Category: News

The choir returned to the National Concert Hall in Dublin last Thursday evening, December 8th, for our traditional Christmas concert. after an absence of three years due to Covid19 restrictions.  The concert was especially enjoyable because of that, for performers and audience alike.

As well as taking part in a performance of the first part of JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and a cantata by Johann Kuhnau (Bach’s predecessor as director of music in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig), we sang a selection of European carols, including a beautiful carol from the Ukraine.  We were joined by the wonderful vocal soloists Ami Hewitt, Sharon Carty, Gavan Ring and Rory Dunne, and the virtuosic David Leigh on organ, all under the magnificent direction of our musical director John Dexter.

Go to the Gallery page on our website for some photos of the evening.

A number of singers from the Goethe Choir sang at Glencree’s Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in the beautiful Wicklow hills for Volkstrauertag. As always, it was beautiful and atmospheric and important to remember some of our more difficult recent past. The service was lovely. Thanks everyone!

Last Sunday morning some members of the choir joined other singers and a wonderful orchestra with really lovely soloists for the “Bach Cantata from Scratch” service in St Finian’s church, Adelaide Rd, Dublin. The musical aspect was organised by Werner Blau and with the service led by the pastor Florian von Issendorff. We performed ‘Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan’, BWV 100 (What God does, that is well done) and it was just one of those perfect mornings. We were an ad hoc group, but I think sounded well and definitely had a lot of fun. Thank you everyone for participating!

After a break of 3 years due to the Covid pandemic, we are delighted to be returning to the National Concert Hall in Dublin on December 8th 2022 for our annual Christmas concert.  Entitled ‘Rejoice! A Christmas Celebration’, the concert will feature works by Handel, Kuhnau, Vierne, Schütz and Bach, as well as a selection of European carols.  The choir and orchestra will be conducted by our musical director John Dexter, with vocal soloists Ami Hewitt, Sharon Carty, Gavan Ring and Rory Dunne, and organist David Leigh.

For more information and to purchase tickets costing €20 (€15 concessions), go to the National Concert Hall website at https://www.nch.ie/Online/article/Goethe-Choir-08Dec22

The Choir, under John’s expert direction, sang a range of pieces to celebrate Culture Night on Friday evening. It was very enjoyable and I think we sang really well. Thank you John, Werner (for organising this lovely event) and all the singers. Here some pics.

A group of 19 members of the choir, accompanied by a number of partners and led by guest conductor David Leigh, made a very enjoyable and sociable visit to northern Germany from July 9-18, 2022.  The focus of the trip was a visit to Loccum Abbey in Lower Saxony, where Corinna and Joachim Diestelkamp, former members of the choir and previously joint pastors in St. Finian’s Lutheran Church, Dublin, are now pastors.   They have instigated an annual performance in the abbey church each summer of a Bach cantata as part of the morning service and we were delighted to be invited by them to take part in the performance this year, which took place on Sunday morning July 17th.

After flying to Hamburg, we stayed in Zarpen, near Lübeck, in Stade, an historic Hanseatic town near Hamburg and finally in Loccum.  In addition to singing the Bach cantata in Loccum, we also gave concerts of our own to welcoming and appreciative audiences in the churches at Hamberge (near Lübeck), Gnarrenburg (near Bremen), Groß Berkel (near Hamelin) and ending with a concert in Loccum Abbey church on Sunday evening July 17.  We also sang during the morning service in Zarpen church on July 10 and after the midday prayer service in St.Michael’s church (the Michel) in Hamburg on July 12, as well as taking in some sightseeing and leisure time in Lübeck, Hamelin, Stade and Hamburg.

To see photos of our trip and videos of some of our performances there, go to goethechoir.ie/gallery.

Corinna and Joachim Diestelkamp are returning to Ireland for a visit later this month with a party of travellers from Germany and will be at St. Finian’s Lutheran church in Adelaide Road in Dublin for the morning service at 11am on Sunday August 14th.  Members of the Goethe Choir are delighted to be able to welcome them to Dublin by joining the service to sing some of the pieces that we recently performed in Germany.