‘What a Wonderful World’ rang out across the Cliffs of Moher as part of the Limerick Sings International Choral Festival

A host of choirs sang their way around Limerick as part of the 2023 Limerick Sings International Choral Festival

A host of choirs sang their way around Limerick as part of the 2023 Limerick Sings International Choral Festival

The Festival kicked off on Friday (9 June) at UCH Limerick with a sold-out choral workshop with highly acclaimed international vocal ensemble, The King’s Singers who led participants a capella in a workshop celebrating choral artistry. The King’s Singers returned that evening for the opening gala concert hosted by RTÉ Lyric fm’s Lorcan Murray. Blowing the roof off the University Concert Hall in a very special performance with audience members calling it a “spell-binding” evening. 

On Saturday (10 June) the newly formed Limerick Sings Outdoor Chorus Festival choir, made up of 275 singers from choirs from USA, Norway, Iceland joined forces with choirs from Dublin, Wicklow, the Netherlands  and Louth for what has become of the of the Festival’s stand out moments – singing ‘What a Wonderful World’ at the Cliffs of Moher in the morning sunshine as visitor’s the cliffs listened on in awe. Renowned choral director Ruaidhrí Ó Dálaigh and The Ramparts choir led proceedings after one 45-minute rehearsal earlier that morning.  

On Saturday evening the festivities moved to Redemptorist Church, Limerick city for “Choirs in Concert” as the sounds of visiting choirs Limerick Chamber Choir, Vocation (US), Singers Marin (US), Voices of Limerick and Háskólakórinn (Iceland) filled this special space. Each choir performed a number of songs in their own unique sound.  

Other highlights across the weekend included the free, fun-filled Choral Trail with pop up performances at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, the Hunt Museum, the International Rugby Experience and Milford Care Centre. It was a pleasure for the choirs to have the opportunity to sing to the audiences in each of these venues particularly to the residents of Milford Care Centre who were hugely appreciative. As well as co-hosting SongSeeking, a Community Singing Session with Sing Ireland.  

Limerick Sings International Choral Festival 2023 is a wrap.

Thank you to all the wonderful choirs who took part in this year's festival.

We look forward to sharing all of this year's festival images over the coming days 🎼🎤🎼#limericksings

Photos by King Tree Media pic.twitter.com/yhmdbpZcZ4— Limerick Sings (@Limerick_Sings) June 13, 2023

On Sunday afternoon (11 June), it was standing room only in the Holy Trinity Church, Adare for the final concert of the Festival where choirs Silvertones (Wexford), Voices of the Boyne (Louth), VoiceOver (Waterford); Kingswood Community Choir (Dublin) and Aoide Voices (Limerick) displayed their talents with songs such as, ‘Beautiful Day’, ‘I’ll Tell me Ma’ to a sold out audience. It seemed fitting that SiyahambaI, a traditional Zulu song, sang by Aoide Voices was the final song of the Festival as the sun set on a fantastic choral weekend. 

Sinead Hope, Artistic Director of Limerick Sings International Choral Festival said, “Seeing the Festival going from strength to strength makes all the efforts that go into planning the Festival worth it. It is hugely gratifying and uplifting to see all of these choirs from near and far who meet as strangers and leave as friends come together and experience our wonderful city and region. It’s going to be hard to top 2023 but we are already making plans for 2024!” 

Limerick Sings international Choral Festival is presented by University Concert Hall Limerick and is made possible with the support of The Arts Council, Limerick City & County Council, RTÉ Supporting the Arts, Limerick Leader and Sing Ireland. Special thanks to our Festival venues and their staff, Lorcan Murray and Shirley Keane of RTE lyric fm, together with the Limerick Sings Festival Team and volunteers and of course to the audiences who joined us along the way. The non-competitive festival aims to encourage and promote choral singing in Limerick and the mid-west region and brings together choirs of all traditions from Ireland, Europe and the US. 

International choirs – Háskólakórinn (Iceland), SandvikaKoret (Norway), Singers Marin (US), Vocation (US) and choirs from around Ireland – Kingswood Community Choir (Dublin), Silvertones (Wexford), The Ramparts (Dublin), VoiceOver (Waterford), Voices of the Boyne (Louth) joined local Limerick choirs – Aoide Voices, Cantette, Limerick Chamber Choir, Voices of Limerick for 3 days of concerts, workshops, and fun-filled singing activities across the region. 

Keep an eye on limericksings.com for news of the 2024 Festival which will take place in June next year.

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