Donegal Voices Choir and Orchestra – Ballyshannon

Conductor and Musical Director, Evan McGarrigle. Accompanist, Niamh Currid.

The centrepiece of this year’s Donegal Voices festival recital is German composer Carl Maria Weber’s Missa Sancta No. 1, ‘Freischütz Mass’. Best known for his operas, Weber wrote Missa Sancta in 1818 in honour of King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, while he was Kapellmeister (Music Director) at Frederick’s court in Dresden. A choral work in six movements, it will be performed by the Choir with soloists Deborah Cunningham, Fiona Wasson, Barry Naughton and Paul Martin. The programme will also feature works by Edward Elgar (Three Motets, Op. 2), Franz Schubert (Du Bist Die Ruh), Giacomo Puccini (Salve Regina) and Cesar Franck (Panis Angelicus from Mass Op. 2).

Donegal Voices first performed in 2015 and are now one of the premier choral ensembles in the North West of Ireland. Since then, this exceptional 40-member vocal group has performed works by, among others, JS Bach (Magnificat in D), Vivaldi (Gloria), Handel (Messiah), Beethoven (Mass in C), George Friderik Handel (Coronation Anthems and The Hallelujah Chorus), Mozart (Mass in C Major), Mendelssohn (Christus, Opus 97) and Brahms (Requiem).