By Ann Marie Foley - 20 September, 2016
A special concert in Dublin will celebrate the renowned choral conductor and composer Colin Mawby’s 80th birthday.
Known for his compositions such as the ‘Requiem of Cardinal Basil Hume’ and a fanfare for the opening of the concert hall in Dublin City University, he was awarded a Knighthood of St Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI.
His setting of Psalm 23 was included on Charlotte Church’s CD, and his Ave Maria was recorded on the Celtic Tenor’s CD.
He is expected to attend the concert in his honour next Saturday in Dublin’s Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mourne Road.
“It is great that he will be there and that we have a composer of his stature who is still working away and great to pay tribute to him,” Deirdre Seaver one of the organisers told Catholicireland.net.
Project Messiah Chorus, the choral group that she is involved with, put out a call four years ago for volunteers to learn Handel’s Messiah in 8 weeks and perform it at the start of Advent.
A group has performed the Messiah each year since.
“Because of the interest over the last four years, we felt the time from one November (Advent) to the next was very long, so we decided to do a smaller work Vivaldi’s Gloria,” said Deirdre Seaver.
Colin Mawby is known to members of both Project Messiah Chorus and the Palestrina Choir which are linked through director Blánaid Murphy – and they all wanted to mark his birthday.
“Of course Colin is such an advocate and proponent of choral work that we decided that it would be a great tribute to him,” said Deirdre Seaver.
The Project Messiah Chorus will sing Vivaldi Gloria.
They will be joined by the Palestrina Choir which will sing Colin Mawby Missa Caro Mea which premiered during the Eucharistic Congress in 2012.
The Pro-Cathedral Girls’ Choir will sing Beatus Vir by Monteverdi.
All the choirs will join together for the final rousing movement of the Missa Caro Mea which is a interspersed with the famous melody – Glory, Hallelujah.
In his long career, Colin Mawby has conducted worked with the London Mozart Players, the Wren Orchestra, Pro Cantione Antiqua, the Belgian Radio Choir and the BBC Singers. He has been Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, London.
Nearer to home he was choral director at Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) and artistic director of Ireland’s National Chamber Choir.
During his time as Choral Director at RTÉ he was instrumental in the formulation and development of the new choral policy that led to the establishment of the National Chamber Choir, RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and RTÉ Cór na nÓg.
On his retirement from the National Chamber Choir in 2001 he was appointed Artistic Director Emeritus to the choir.
He has composed over fifty masses, five song cycles, a large number of settings for choir and two children’s operas.
Awards include top honours in the 2002 Waging Peace Through Singing competition in Oregan, USA for his Prayer of Forgiveness.
The performance takes place on Saturday 24 September at 7.30pm at the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mourne Road. Tickets are €10.
