Fingal International Festival of Voices is set to entertain us

THERE will be no stopping the music when a major event takes place in Balbriggan next month.  

The first ever Fingal International Festival of Voices will be staged from March 12-15 in the town.

As part of preparations, 11 schools around the town have signed up for free singing workshops as part of an outreach programme run by Fingal International Festival of Voices.

The workshops are coordinated and delivered by Dónal Kearney, co-founder of Fingal Academy of Music and the Irish Institute of Music and Song. 

Among the local schools benefiting from the outreach programme are Balbriggan Educate Together National School, Bracken Educate Together National School, Scoil Chormaic, St Molaga’s, St Teresa’s, Balrothery National School, Scoil Moibhi – Milverton National School, Ardgillan Community College, Bremore Educate Together Secondary School and Loreto Secondary School.

Each of the 11 schools responded enthusiastically to an initial call-out in early January. 

Within a week of the festival having launched the Outreach programme, most of the schools in the area had been allocated a 45-90 minutes slot for their free singing workshop.

The festival is focused on celebrating diversity and inclusion through music. It will provide a platform for individuals and communities from home and abroad to showcase their culture. 

In the context of Balbriggan, this is an opportunity to begin creation of an extraordinary musical legacy.

This will not be a one-off occasion. For those who wish to be involved in the festival, there will be follow-up community workshops, including conducting workshops, to which all students, teachers, and members of the public are invited. These will be delivered by Donal and Michael T Dawson, artistic director of the festival. One was held in Flemington Community Centre on February 15 and another will be held in Castlelands Community Centre this Saturday, February 22. Both workshops are being held from 1pm to 3pm.

Each of the schools is being invited to participate in the festival directly. Some will be competing on Friday, March 13; others are starting choirs as a result of this initiative. Where interest is maintained, workshops will continue well after the festival.

Dónal’s workshops draw on his experience as Music Coach with Ulster Youth Choirs and National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, as well as his development work as Manager of Fingal Youth Choir and Fingal Children’s Choir. He is a certified Community Music Leader with the international humanitarian organisation, Musicians Without Borders, which runs music events in conflict zones and refugee camps. 

In 2019, he ran two parallel intergenerational singing programmes in Direct Provision centres in County Monaghan and County Dublin.