Thank you to our wonderful audience of 250 people who came to our anniversary concert, celebrating the rich musical tapestry we’ve woven since our first concert in April 2015.
We took a retrospective journey through the first decade of Cuore’s music-making, revisiting choir and audience favourites, and hidden gems from our repertoire. We were delighted to be joined by many alumni in the audience, and especially those who accepted our invitation to sing Kodály’s ‘Esti Dal’ with us.
We were also thrilled to present the world premiere of our anniversary commission in the presence of the celebrated Polish composer MichaĹ‚ Ziółkowski, with his beautiful setting of the evocative W. B. Yeats poem, To a Child Dancing Upon the Shore, crafted especially for Cuore’s 10th anniversary.
Also present were members of MichaĹ‚’s family, and the Polish ChargĂ© d’Affaires to Ireland, Artur A Michalski. It was wonderful also to have Rhona Clarke and our own Joost Slingerland present for our performances of their pieces. You can read more about our other concert repertoire in the programme below.
Born in 1991, Michał studied and now teaches at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music, Wrocław. His international composition awards include 1st prizes in the Penderecki (2019), Busan (2018) and Musica Sacra Nova (2014) competitions. His music is published by Schott and GIA Walton, and performed around the world by choirs such as Trinity College, Cambridge.
The composer writes:
Yeats’ beautiful yet brief poem evokes the image of a child dancing—innocent, free, and unaware of the future.
However, in today’s world, many children are deprived of safety and even lose their lives in the brutal wars waged by criminals.
For me, this little piece is both a celebration of life and my small expression of opposition to the violence inflicted upon the youngest and most vulnerable.
– MichaĹ‚ Ziółkowski, WrocĹ‚aw, March 2025
Rehearsing this new piece was an exciting experience for us, and performing it was a moving highlight of the evening, which we were so glad to share with you.
We are very grateful to RTÉ lyric fm for the prize money which majority funded this commission.
We are also very grateful to Kelan Molloy for taking many wonderful photos from the concert (the less wonderful photos here were not taken by him!).