The Medtronic Chorale were singing on high after winning the top prize in the 2015 Galway Choir factor Competition which took place in the Radisson Blu Hotel on Saturday night.
Directed by Ronan de Burca with accompaniment from Jacqueline Lillis,the choir saw off stiff competition from Avaya Voice, Something to Sing About, Notorious, Aerogen Resonance and the Galway Golf Club Choir to claim the Choirfactor trophy.
The 16-member chamber choir delighted Saturday night’s audience with their programme which included the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s opera Nabucco, an Irish Lullaby ‘Shoheen Sho’, and the Beatles ‘Drive my car’.
Adjudicators for the competition Brendan O’ Connor, Maire Ni Dhuibhir and Dottie Knauer congratulated the Medtronic Chorale for their award winning performance and applauded all the choirs for the very high standard of choral singing.
Medtronic received a specially commissioned Liam Butler trophy and all participating choirs received a hand crafted inscribed commemorative plaque by Whispering Shores, Letterfrack.
Organised by SCCUL Enterprises in conjunction with Corrib Lions Club as a fundraising initiative for the SCCUL Santuary in Kilcuan, Clarenbridge, the event attracted a capacity audience of over 700 people. Guest performers on the night were the NUI Singers directed by Peter Mannion, who won the title last year.
Speaking after the event, SCCUL Enterprises General Manager Michael Smyth thanked the six choirs and the choir directors who participated in the event for their dedication and commitment.
“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the six choirs who took part in the competition. Their conductors Pat Lillis, Lisa Seary, Ronan de Burca, Peter Mannion, Jenny Holland, Anna Downes and Dympna O’Byrne worked extremely hard over the past eight weeks to create a show stopping performance here tonight.
Michael Smyth paid tribute to the Galway Parkinson’s Choir, clients of the SCCUL Sanctuary, who opened the competition with a special performance and the MCs on the night Trisha Murphy and Patrick McAndrew.
Funds raised from the Galway Choir Factor competition will be used to enable a wide variety of groups such as people living with cancer, clients with multiple sclerosis, carers, alzheimers, and those bereaved by suicide to benefit from healing therapies and wellbeing workshops in the SCCUL Sanctuary.
