Killocruan NS is hosting a Carols by Candlelight evening this Sunday December 22 in Crossmolina Church at 8pm as a fundraiser for Kilmurry Church. The concert will feature a past pupil of the school, Aaron Cawley, who is a well known professional tenor based in Europe.
All the pupils of Killocruan are performing with Aaron in this concert and they are very excited about the collaboration and the night itself. Finola McDermott is the pupils’ vocal coach, she resides in Westport but has close family ties to the Kilmurry area. She is a tutor with Music Generation and has a huge wealth of knowledge and expertise. She has prepared the children amazingly well for the concert.
Aaron Cawley, born in the west of Ireland in 1987, first studied singing with Grainne Conroy in Ballina. Aaron went on to study singing on the BMus course at the National Conservatory of Ireland with Robert Alderson. During his time at the NCI, he took part in many productions including Die Fledermaus (Alfred ), L'elisir d'amore (Nemorino ), and La Traviata (Alfredo ).
Aaron has had much success in various competitions in Ireland, but is particularly proud of the bursary awarded to him by the prestigious John McCormack Society (2011 ), and subsequently was invited as part of the delegation of the then president of Ireland on her diplomatic tour to the Hague. This past year he was successful in being chosen as the Irish representative in the Belvedere Singing competition in Vienna, which resulted in great attention from the Hamburg Staats Oper and subsequently an invitation to the International Opernwerkstatt in Switzerland where he showcased the roles of Don José (Carmen ), Lohengrin (Lohengrin ) and Manrico (Il Trovatore ) to critical acclamation.
