Strabane Chorale society Christmas concerts

STRABANE Chorale Society will be joined on stage by past and current pupils of Loreto Grammar School Omagh for two Christmas concerts in local churches.

The ‘Gloria’ concerts are being organised by Strabane man Gerard Bradley who acts as a conductor for the Chorale Society and was the head of music and taught at the girl’s school for over 30 years.

The concert will combine former pupils of Bradley’s with the Strabane Chorale Society performing a mixture of Christmas carols and hymns. Over 100 people singers will be heard across the hour-long evening of music.

The Strabane Chorale Society was buoyed recently after coming in second place at the Derry Chorale Festival only losing out on first place to the famed Trinity Choir from Dublin.

The choir will, at various points, be joined by multiple solo performers including baritone Calvin Davidson and a duet performed by Shane Farrell and Michelle Conhan.

Gerard Bradley said, “We are all really looking forward to these couple of concerts over the Christmas period. The show combines past and present pupils but mainly former pupils whom I taught at Loreto Grammar during my time as head of music. There will be over 100 singers on the stage between the choir and soloists and past pupils of Loreto.

“We did shows like this in 2005 with the smaller choir and a lot of the performers are the same from back then, it’s a bit of a full circle performance for the society.”

The two concerts are happening on Friday, December 1 at St Columba’s Church of Ireland in Omagh at 7pm and December 3 at St Mary’s Church in Strabane on December 3 at 4 pm. There is no fee for attending the concert but a collection will be made for local charities.