Verdi's Requiem

As you know, I sing in the University of Dublin Choral Society.  This semester, we have been working on Verdi's Requiem, and it was a very special concert.  Not only we were singing for the 300th anniversary of the founding of the medical school at TCD, we were performing with the Guinness Choir and the Ulster Orchestra (who cost 40,000 pounds sterling to have perform), and we were putting the concert on at the brand new Grand Canal Theater in the Docklands in Center City Dublin.  It was a fantastic venue and a great night, and I was very lucky to be a part of this and to have many of my friends come out for the concert.

Grand Canal Theater

                 
A lot of preparation went into this concert, including a weekend rehearsal in Belfast so that we could rehearse with the Ulster Orchestra.  It was all worth it though, when we got on stage and you could see over 200 singers and a 70-piece orchestra getting ready to perform a truly moving piece.

The concert went really well, and there are a few video clips of us singing.  Here is a video of the beggining of the second movement of the piece, the Dies Irae, which also inlcudes one of my favorite parts of the whole song, the Tuba Mirum, which is the part that includes some fantastic brass instrumentation and vocals.

The second link is for the fourth and fifth movements of the piece, and can be found here.  The fourth movement, Sanctus, is a double fugue, with the choir being split up into two choirs whose parts mimic and follow the others.  The fifth movement is the Agnus Dei.

Here is a link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ-vvNB_wWU, to a bit of the final movement.  This part is the Rex Tremendae.

Here is a link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kFiFwM7SJM, to the Requiem aeternam, from the opening movement of the piece.

Here is a link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkotiT3HehQ, to the final movement of the piece, Liberma Me.

Enjoy!  I know that I did.  Singing with the UDCS was one of the highlights of my time here at TCD.  It was a completely different choral experience singing with a large choir that performs larger scale works with full orchestras.  While challenging at times,  it was an experience that I absolutely enjoyed.

Wicklow and Gelndalough

So this post is a little delayed, but oh well.  The Saturday after Saint Patrick's day, my friend Pam (who was visiting from NJ) and I took a day tour to County Wicklow, which is the neighboring country to Dublin, off to the south.  Even though it is just a short bus ride away from the capital, Wicklow is a sparsely populated, heavily rural and agricultural area, and it is known as the "Garden County" of Ireland.  Some people might recognize some of the pictures that I took from scenes in several movies, including "P.S. I love you," (though Pam had to explain to me some of the references, since I have never seen the movie) and "Michael Collins."

From Dublin, we headed South, and drove towards the Wicklow Mountains.  There, we passed by the Blessington Lakes before we made our way to the Wicklow Gap.  It was quite an impressive view from the top of the gap, and there was literally nothing for miles around us.

Blessington Lakes

Blessington Lakes

Wicklow Mountains, top of Wicklow Gap

Wicklow Gap

After the gap, we headed to Gelndalough, a 10th century monastic settlement, which was founded by Saint Kevin.  The name means "the valley of two lakes," and the settlement was set in a glacial valley, surrounded by forest, bog, rivers, and yes, two lakes.  We took a short walking tour of the cemetery and to see the Round Tower.  Since the settlement is considered sacred ground, there is a high demand for burial plots in Glendalough, and now, in order to be buried there, you must be related to someone who has been interred there.  After the tour, we walked up to the Lower Lake and sat on the shore eating lunch, and enjoying the sun.  It was a fun day, and it provided a very different take on the Irish landscape, departing from my normal views from center city Dublin.

The Round Tower

View of Glendalough from the Lower Lake

The Lower Lake, with the Wicklow Mountains in the background