Audrey Corbett, musical director of Galway Baroque Singers, is to be honoured with a masters of music degree by NUI, Galway tomorrow in recognition for her services to music in the county.
Ms Corbett will be among the 800+ students who will graduate from across the five colleges at NUIG at the university’s winter conferring ceremonies. The Galway Baroque Singers will give a special performance in her honour at this ceremony.
Ms Corbett’s musical career began in Dublin where as a pianist and organist she won many of the major awards at the Dublin Feis Ceoil.
Her interest in choral music began as a music student at UCD which led her to found the St Stephen’s Singers, an ensemble which was acclaimed both nationally and internationally on winning the BBC Radio competition Let the Peoples Sing in 1971.
Since moving to Galway, Ms Corbett has contributed significantly to choral music here, with the formation of the award winning female voice choir Corrib Singers, the Galway Boys’ Choir, and the Galway Baroque Singers.
She is in frequently in demand as a choral adjudicator and director of workshops, seminars, and masterclasses, and was a member of the board of directors of the National Concert Hall for five years.
Recognised for her outstanding contribution to music in the west of Ireland, Ms Corbett was a recipient of the Galway County Arts Award in 1997. She conducted the annual Messiah For All in the National Concert Hall in 2001.
In the same year she formed a new chamber choir, Sunus, with whom she has had considerable success, winning the overall Irish choir of the Festival at the Cork Choral Festival in 2003 and competing in the International Competition there in 2004.
NUIG president Dr James Browne said: “NUI Galway is delighted to honour Audrey Corbett for her outstanding contribution to music and the development of choral singing in Galway.”
