Derry Choir Fest Podcast

Men sing. In football stadiums, certainly. In the shower, too. But why do so many choirs struggle to find male singers? And how can we encourage more men to enjoy the benefits to health and well-being that group singing brings? Lorcan Doherty asks three men for their thoughts: Martin White, a member of local mixed voice choir Doire Calgach Singers; Chris Samuel, who conducts the Magnificent AK47, the self-described ‘singing blokes of Ashton Keynes’; and Michael Lynch, from the Men’s Action Network, which supports and promotes the health and wellbeing of men in the northwest of Ireland.

• City of Derry International Choir Festival

• 2021 programme

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks (performed by Parker)

Greg Tustain arr. Wendy Sergeant - Whiskey & Cheese (The Magnificent AK, Chris Samuel)

Roger Jackson - Alone in My Shed (The Magnificent AKs, Chris Samuel)

From Fauré to Des'ree, it’s all in a day’s work for Chanticleer, America's a cappella pride and joy. Lorcan Doherty chats to Tim Keeler, the ensemble’s music director, and Gerrod Pagenkopf, countertenor and assistant music director, about what viewers can look forward to in their beautiful concert film, After a Dream. 

• City of Derry International Choir Festival

• 2021 programme

• Tim Keeler

Claudio Monteverdi - Lauda Jerusalem, from Vespro della Beata Vergine

Nigel Short, director of award-winning choir Tenebrae, chats to Lorcan Doherty about how passion and precision are key to the creation of their unique sound and why there was no doubt that Francis Poulenc’s masterpiece Figure humaine would form the centrepiece of their 20th anniversary programme at this year’s festival.

• City of Derry International Choir Festival

• 2021 programme

• Nigel Short

• Alonso Lobo - Versa est in luctum (Tenebrae, Nigel Short)

Jonathan Grimes and Evonne Ferguson speak to two Irish composers with two brand new pieces for this year’s festival. Elaine Agnew on her new work Remarkable, created in response to stories shared during different stages of the pandemic, which features in Wednesday's concert The Voyage. Eoghan Desmond on his piece for choir and solo cello celebrating the life and legacy of Colmcille, part of Thursday's The Road Home concert.

• City of Derry International Choir Festival

• 2021 programme

• eoghandesmond.com

• elaineagnew.com

• Oxen of the Sun (UCD Choral Scholars, Desmond Earley)

• I am a Miracle (European Union Chamber Orchestra, St Colman’s College Choir, conductor Elaine Agnew)

Four brand new episodes for the 2021 City of Derry International Choir Festival, featuring conversations with Irish composers Elaine Agnew and Eoghan Desmond, Tenebrae artistic director Nigel Short, and Tim Keeler and Gerrod Pagenkopf from Chanticleer. Plus we ask three men how we can get more men singing in choirs.

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Sing Ireland explores the many health and well-being benefits of group singing, as well as the current research on group singing during the pandemic. Dermot O'Callaghan of Sing Ireland is joined by Ailbhe Kenny of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Martin Ashley of the Association of British Choral Directors, and Sophie Lee, a music and health researcher and practitioner.

A conversation with Siobhan Heaney, who came late to choral singing but has since been making up for lost time. Siobhan is the conductor of four choirs in her hometown of Derry and the founder of SingTonicity, a method of looking after your health and wellbeing through the use of your breath, voice and sound. In 2019 Siobhan was awarded the Derry City and Strabane District Council Award for outstanding contribution to the choir festival. 

Derry-born composer Seán Doherty talks to Evonne Ferguson about his background in choral singing and composing for choir, and conductor Orla Flanagan talks to Jonathan Grimes about her work with the Mornington Singers and Irish composers.

Episode 27 of CMC’s podcast ‘amplify’. Show notes: www.cmc.ie/amplify/episode-27

Conductor Josep Vila i Casañas chats to Lorcan Doherty about his life and work as an educator, choir director and composer. They look back on Josep's many visits to Derry and his recent experience conducting the World Youth Choir. Josep was Chair of the festival’s Adjudication Panel from 2017 to 2019. He is currently conductor of the Cor Lieder Càmera and teaches choir conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Conductor and composer Ragnar Rasmussen chats to festival Artistic Director Dónal Doherty about growing up in an Arctic community, discovering the paradise of practice rooms, and retaining a child-like curiosity for all things musical throughout his life. Ragnar was Chair of the Adjudication Panel from 2013 to 2015 and has twice brought the chamber choir Utopia & Reality to perform in Derry. He is Professor of conducting at the NTNU in Trondheim.