Dingle September 2026
Bhà deireadh seachtaine agus ceolchoirm ar fheabhas again sa Daingean Uà Chúis agus bhaineamar go léir taitneamh as.
Our eighth IDO concert took place in beautiful Dingle on the 27th of September. Every IDO event is special but this felt particularly important as it was the first time for us to play a full concert of Irish music. The event followed our usual structure of a weekend of intensive rehearsals before a charity performance. Most of our orchestra had a long but very scenic drive to Dingle, with some of our players driving the length of the country!
For this concert we were delighted to welcome back Mr Liam Daly as our conductor. Liam has worked with IDO twice previously, and we were very happy to once again be in his expert hands. Our guest conductors not only guide us in our concert, but spend the weekend rehearsing with us and as on previous weekends, Liam transformed the orchestra between our first rehearsal on Friday and the concert on Sunday. Our leader was Rachel Rynne-Lyons, who has played with the IDO many times, and did a wonderful job in Dingle.
On Friday and Saturday we rehearsed in Halla Ceann Trá, a 10-minute drive from Dingle and just beside Ventry beach. Some of our braver musicians ventured into the sea for a swim on our breaks and it was such a scenic rehearsal venue. On Saturday morning we also rehearsed in Scoil Daingeain so that we had an opportunity to work on the music in smaller groups.
Our programme this year was a number of shorter Irish works for the first half of the concert and the Brendan Voyage for the second part. The programme was very popular – the Rose of Tralee and Riverdance were some of the well-known pieces we played and we had a wonderful tin-whistle soloist, Proinnsias Ó Cathasaigh for Carrickfergus. The Brendan Voyage is an amazing work, a concerto for uilleann pipes and orchestra. The piece was inspiried by the historic Atlantic crossing made by Tim Severin in 1976. In order to prove that it was possible for St Brendan to have made this journey , Tim Severin built a historically-accurate boat, using only the rudimentary materials that would have been available to St Brendan, and sailed it across the Atlantic . This epic journey inspired both his own book, and this musical work written by Shaun Davey. This is programme music, with the pipes representing the Tim Severin’s boat, and the orchestra the elements. It was especially significant to play the Brendan Voyage in Dingle this year as it is the 50th anniversary of the voyage. We were priviledged to play with Mark Redmond, a world-renowned musician and uillean piper from Wexford who has played the Brendan Voyage on many stages already.
Work hard and play hard is the IDO approach – after rehearsals many of our players sampled Dingle nightlife, and on Saturday evening the orchestra had dinner in the Skellig Hotel where we enjoyed a lovely meal and spectacular views.
We were so grateful to have a sell-out concert on Sunday. We played in St Mary’s Church, and worked with the Kerry Hospice Foundation, a voluntary organisation which helps provide funding and support for palliative care services in Kerry. All proceeds from ticket sales were donated to this great cause. Our concert MC was Gabriel Ó Cathasaigh, and there was plenty of banter as Gaeilge. We were thrilled to have a standing ovation at the end of the concert, and we had great feedback both from the audience and our orchestra members.
