Feis Ceoil makes clear its classical credentials

WHAT’S IN a name? Despite being the biggest and longest running classical music competition in the country, the Feis Ceoil is still regarded by many casual observers as a traditional music festival.

This year for the first time in its 112-year history the ESB Electric Ireland Feis Ceoil has added a tag line with the words “a classical celebration” in its title to distinguish it from all the other feiseanna and fleadhanna throughout the country which have a traditional Irish bent.

“We’re on a mission this year to debunk the myth that we are a trad music festival. Traditional music has lots of different festivals. Ours isn’t one of them,” said Feis Ceoil Association chief executive Laura Gilsenan.

This year’s festival got under way yesterday in the RDS. There are 176 competitions in all, five for composition and the rest for performances which include choirs, orchestras, ensembles and soloists.

Yesterday evening the adult choir competition took place and it will be followed today by the schools’ choir competitions, including the choir final this evening.

A total of 4,000, mostly students between the ages of nine and 25, are taking part this year.

Despite the recession and the costs associated with a musical education, there is no shortage of competitors this year, says Ms Gilsenan.

“In our numbers of entries, which is the only way we can gauge it, the numbers have been quite stable over the last number of years when we thought they might decrease,” she said.

“That means that people are prioritising the arts and music, which is great.”

The festival goes on until Saturday, April 16th, when there will be the inaugural gala concert for the Feis Ceoil taking place in Convention Centre Dublin.

Feis Ceoil Results

Girls Vocal Solo (A) 1st:Aisling Muckian. 2nd: Emily Doyle. Very highly commended: Megan Carton, Caoimhe Joyce, Lorna Breen. Highly commended:Hazel Conway, Aisling McCarthy, Sarah Brady.


Dorothy Stokes Cup 1st:Lingfan Gao. 2nd: Ellen O'Rourke.

Commended: Paul O'Gorman, Peter Regan.

Junior Pianoforte Solo (B)

1st: Myles Flitcroft. 2nd: Juliette Morrison. Very highly commended:Weng Man Chow, Christopher Ellis.