Church of the Immaculate Conception, Wexford, 28/10/2026
New Dublin Voices; Bernie Sherlock (conductor)
This fifth report from this year’s Wexford Festival covers a choral concert given by Irish a cappella chamber choir New Dublin Voices, conducted by Bernie Sherlock, on the afternoon of 28th October in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Rowe Street. This was my second time at the venue (and hearing the choir) and the warmth of its acoustic matches that of its welcome. The choir is known for innovative programming of wide ranging repertoire, from medieval to contemporary and including commissioned and traditional music alongside core art music repertoire. Much of the programme was sung from memory. The pieces were engagingly and informatively introduced by choir members, essential as, though there was a printed programme: it quickly emerged that it was a work of modern fiction.
The concert was themed around the concept “to everything a season”, in the sense of the passage of time, beginnings and endings, love and loss, memory and renewal. Cecilia McDowall’s 2018 Advent ‘O Antiphon’, ‘O oriens’ set the ball rolling with lovely scrunchy harmonies, growing in sonority, tonal range and expressivity, evoking a sunrise. Dynamic control and intonation were flawless. I recalled mentioning las year that I reckon New Dublin Voices are at least as good as NYCoS Chamber Choir and Tenebrae, but, as they can also sing in Irish, they come out on top. Norwegian composer Torbjørn Dyrud’s ‘Lovesong II’ was quite brisk and modern with irregular metre, building to a strong climax with effects like glissandi and rushing wind sounds. There were also unusual harmonies and chording effects, with rapidly repeated syllables. I wouldn’t be the world’s biggest fan of Dyrud, but it was interesting.
We were on surer ground with Max Reger’s glorious 6-part Late Romantic ‘Frühlingsblick’ (Glimpse of Spring), with delicious chromatic harmonies, very Brucknerian, but also with some hints of late Brahms. A gorgeous ensemble sound was matched by fabulous German diction. American composer Daniel Knaggs’ 2016 ‘To everything, a season’, a modern setting from the Old Testament ‘Song of Solomon’, lilted pleasingly with what felt like a dotted 6/8. At the centre of the programme were 3 movements from Jonathan Dove’s 2000 ‘The Passing of the Year’. The piece has a piano part and one of the basses was to step down to play it. His colleague introducing the piece quipped that it might take him a while, as he had run the Dublin Marathon the previous day. In fact, he bounded down with alacrity, looking as fresh as a daisy. I feel old. The first movement, ‘Invocation’, had slower choral lines floating over a brisk minimalist stratum on the piano. The second movement, ‘The Narrow Bud Opens Her Beauties to the Sun’ reminded me of the sensuousness of the ‘Song of Songs’ and had me musing, as often before, how it came to pass that dry fusty churchmen became the custodians of some of the hottest poetry ever written. Gorgeous, ending quietly. The seventh movement, ‘Ring Out, Wild Bells’ (a Tennyson reference to the New Year) concluded. After a short vocal intro and some minimalist piano, a rush of sound ushered in a central section in pacy 4, optimistic and suggestive of bells. There was a quieter end. A super piece,
Two of the winning pieces from the 2025 Choral Composition Competition (inaugurated by New Dublin Voices) featured next, starting with the second prize: older Irish composer Ben Heneghan’s setting of Yeats’ beautiful poem ‘Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’. A tender aspirational line with soft dynamics and upward-shifting harmonies concluded with an unexpected ‘found’ cadence. Exquisite. First prize was very young South African composer Motshwane Pege’s 8-part ‘Jubilate Deo’, brisk and bubbly with a slower central section, bowling along so gleefully that I couldn’t say for sure if it was in 5 or6. Easy to see why it won, but when the clapping, slapping and stamping of ‘body percussion’ entered the fray, I was wondering about a placing before First. Superb.
The next two pieces were conducted by choir member and Assistant Conductor Brian Dungan. Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström’s ‘Awake, O North Wind’ took us back to the Song of Songs, with idyllic harmonies evoking a beautiful pleasure garden, perfect for a love tryst, with a ppp ending. Delicious. It was followed by Eoin Conway’s clever arrangement of the Irish traditional song, ‘Óró. ‘sé do bheath’ abhaile’. This is quite an unusual song with an interesting history. ‘Is é do bheatha’ means literally “it is your life”, effectively proposing a toast to longevity, usually interpreted as a toast of welcome, ‘Abhaile’ means “homeward”. ‘Óró’ is an address of endearment only found in songs. So the title means something like “welcome to your new home, my dear”, welcoming a newly-wed bride. It is sung three times in the chorus (because, obviously, three drams are better than one), followed by “now at the arrival of summer”. That was the song until the 1798 rebellion, when verses were added about French forces hopefully arriving to displace the oppressive English. Then, in the 1916 Easter Rising, Pádraig Pearse added verses about the Irish pirate queen, Gráinne Mhaoil, doing the same job as the French from the west. It’s a rattling good song and it received a rattling good rendition, in an arrangement with some clever canonical writing.
Bernie Sherlock returned to the podium for the last programme item, A Bishop of Ossory in the 14th century sanitised the melodies of bawdy songs being sung in the taverns by adding appropriately religious texts. One such, ‘Peperit Virgo’ was sung, in a stylish arrangement by choir member, Seán Doherty. None of the mischief in the original melodies was lost – if anything, it was amplified. A bass drum pumped the rhythm in the closing pages, before a cheeky throwaway ending.
More mischief in the encore: a scat version of Rossini’s Overture to ‘The Barber of Seville’, with the singers emulating the sounds of the orchestral instruments. Not quite the same as the version The King’s Singers used to perform in the 70s, but just as good. What larks!
Weblink: https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/festival-programme/new-dublin-voices-2026