Mayo school wins prestigious choral title

St. Joseph’s Gospel Choir, Castlebar, has been crowned winners in the City of Derry International Choral Festival last week.

Under the musical direction of Ms. Aoife Durcan, the choir received the highest score of all ten competing school choirs of the festival with a total of 92.8%.

The choir received the Gold Award of Excellence by an international panel of adjudicators, Lorenzo Donati (Italy), Bernie Sherlock (Ireland), Jo-Michael Scheibe (USA), Kari Turunen (Finland/Canada), Anders Edenroth (Sweden).

The choir performed two pieces, ‘For Good’ from the Broadway Musical Show ‘Wicked’ with soloist Aimee Wilson, and ‘Waka Waka, This Time for Africa’.

The choir were accompanied by Aleksandr Nisse (piano) and Robbie Harris (percussion).

Supporting members of the choir’s success included Ms Niamh Sweeney and fifth year students Kate Healy and Sarah Courell.

The choir look forward to an exciting year ahead in 2024 where they participate and perform in the Costa Barcelona Music and Choral Festival in May among the top choirs and orchestras in Europe.