked through the years.

With 10 music teachers from eight different countries and around 200 students, Coole Music & Arts offers individual and group lessons, five levels of orchestras, eight chamber music groups, a young choir, and a host of activities and performances throughout the year.

Performers at Sunday’s concert will include Coole Music’s Youth Orchestra with over 40 teenagers (who perform regularly at the National Concert Hall), as well as Coole’s Sonic Strings’ ensemble, who regularly perform in local towns and villages, and further afield.

The Clancy family of Tubber, County Clare, will perform magic traditional airs while the Gavin Dance Academy of Gort will tap their way into the night.

Gort Community School has deep links with Coole Music – it’s been the venue for lessons and orchestra rehearsals for the last twenty years since founders Katherina Baker and Caroline Baker aked the then principal Denis Corry about the possibility of using it as a venue for lessons.

Those links will continue on Sunday as  the  concert features an excerpt from the school’s most recent musical, Sister Act.

Solo singers at the event will include Oranmore soprano Helen Hancock, a former Coole Music teacher. Accompanied by Coole’s teachers, Helen will perform songs from Chess. Meanwhile, past choir student Chloe Collins and current student Lilian Owens  will also feature.

The Con4za Quartet will play old favourites, while Burren con Brio will bring contemporary hits to the showcase.

And in a special gathering, an Alumni Orchestra will perform at this unique celebration. About 30 students, some of whom live abroad, others elsewhere in Ireland, will reunite, directed by Coole Music’s beloved director, Katharina Baker.

“Twenty years ago, I had a dream and a vision of a community of young musicians of all ages, playing, learning, enjoying and performing music together,” says Katharina, who settled in Gort with her family in 2002.

“Having had the privilege of growing up with the gift of music and the values of community in my family in Germany, I had experienced first-hand what it means to develop a musical skill for life and share it with others.”

Katharina studied music at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm, graduating as a violin teacher and ensemble leader, with an MA in Music Education.

In Gort, she began teaching violin in different music schools, started a Toddler Tunes group for very young children, and a community choir, following suggestions from people locally.

Word spread. She was asked to take on more students and to teach other instruments.

Katharine realised that parents locally really wanted their children learn an instrument, sing in a choir, and enjoy music-making with others.

“My sister-in-law Caroline Baker came on board and we made a plan; how to go about starting a community music school in Gort – without any funding or State support, but with great enthusiasm and an increasing number of interested families.”

They formed a structure and took the leap, starting Coole Music in October 2005, with three teachers – violin, cello and piano – and 15 instrumental students, plus a children’s choir of 40+.

Since then, hundreds of young musicians and singers have performed in its orchestras or in the choir, in Ireland, England, Germany, France, Norway and Sweden.

They’ve graduated at Coole Music’s Gala Concerts and taken their musical skills into the broader world.

Sunday’s concert, celebrating all this, will run from 5pm to 7.30pm, with an interval for light refreshments. Tickets on sale through Eventbrite – key in CooleMusic20 – or by phoning 086-3467245.

Pictured: Sonic Strings will be performing on Sunday.