Music

Trinity continues to perform to the highest levels in the Performing Arts Festival for Catholic Schools and Colleges. For the 13th consecutive year, we have been awarded the Zenith Music Award for the most outstanding school in the festival. This is a remarkable achievement of which all our Music, Dance and Drama students should be proud.

Dr Robert Braham Director of Music

Congratulations are extended to the following groups and individuals who were awarded shields in their respective sections of the festival: Trinity/Mercedes Chorale (Secondary Choral, Sacred Music, Liturgical music – original composition), Luis Santos (12.1) and Kayvan Gharbi (12.8) (Secondary Instrumental Duet), Ciaran Paxman (8.2) (Secondary Pianoforte/Pipe Organ solo), Clarinet Quartet (Instrumental Ensemble), Junior Vocal Ensemble (Primary Choral Singing), Luis Santos – (Chapman Scholarship for Secondary Strings) and Gabriel Pereira (4G) (Primary Pianoforte solo). Of particular note, this was the first time that Trinity had won both the primary and secondary piano solo sections in the one year.

Performances at the ABODA and classical guitar festivals from Trinity and Trinity/Mercedes ensembles continued their strong form from recent years. Both the Wind Orchestra and String Orchestra and both Classical Guitar ensembles achieved an ‘Outstanding’ grade. The Wind Ensemble was awarded an ‘Excellent’ and String Ensemble also fared well gaining a ‘Merit’ award in their section.

During the course of the school year our students also had the opportunity to work with Indian music master, Mr Sandip Burman, members of the Magellan trio and international clarinetist Mr Andrew Simon.

On the staffing, we congratulate Ms Athena Litis on her appointment as Director of Music at Aquinas College. Ms Litis has made a stellar contribution to the Trinity College Music Department over a significant period of time. Her work with the String Orchestra has always pushed the students to their highest level and the Middle School Vocal Ensemble has become an outstanding training ground for our young vocalists. However, I consider Ms Litis’ greatest contribution to the department would be the development of the curriculum in the Middle School. In this area, Ms Litis has shown extraordinary passion and the results achieved by the boys are a testament to her dedication and love for her work.

MUSIC TOUR 2016

The Trinity/Mercedes Chorale tour to the United Kingdom and Ireland was a tremendous success. Working with Dr Janet Galvan from Ithaca College in the USA the students flourished, singing repertoire with a theme of ‘Bridges’ from around the world. Two songs, Sililiza and Total Praise, were the ‘hits’ of the tour, with Total Praise being sung at every opportunity in marvelous venues across the length and breadth of Ireland. Highlight pop-up performances in Cobh Cathedral and the Belfast Town Hall will always be remembered, as will the combined performances with Dr Janet Galvan in Belfast and Dublin. The tour wrapped up with two concerts and a workshop in London. The workshop with Professor André de Quadros and the Southwark Cathedral performance were London highlights in a memorable tour. Throw in the Titanic exhibition, a couple of well received sung Masses, a soccer game in glorious Dublin sunshine and a castle or two and you have the ideal tour.

Dr Robert Braham Director of Music