Donal MacErlaine wins choral composition competition
Congratulations to ICC member Donal MacErlaine on winning the Sean O'Riada Composition Competition with his choral piece Solomon Grundy. The work will be premiered as part of the Cork International Choral Festival in May by Chamber Choir Ireland.
The ICC would also like to congratulate former members Amanda Feery and Alex Dowling on their joint winning of the Jerome Hynes Composition Competition. What a talented bunch of composers we have!
From the Cork International Choral Festival press release:
The judges’ impressions of the triumphant work are of ‘a very fine piece in every way. It is exciting, playful, exuberant, energetic and individual.’ [Rhona Clarke]. ‘I like the text and the witty deconstruction of it and it displays some adventurousness and crucially, imagination’. [David Fennessy].’ It seems to me that the composer here knows what ‘he’ (outerspaceman –pseudonym) is doing and how to do it, and moreover, that it is something worth doing’. [Paul Hillier].
Additionally, a selection of pieces that demonstrate the impeccably high standard of entries received will be given a Performance Reading by Chamber Choir Ireland on Saturday 3rd May, as part of the Composers Workshop event.
As a Festival Guest, Mac Erlaine will also participate in the 46th Seminar on New Choral Music, part of the Education Programme at 2pm on Friday 2nd May, alongside members of the panel of judges; composer David Fennessy , seminar chair and composer Rhona Clarke, and Paul Hillier, director of Chamber Choir Ireland, with the CCI itself, where Solomon Grundy and David Fennessy’s piece will be discussed.