More than 1000 singers joined the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy for a live broadcast of an open-air concert at Collins Barracks featuring the world premiere of One Hundred Years a Nation by composer Shaun Davey and writer Paul Muldoon. Presented by Miriam O’Callaghan.
On Easter Sunday, 27th March, at the National Museum Collins Barracks, months of preparation, planning and rehearsals all over the country came to fruition with A Nation’s Voice, an open-air, free performance which included the world première of One Hundred Years a Nation, a major new orchestral and choral work commissioned for the occasion by RTÉ from composer Shaun Davey with text by writer Paul Muldoon.
Also on the programme, Seán Ó Riada’s Mise Éire Orchestral Suite, excerpts from The Connemara Suite by Bill Whelan, including the exhilarating An Chastín from the Connemara Suite, Whelan’s playful interaction between fiddle, feet and orchestra with soloists Helena Wood, violin, Zoë Conway, fiddle, and Colin Dunne, dance percussion, and a massed choirs performance of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah.
Some of the choirs formed especially for the occasion. The singers ranged in age from 9 to those of senior citizen age, and all participating choir directors worked closely with conductor David Brophy in advance of their individual rehearsals at local level.
A Nation’s Voice is presented by the Arts Council and RTÉ, in association with the National Museum of Ireland, the Association of Irish Choirs and Music Generation, as part of Ireland 2016.
