Superb Ormond Octaves concert in Nenagh church
Once again the spirit of Christmas descended on Nenagh when the 80 plus members of the Ormond Octaves performed a memorable night of festive singing in Saint Mary of the Rosary Church on Friday night, December 15.
The church that has capacity for over 1,000 was as usual packed for the traditional Octaves annual Christmas Charity Concert featuring special guests, bass baritone Derek Ryan, and tenors Willie O’ Brien and Billy O’ Brien.
One of the highlights of the evening was the latter’s highly moving rendition of Christmas 1915, followed by the choir singing Silent Night.
Derek Ryan has wowed audiences over the many years he has been a guest at the choir’s annual festive event, and this year was no exception as he almost lifted the roof of the church with his powerful rendition of The Holy City, before joining with the choir to provide a crescendo finish with O Holy Night.
Over the past year the choir has attracted some highly talented sopranos. One is Niamh Slattery, who delivered a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria, while another, Emily Sheary, superbly sang Someone to Watch Over Me. Later, Emily joined Derek Ryan for a rollicking rendition of Fairytale of New York, a song really appreciated by the crowd, many of whom had attended the funeral in church of Shane MacGowan just a week earlier.
Well prepared after almost three months of practice under the direction of the indefatigable Niamh Ryan, the four-voice choir of tenors, basses, sopranos and altos performed classis hits for almost every decade, delighting the audience.
PURE MAGICAL
Other highlights included Willie O’ Brien’s sonorous singing of the Phantom of the Opera hit, Music of the Night, while soprano Eithne Kennedy song from the same show, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, was pure magical.
Soprano Denis Brislane was equally brilliant and powerful in performing Never Enough from the show, The Greatest Showman, and tenor Peter Walsh treated the audience to a delightful rendition of the George Gershwin number, Loved Walked In.
Of course, the concert would not have been complete without the beautiful song Breath of Heaven by soprano Mary Meagher. Due to requests, it’s become almost an annual favourite and, as she proved yet again, there’s none better to deliver it than they young woman from Toomevara who is blessed with an exquisite and natural voice. Thanks to Parish Priest Fr Pat Gilbert and his fellow priests and the Parish Council for allowing us to host our annual concert in the church since it was founded by Niamh Ryan back in 2008. We are delighted that funds from this year’s concert will go to the Church Restoration Fund.
Over the years the Ormond Octaves Christmas Concert has raised tens of thousands of euro for local charities and other good causes.
The lovely thing about the choir is that its members and founder delights in putting on a great show for the people of Nenagh. They, in turn, have the satisfaction of knowing that the proceeds of their concert tickets go back into supporting good causes in our local community.
Thanks to everyone who supported us again this year, and here’s looking forward to another memorable concert this time next year.