News

During the interval in our rehearsal last Tuesday (7 Nov), the choir was delighted to present our musical director John Dexter with a top-of-the-range laptop computer to mark 25 years since he first started as conductor of the (then) Goethe-Institut Choir.  The presentation was made by chairperson Ann Barrett, who spoke warmly and appreciatively of John’s superb gifts as a musician and choral trainer and of all that he had taught the choir over the last 25 years, mentioning in passing a number of the musical high points that the choir has attained over that period.  You can read Ann’s lovely appreciation here on our website.

We will once again be  returning to the National Concert Hall in Dublin on Monday 11 December for our annual Christmas concert.  This time we will be performing Bach’s cantata “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland” (BWV 61), Vivaldi’s “Dixit Dominus”, “Rorate coeli” by William Byrd and a selection of European Christmas carols.  The choir and orchestra will be joined in these works by a number of solo singers, all under the direction of John Dexter.   Tickets cost €25 each and may be purchased online by visiting the National Concert Hall website .

For our first performance of the new season, the Goethe Choir will be taking part in a charity concert in St. Mary’s Church of Ireland in Navan at 7.30pm on Saturday evening, 14th October, performing an eclectic range of a capella works of various musical styles and from multiple periods.  Also taking part will be the Navan Silver Band.  Admission is free but donations for the Meath Child Care Society and Navan Union of Parishes will be gratefully accepted.

We are very much looking forward to returning to rehearsals on Tuesday 5th September in preparation for our 2023/24 season.  We have an exciting concert schedule lined up for the new season, which includes an a capella concert in Navan in October, our annual Christmas concert in the National Concert Hall in Dublin in December, a concert in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in early April 2024 to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the composer Charles Villers Stanford and ending with a performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with pianist John O’Connor and the RTE Concert Orchestra in the National Concert Hall in Dublin in June 2024.

This promises to be an active and exciting season for singers and audiences alike.  More details can be found on the Events page of our website.

The Esker Festival Orchestra and Choir will be performing Mahler’s 2nd Symphony in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin at 8pm on Sunday evening August 20th.  There is still an opportunity for tenors and basses to join the choir for this one-off performance.  For more information and to register to take part, go to www.eskerfestivalorchestra.com.

The Goethe Choir gave its summer concert for 2023 on Sunday afternoon 28th May in St. Ann’s church, Dawson Street, Dublin.  An appreciative audience heard a performance of a range of works from multiple countries and musical periods, reflecting the coming of summer.  These included an arrangement of the Irish song ‘Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn’ by choir member Mary Kelly, and a first performance of a work by another choir member, Werner Blau.  We were conducted by our musical director John Dexter.  The concert also featured violinist David O’Doherty, who joined the choir in performing the final item on the programme, Haydn’s motet ‘Insanae et Vanae Curae’, with John Dexter accompanying on the organ and Mary Kelly conducting.  Go to the Gallery page on our website to seem some photos of the event.

There will be another opportunity to hear the choir singing when we will be taking part in the ‘United in Music’ concert in St. Finian’s Lutheran Church, Adeilade Road, Dublin 2 at 7pm on Wednesday 14 June, 2023.  This will be an evening of music in support of refugees worldwide – all donations made at this concert will go to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Former Goethe-Institut Choir member Iris Taylor was in the audience for our recent performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in the Church of St. Thérèse, Mount Merrion, Dublin which prompted her to write and broadcast a piece about the work and about our performance of it.  You can read her thoughts via this link.

Iris was one of the first members of the Goethe-Institut Choir, which she has written about in her recently published ‘Memoirs of a Reluctant German‘.  She continued singing until the 1990s  when she dropped out because of illness but has always been a keen supporter.  She now lives mostly in Clifden, co. Galway.

If you would like to see a slideshow containing photos from the concert with a backing track of our performance of the final chorus from the work, go to the Gallery page on our website.

Our summer concert will be taking place at 3pm on Sunday 28th May in St. Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin.  We will be presenting a multilingual musical journey through Europe visiting Ireland, England, Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia including choral and instrumental favourites by Johann Sebastian Bach, Anton Bruckner, William Byrd, Joseph Haydn, Heinrich Isaac, Thomas Morley, Orlando di Lasso, Henry Purcell, Igor Stravinsky and others.

The choir will be conducted by our musical director John Dexter and we will be joined by violin soloist David O’Doherty.  Join us for an uplifting and joyful celebration of the arrival of summer.

Admission is €15 at the door.

Our recent performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in the Church of St. Thérèse, Mount Merrion, Dublin was hugely successful and was enthusiastically received with a standing ovation by a large and appreciative audience, after over 3 hours of wonderful music.   Congratulations to all the performers and to all those involved in organising the concert, but especially to our music director John Dexter for guiding us so successfully through a challenging but highly rewarding musical experience.

We have received much positive feedback to our performance since the concert, including the following from our Evangelist, Dustin Drosdziok, prior to his return to Germany: “I enjoyed the concert very much and had the impression that there was real and honest commitment from everyone involved.  It was a great performance.  I wish you all the best and many more beautiful concerts.”

If you would like to see a slideshow containing photos from the concert with a backing track of our performance of the final chorus from the work, go to the Gallery page on our website.

The choir is working hard in preparation for our upcoming performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in the Church of St. Thérèse, Mount Merrion, Dublin at 7pm on Sunday, February 26th.  We’re all looking forward to having a rare opportunity to sing this wonderful work to a large and appreciative audience.

During the performance, the audience will be invited to join in the singing of the melody line for five of the chorales, a practice which was common in Bach’s time.  You can see and hear us rehearsing one of these chorales at https://youtu.be/F0mLUoUCKzU – the text of the chorale is displayed on the video, so if you wish you can take the opportunity to get in some pre-concert practice by joining in the singing.

Tickets, priced €30 (€25 concessions), may be purchased online via this link.