2015 CONCERT TOUR

Ireland

 

St. Columb's Cathedral in Derry

St. Ann's Church in Dublin

Exploring the Burren

Dublin Concert Poster

The Heritage Chorale’s concert tour to Ireland (June 29 - July 6, 2015) took us from Galway to Derry to Dublin. We sang concerts in all three cities and made two shorter singing appearances as well.

From Shannon Airport, we traveled up the western coast of Ireland toward Galway, on the way passing the spectacular Cliffs of Moher and the rocky Burren region. The next day we drove through Connemara and visited the impressive Kylemore Abbey, where we sang a few selections in the chapel.

The first full concert of the tour took place at St. Nicholas Collegiate Church in Galway City. This was followed by opportunities for dinner and pub-visiting along Quay Street.

Passing northward through Counties Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal, we arrived for a two-day stay in Derry (also known as Londonderry), part of the UK. Our concert performance was in St. Columb's Cathedral, a beautiful Gothic church built in 1633. During our stay in the city, we toured the historic city walls, learned about the Seige of Derry and the long history of Catholic/Protestant "troubles" in Northern Ireland, and viewed the moving murals of Bloody Sunday in the Bogside district.

A long bus ride to Dublin in the rain and then sightseeing at  Trinity College preceded a concert at St. Ann's Church on July 4, where we sang "America the Beautiful" in honor of Independence Day.

Our next performance was at the Glendalough monastery in County Wicklow, where we sang at Sunday Mass in St. Kevin's Church with John playing the organ and Darryl conducting. Then, during the last night of the tour, we were entertained by an Irish band and Irish dancers at the Merry Ploughboy Irish Pub, providing a memorable finale to our 2015 concert tour.