We couldn't be more excited to return as an in-person event this year!
After two years of waiting, we announce the return to the stage of the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition on Saturday 30th April 2022 (stay tuned for more box office updates!)
We are thrilled to announce the 8 selected choirs competing in the 2022 Fleischmann International Trophy Competition:
Pueri Gaudentes (Czech Republic)
Eller Girls' Choir (Estonia)
Vaskivuori Upper Secondary School Chamber Choir (Finland)
Dublin Youth Choir (Ireland)
Cuore Chamber Choir (Ireland)
Cantairรญ รga รtha Cliath (Ireland)
Ole Bull Chamber Choir (Norway)
Glasis Chamber Choir (Slovenia)
Seeing people safely singing and connecting in person again will be incredible. We look forward to having you all with us in Cork from 27th April - 1st May 2022.
Designed for anyone with experience in leading choirs of all kinds, the four-day-day intensive hands-on course will help develop conducting skills under the leadership of expert international guest tutors, Professor Roland Bรถrger and Dr Amy Bebbington. The course will be completed with an Ensemble workshop with Chamber Choir Ireland and will help arm participants with both theory and practical methods of guiding their choirs, tempo, sound and expression.
Guest tutor Professor Roland Bรถrger is head of Choral Conducting at the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre, Germany. He studied church music and choral and orchestral conducting at the University of Music in Freiburg, Germany. Since 2001 he has been a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and he teaches organ at the Evangelical University of Church Music in Halle (Saale).
Fellow guest tutor Amy Bebbington is Director of Training for the Association of British Choral Directors, UK. She holds a Doctorate in Choral Conducting from Texas Tech University and is sought-after for her engaging teaching style and wealth of pedagogical experience.
Chamber Choir Ireland are the countryโs flagship choral ensemble. Their programmes span from early renaissance to the present day, incorporating established choral classics with cutting edge commissions.
The participation fee is โฌ250 pp. If you are interested in taking your conducting skills to a new level while networking with other conductors, you can find more information on this page. Online registrations are being accepted - Closing date: 18th February 2022.
The Cork International Choral Festival are delighted to confirm that the 2022 Choirworks programme will also now be offered as a live option (yes, in-person!) as well as online, or as a hybrid of the two, no matter where in the country your workplace is. Choirworks has also now been developed from an 8-week online programme into a 14-week programme, covering more ground, and enabling more time for rehearsals and choreography.
There are also intermediate and advanced Choirworks options, with 4-week and 8-week programmes available; this will suit existing workplace choirs that might need additional support, or kick-starting again post-Covid; indeed, the winners of the Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition, Fidelity Investments, had an existing workplace choir, but took part in the Choirworks programme and subsequently won the competition with their unique version of Pharrell Williams 'Happy'.
Many companies and organisations engaged staff at their local office or campus for Choirworks 2021 โ but several large companies proactively encouraged involvement to their employees across the country, indeed, a couple of international corporations offered the Choirworks programme across their international campuses, which worked very well and created dialogue and friendships between colleagues who may never have otherwise been in each otherโs orbit.
At the end of the Choirworks programme, all choirs will have the opportunity to enter the 2022 Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival with the song which they will have been learning together and rehearsing - competing alongside other workplace choirs, many of whom will also have been taking part in Choirworks. The Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition will be recorded live, and each Choirworks choir will get a video of their performance.
In 2021, the new Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition also had the largest number of entries for any competition at the Cork International Choral Festival, which included choirs from Ibec, Energia, the Irish Examiner and Irish Times, A&L Goodbody, Cook Medical, Telus International, Fidelity Investments, Longford County Council, Cork University Hospital, the Central Bank, Dell, Allied Irish Bank, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Eli Lilly, Coombe Hospital, HSE, St Kevin's Community College, Munster Technological University, and Met Eireann. Although the competition was online in 2021, weโre delighted to announce that it will be fully in-person at the 2022 Cork International Choral Festival - which will also provide great social, team building, and networking opportunities, not to mention great fun!
There has been unprecedented interest in the Choirworks 2022 programme, and the deadline for expressions of interest in the Choirworks Programme is Friday 26th November 2021. If youโd like further information, or if you have any questions, contact Kery at [email protected] or on 086 7273888.
The much-celebratedย Seรกn ร Riada Composition Competitionย is now officially launched!
Be in with a chance of winning this esteemed composition competition and having your work premiered by the acclaimedย Chamber Choir Irelandย on Friday 29th April 2022.
Closing date for receipt of applications isย Friday 10th December 2021.
Full details and online application form are availableย here.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch!
Tel: + 353 (0)21 4215125
Email: [email protected]
Judged by a panel of experts and composers of international renown, the competition awards a cash prize (kindly donated by the ร Rรญada family) and the Seรกn ร Riada Trophy to the winning composer, and the selected piece will, in turn, be given its premiere performance by Chamber Choir Ireland at the Festivalโs Gala Concert held in St. Fin Barreโs Cathedral on Friday 29 April, 2022 and will be conducted by Paul Hillier.
The Seรกn ร Riada Competition was initiated in 1972 in recognition of the creative life and work of Seรกn ร Riada (1931-71). It was initially conceived of as an encouragement to amateur adult Irish choirs to select and perform existing or newly composed original works in the Irish language by an Irish composer. The trophy was presented for the best performance. In 1976, the competition became specifically a composition competition. It was open to composers, born or resident in Ireland, to set a poem in Irish for a cappella choir, no performance applied. In 1978 the competition was further adapted to encourage Irish amateur choirs to commission original works from Irish composers for performance at the festival, the trophy being awarded to the choir. The aim of the competition was threefold (a) to encourage Irish composers to write new works in the Irish language, (b) to widen the accessibility of new works in the Irish language for amateur Irish choirs, and (c) to enhance the existing repertoire of Irish choral music. Following a period when interest in the competition diminished it was discontinued, its format not valued either by composers or choirs. In 2010 the competition was reintroduced utilising a totally new format, and the novel aspect of scores being entered under Pseudonym to protect the identity of the composer. To enhance the status of the composer and provide an incentive, the winning composer attended the Festival and the winning composition was included as one of the works presented and discussed at the Seminar on New Choral Music as part of the Festivalโs Choral Symposium. The new format was an instant success. Since 2010 to date, 246 compositions have been received testifying to the present interest in, and healthy state of Irish composition. Previous winners of the competition include Solfa Carlile, Rhona Clarke, Patrick Connolly, Frank Corcoran, Sรฉamas de Barra, Eoghan Desmond, Amanda Feery, Michael Holohan, Marian Ingoldsby, Donal Mac Erlaine, Simon MacHale, Michael McGlynn, Kevin OโConnell, Criostรณir ร Loingsigh, Donal Sarsfield, James May, Peter Leavy and last yearโs winner, Norah Constance Walsh. Several of these works have been published by international choral publishing houses.
We have 2 different internship positions available for the period January-May 2022 depending on your skills and aspirations.
We are looking for passionate candidates who are keen to establish a career in the festivals and music events industry.
What you will learn and be a part of
This is a great opportunity to be fully involved from the outset with the production of a well-established and exciting festival. You will learn the basic fundamentals of festival events during the months leading up to the Cork International Choral Festival. You will also be exposed to the management of all logistical needs including but not limited to box office, entertainment, catering, signage, audio/visual, gifts, etc. of festival events. The internship will involve pre-production planning (marketing/publicity), content creation for our website and social media accounts, copywriting, proof-reading. During the Festival days, you will be required to work on-site at our events (concerts, workshops, rehearsals) at different locations across Cork city and County.
Your strengths and interests include
We are looking for a graphic designer who wants to advance and develop their creative existing skills by working with the Festival Team on a range of projects across media and platforms. Fully remote internship option available.
What you will learn and be a part of
You have the opportunity to be a part of a lively, fun atmosphere, be exposed and participate in the production of a well-established and exciting festival. The position will have a variety of different tasks, including but not limited to the following: editing the festival programme booklet, creating posters and flyers and online adverts. You will also have the opportunity to learn the basic fundamentals of festival events during the months leading up to the Cork International Choral Festival.
Optional โ During the Festival days, you will be scheduled to work on-site at our events (concerts, workshops, rehearsals) at different locations across Cork city and County.
Your strengths and interests include
3 month internship period: 30 hours per week + increased hours during festival days (27th April โ 1st May 2022), schedule to be agreed). This is an unpaid internship. We are flexible regarding working hours and start/end dates for the right candidate.
We will mainly be working from our own offices in Civic Trust House on 50 Pope Quays, Cork.
Due to the exceptional circumstances related to the Covid-19 situation, part of the work might be carried out remotely by the festival staff. Online communication tools (VoIP/web conferencing platforms, chats, knowledge repositories, etc.) are in place to ensure that work can be carried out as team and that you receive appropriate and timely support and feedback. Use of own laptop and internet connection required (not provided).
The health and safety of our staff and everyone attending next yearโs event is our number one priority. We ask you to comply with local COVID-19 rules and public health guidelines in place at the time of the internship. Here you can learn more about public health measures for COVID-19 in Ireland.
Please email a cover letter and CV to [email protected] by 10th December 2021.
Founded in 1954 to be a dynamic force in developing choral music in Ireland, the Cork International Choral Festival is held annually over the five days preceding the first Monday in May in venues across the city, centering around the City Hall, one of the most attractive and acoustically superb venues in Ireland. It is one of Europeโs premier international choral festivals and is noted for its high competitive standards, excellent organisation, and the friendliness of its welcome. Each year some of the finest amateur international choirs are selected to compete for the prestigious Fleischmann International Trophy. The selected choirs also have an opportunity to perform non-competitively in a range of Festival activities presented over the weekend, including Fringe concerts, church and informal performances. Their presence gives audiences and Irish choirs the unique opportunity of attending a diverse range of concerts and competitive sessions while in Cork. As well as foreign choirs, the Festival annually features up to 100 Adult, Youth and School choirs who participate in National Competitions. Overall the Festival attracts some 5,000 participants. The festival continues to ensure that choral music, representative of many historical and cultural traditions, is brought to the people of Cork and the many visitors who travel to the city for the event.
If you require further information, please email: [email protected]
To mark the return to an in-person festival in 2022, we are giving away 25 Gala Concert tickets to an international choir that books their participation in the 2022 Cork International Choral Festival (Fleischmann International Trophy Competition or International Non-Competitive strand) before the 15th November 2021.
We are very excited at the prospect of being able to welcome you to an in-person festival in Cork next year. Based on the information available to date, we are working on the preparations for the 67th Cork International Choral Festival, taking place on 27th April โ 1st May 2022. Read our Covid-19 update here.
All international choirs who submit a complete application before 15th November 2021 automatically qualify for the above prize draw. The winning choir will be announced in January 2022.
Donโt delay! Get your international application in today. If you have any questions please get in touch with our Festival Team at [email protected].
* 2022 Early Bird Offer Terms and Conditions:
Maximum 25 tickets. No competition prize may be transferred or assigned to any other choir or person and no cash alternative or alternative prize is available. The Gala Concert shall be determined by the Cork International Choral Festival and will take place on the festival week (27th April โ 1st May 2022).
This competition will run until 23:59 Irish time, UTC+01 on Monday, 15th November 2021. Applications received after this time will not be eligible to be entered into the draw for the prize.
We are currently recruiting an Information/Graphic/Admin Assistant to join our Festival Office. This position is only open to people who are eligible for Community Employment Scheme, i.e. over 21 years of age and in receipt of a Dept. of Employment Affairs & Social Protection payment for 12 months or more.
To apply for this position please email your CV to [email protected] before 5 pm on 24/09/2021 quoting this vacancy 2191587 number.
Duties and Responsibilities
Depending on experience, the successful applicant will assist with the design and layout of the Festival 2022 programme.
Reception
Answer general phone inquiries using a professional and courteous manner.
Administration
We look forward to working with you!
Are you a music composer? Are you interested in joining the educational programme of the Cork International Choral Festival? Look no further!
The Cork International Choral Festival is welcoming expressions of interest from composers who have a strong interest in teaching ages 15-17 within the classroom environment.
It is a paid opportunity in County Cork starting from September 2021 to April 2022.
If this sounds like an opportunity that would excite you, please email your CV at [email protected] by Friday 25th June, including an outline of your experience teaching children and young people.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
We look forward to working with you!
We are delighted to announce that the Cork International Choral Festival will go ahead this year in a reimagined format!
Our choral festival, which normally attracts 5,000 singers and 50,000 visitors from all over the world to Cork city and county, will be held virtually for the first time ever, from April 28th - May 2nd, allowing international choirs to compete and participate without the need to travel.
The Cork International Choral Festival was founded in 1954, making it Cork's oldest festival. Last year was only the second time in its history that the festival had to be cancelled. Noted for its high competitive and non-competitive standards, it is one of Europeโs premier international choral festivals, and this year will be no exception. With over 30 international choirs scheduled to take part.
Usually concerts, events and competitions would take place in over 90 venues across Cork. This year, four specially curated gala concerts will be staged online during the festival, which attendees can enjoy from the comfort of their own homes, wherever they are in the world.
Opening on Wednesday night with a specially commissioned poem by Corkonian Billy Ramsell. Thursday evening April 28th will see an online broadcast performance by Irelandโs best known and most diverse choral group, Anรบna, directed by Michael McGlynn.
Chamber Choir Ireland, the festivalโs choir in residence, will perform from Corkโs St. Fin Barreโs Cathedral on Friday, April 29th, with what is anticipated to be an exhilarating performance.
Saturday night will see one of Irelandโs most acclaimed vocal ensembles, Resurgam also in St. Finbarreโs Cathedral. The Sunday closing gala concert will see a performance from a group that was scheduled to play as part of the cancelled 2020 Festival with German group ONAIR taking to the stage.
The competition strand of the festival is expected to remain fiercely competitive, with a newly expanded national and international programme via video submission. This year, the festival launches its inaugural Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition, as well as national and international A Cappella Video Competitions, while entries for the National Open Competitions remain strong.
Anyone, musical or not, can also join in with the festivalโs FREE online workshops in partnership with Sing Ireland, including the ever-popular Big Sing, a group singing experience led online this year by Ardรบ contemporary ensemble director, Ciarรกn Kelly, who will prepare participants for one big uplifting online performance.
Box office for the Virtual Gala Concerts is now open at the Virtual Event Website
Norah Constance Walsh has been announced as the winner of the prestigious 2021 Seรกn ร Riada Composition Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival.
As the winner, her piece On A Quiet Day In the Future will receive its world premiรจre in the spectacular surrounds of St. Fin Barreโs Cathedral Cork on Friday 30th April at 8. The performance will be part of Chamber Choir Irelandโs annual collaborative concert, the Festivalโs choir-in-residence. It promises to be a wonderful evening of song, broadcast online this year.
Norah Constance Walsh is a Dublin-based composer, musical director, pianist and teacher. She holds a first-class honours BMus in Composition from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where she studied under Jane OโLeary.
Writing for voice is a central part of Norahโs output and her choral works have been performed by Mellow Tonics, Laetare Vocal Ensemble, TU Chamber Choir and Rathdown Cantori amongst others. Recent vocal commissions include Inception Horizon and the short opera Beneath Iseultโs Tower. Her instrumental works have been performed in Ireland and Europe by soloists and ensembles including Duo Sincronia, the Dublin and Delmaine String Quartets and instrumentalists from the RTE National Symphony and Concert Orchestras.
Norahโs compositions are acoustic drawing from classical, popular, jazz and traditional Irish genres. Norah also enjoys working as a musical director and facilitator in many community and education projects, including the Forget Me Nots and St. Jamesโ Hospital MISA choirs, and as a choral conductor for a number of television productions.
On receiving the news of her win, Norah said, โI am delighted to be the winner of the Seรกn ร Riada Composition Competition, and to be part of this very rich choral tradition that the Cork International Choral Festival represents. I found Peter Sirr's poem On A Quiet Day In The Future to be a thought-provoking and entertaining reflection on some poignant elements of lockdown, and I was inspired to capture in music the sentiments that it evoked for me. A premiรจre by the superb voices of Chamber Choir Ireland is a hugely exciting prospect โ I am very much looking forward to hearing them bring this piece to life!"
Her composition, On A Quiet Day In the Future was chosen by the members of the judging panel, previous winner Amanda Feery, composer Rhona Clarke and Paul Hillier, Artistic Director and Conductor of CCI, who summarised their reaction and evaluation to Norah Walshโs winning piece as follows:
On A Quiet Day In the Future is a very expressive and sensitive setting of this poem by Peter Sirr. The composer shows skill in handling choral range, texture and musical pacing.
The reflective mood of the opening is maintained and there is a consistency of style throughout.
2021 is the 50th anniversary of Seรกn ร Riadaโs death and to mark this milestone the OโRiada family have kindly awarded โฌ1,000 this year to accompany the prize of a world premiere opportunity.
Initiated in 1972, the present format of the Seรกn ร Riada Competition offers a platform for Irish composers to have their work judged and rewarded purely on its own merits without the judges being influenced by the reputation or status of the composer. All compositions are submitted under a pseudonym, with the authorโs real name not being revealed until after the judgesโ decision has been made. Works composed in the Irish language are encouraged. The competition has, as a central aim, the intention of providing Irish choirs with fresh, authentic material for inclusion in their programmes.
The competition has attracted the attention of many highly-regarded composers, with past winners including Solfa Carlisle, Rhona Clarke, Patrick Connolly, Frank Corcoran, Sรฉamas de Barra, Eoghan Desmond, Michael Holohan, Marian Ingoldsby, Donal MacErlaine, Simon MacHale, Michael McGlynn, Kevin OโConnell, Amanda Feery, Criostรณir ร Loingsigh, Donal Sarsfield, James May and last yearโs winner Peter Leavy. With nearly 200 compositions being submitted in the past 9 years of the new format, the Seรกn ร Riada Composition Competition clearly highlights the number of composers now working and living in Ireland, and further demonstrates the Cork International Choral Festivalโs continuing commitment to encourage the composition and performance of contemporary music.
Further details will be announced in the coming weeks on this yearโs reimagined Cork International Choral Festival.
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