MORE THAN 4,000 singers and musicians will take part this year in the ESB Feis Ceoil which gets under way today with choir and string competitions.
The festival of classical music has run every year for the last 113 years, with the exception of 2001 when it was cancelled because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
Chief executive Laura Gilsenan said 4,000-5,000 musicians and singers from age seven upwards would compete in almost 200 competitions at the RDS in Dublin.
“There are a lot of big bursaries including the Cuisine de France John McCormack vocal competition for a bursary of €7,000 and the school choirs competition with the final on Sunday 21st March.We’re starting with a lot of our choir competitions and strings.”
While the majority of events take place in the RDS, the nearby St Mary’s church hall will host some competitions and St Bartholomew’s church will be used for the organ competitions. Virtually every student of classical music in Ireland will at some stage have participated in the event, which has become a national institution and which has produced some of Ireland’s leading professional classical singers and musicians.
The majority of participants in the 180 events are between nine and 30 years old, although there is no upper age limit.
Full details of all competitions are available at www.feisceoil.ie
