Achill hosts unique concert
Artist Camille Souter had a long association with Achill Island. Picture: James Horan/Photocall Ireland
Achill Heinrich Boll Association is pleased to host the concert 'Illumination', by Kathy Fahey, which will be performed by Choral Symphony West (Mayo Concert Orchestra and Vocalessence Ladies Choir) with soloist Patrick Quinn in St Joseph’s Church in Bunacurry, Achill on Saturday, August 17th, at 8pm. This is a fundraising event for the Camille Souter Cottage Artist's Residency.
A native of Mayo, Kathy is a freelance choral director and orchestra conductor. From a very young age, she has been immersed in music, both teaching and performing. Kathy works with several choirs across Mayo, as well as Mayo Concert Orchestra with her most recent appointment being director of Gardiner Street Gospel Choir in Dublin. Her childhood was spent listening to and playing classical music, and as an accomplished pianist, has developed a keen interest in this genre.
"I started composing 'Illumination' during the summer of 2023 having been hugely inspired by the sightings of the Northern Lights, and of course I am passionate about sacred music," explained Kathy. "Each of the 12 pieces in the work is loosely based around the imagery therein, each piece titled appropriately, and in addition, the seven choral pieces are all of a sacred nature, but themed around light. Along with those pieces, there are two symphonies, 'Auroas’s Prelude’ and ‘Enchanting Skies’. The full work being completed by powerful solos for tenor, mezzo-soprano and baritone.”
When she was aged 18, Kathy preformed 'Handel’s Messiah' for the first time as part of the Maynooth College Choral Society, where she was studying, and went on many years later to conduct a full performance of the famous work in the Church of The Holy Rosary, Castlebar. It was the first time to be performed in Mayo, with a 100-strong choir and 18-piece orchestra. Subsequently, sacred works are now performed biannually in the county town under her baton collaborating Vocalessence Ladies Choir with the Mayo Concert Orchestra, collectively known as Choral Symphony West.
Kathy also has a great love for gospel music, having trained the multi-awarded Chapel Street Gospel Choir, with a particular appreciation for traditional African American gospel and its historic significance as well as the more modern gospel spirituals.
Her career in most recent years has had a considerable focus on composition, one of her finest achievements being her brainchild, 'Fáinne Óir', a dance show created and composed in 2019, with a storyline set during the Famine years in Ireland. This show has been performed across Ireland and on Broadway in New York.
The Achill Heinrich Böll Association is a not-for-profit company based in the community of Achill Island. This concert is part of a fundraising initiative that is rooted in the association's decision to purchase and refurbish the cottage and studio of Camille Souter and establish a funded artists' residency in her memory. Professional artists will live and work at her studio for a given period with financial support. Camille Souter lived in Dooagh from 1958 - either full-time or part-time - up to her death in March 2023. She was raised in Ireland and originally trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital London, before taking up painting in the mid-1950s. Though her usually small-scale paintings appear abstract, they are firmly based within reality and the everyday. Souter has exhibited extensively since the 1960s.
Tickets (€20) are available at www.heinrichboellcottage.com.
