Dolce was delighted and proud to be awarded 1st prize in the National Open Competition and 2nd prize in the Church Music Competition in the recent Cork International Choral Festival.
Performing “Were You There?” (traditional, arranged by Paul Harte) and “There was an Old Lady of France” and “There was an Old Person of Cromer” from Three Nonsense Songs by Mátyás Seiber, Dolce beat the 6 other choirs in the competition, most notably Cantate Arklow who came second. Dolce was awarded 87% with the second place choir receiving 86%. The songs were well received by the audience who laughed in all the right places, leaving Dolce feeling encouraged with the dramatic “Cromer” as the old person “jumpt over the cliff”, and the fun “quack, quack” as the old lady of France tried to teach the ducks to dance!
The mood was very different in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral and the standard particularly high when Dolce performed “Cibavit Eos” by William Byrd and “God so Loved the World” by John Stainer. The acoustic worked well for the choir, who created a magical atmosphere in the second song. Nonetheless, we were very surprised to have beaten Vocaré of Wexford (by .25%) and Tribal Chamber Choir from Galway (by .5%) to be awarded 2nd prize. County Limerick Youth Choir was awarded 1st prize with a mark of 89% after an excellent performance. There were 11 choirs in total in this competition.
The beautiful and unique Seán MacCarthy sculpture “L’appel du Coeur” awarded for 1st place, will adorn Deirdre’s mantlepiece and remind her of a great weekend in Cork 2011, with a wonderful result in a festival renowned for a high standard from Irish and international choral groups.