Autumn concerts are once again a resounding success
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Béatrice Tronel (right) and Stéphanie Hiron at Autumn Concerts 2008. SE4601
DOAGH VILLAGE community association's final concerts in the "Autumn Concerts 2008" took place last week with the kind co-operation of St Bride's Parish Church, Kilbride and in the theatre of the newly refurbished Braid Arts Centre in Ballymena.
The Concerts were partly funded as part of the Newtownabbey Borough Council's 50th Anniversary Celebrations. Enthralling, virtuoso performances were given by the French soprano Béatrice Tronel, accompanied by pianist Stéphanie Hiron.
The Concerts opened with Béatrice singing "Danny Boy". In preparation for the concerts Béatrice recognised the great emotion in the song and felt that it would be best sung
“a cappella" to allow the true feeling of the music and the words to be expressed. The result was a truly beautiful and emotion-filled rendition of this much loved piece.
For the remainder of the first part of the programme Béatrice performed a series of French compositions in which she has specialised during her career.
The concerts finished with a series of beautiful songs, both classical and contemporary, which comprised this eclectic programme. These included a haunting rendition of the aria "Casta Diva" from Bellini's opera "Norma", an aria from Puccinni's "Tosca", "Over the Rainbow" from the Wizard of Oz, "Syracuse", written and recorded by the great Henri Salvador and the much loved Irish song "Salley Gardens" from the poem by WB Yeats.
The concert ended with "Chanson Espagnole, "The Daughters of Cadiz" by Léo Delibes.
Doagh Village Community Association hopes to begin work shortly in planning the next series, "Autumn Concerts 2009". Planning has also begun to give local Northern Irish musicians from the East Antrim Area the opportunity to perform in Brittany as guests of DPI (Dol Pays Initiative). These performances will take place in the Mont Dol area and if possible in Poland and Montenegro from where artists will hopefully come to perform here in Doagh.
Doagh's relationship with Mont Dol in Brittany has enabled the development of many cultural opportunities to be explored in an attempt to enrich the availability of world class performers to the East Antrim area and to provide other possibilities to develop exchange programmes for our young people and their families. This year's concerts, which included performances by the pianist Thibaut Guillois in September as well as these recent concerts by Béatrice Tronel and Stéphanie Hiron have been extremely well received and already those who attended are looking forward to next year's Autumn Concert 2009 programmes.
