April Concert: ‘Dream of Gerontius’
The choir is delighted to have performed Edward Elgar’s ‘Dream of Gerontius’ with the East Cork Choral Society at the opening Gala concert of the Cork International Choral Festival, at City Hall, Cork, on Wednesday 30th April 2025. The concert featured magnificent soloists Gavin Ring, Tenor; Raphaela Mangan, Mezzo-soprano and Gyula Nagy, Baritone, with the Cork Fleischmann Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Keith Pascoe. View a video of Ciarán Kelly, our Music Director, talking about this great work and the Cork International Choral Festival.
Please join our mailing list to be kept informed of future concerts.
The Guinness Choir at the Cork International Choral Festival, 1959 to 1966
Our PhD scholar, Roddy O’Keeffe, gave a public talk on the opening day of the Festival – Wednesday 30th April – at the Munster Technological University (MTU) Cork School of Music, Union Quay, Ballintemple, Cork. His talk drew on his research of the extensive choir archives. It focused on the long relationship between the choir and the Festival and is titled ‘The Guinness Choir at the Cork International Choral Festival, 1959 to 1966’
Roddy O’Keeffe The Guinness Choir, 1960’s
Here’s a short video of Roddy outlining his research of the choir’s archive which informed his talk at the Cork International Choral Festival.
Richard McMullen RIP
We are saddened to record the death of Richard McMullen, a stalwart of the 1st Bass line for more than 40 years. It’s only a couple of years since ill health forced him to step down from the choir and we have missed him greatly. Known more familiarly to us as Dick he was a teacher of German in the High School Dublin and also an avid cricket fan. Dick was our regular coach as he tried to ensure we pronounced our German texts at least phonetically correctly. I’m sure many of us would have graded E on his exam papers with remarks like “must try harder” but his great courtesy and good humour overcame his possible desire to be more critical! Dick was very sociable and kindly and he always had an amusing take on choir and general events. He and his late wife, Jean, a Guinness employee, were very much part of choir life over the years. He greatly enjoyed all our social events as we humorously dissected concerts post performance over a couple of pints. A memorial service will be held in Collier’s Bray at 1 p.m. on Thursday, 22 May. Full details on RIP.ie
Choral Composition Commission
The Guinness Choir celebrates its 75th anniversary during the 2026/27 season and has sought proposals from composers to create a new work in recognition of this milestone. Renowned Irish composer, Seán Doherty, will create a twenty minute choral cantata based on the text from a new work by celebrated Dublin poet Paula Meehan. It will receive its premiere performance during the choir’s 75th anniversary season.
Hitting the Right Note with Spry Finance
The Guinness Choir
The Guinness Choir was founded in 1951, over 70 years ago, for the employees of the Guinness brewery. It is one of the oldest mixed voice choirs in Dublin and was one of the earliest workplace choirs in Ireland. The choir has since left the ambit of the brewery and is an independent, self-funded, choir attracting amateur singers from all over Dublin and beyond to sing the great oratorios and major classical works as well as the many beautiful choral works from the renaissance, baroque, modern and contemporary eras. Over the years, the choir has given many hundreds of amateur singers the opportunity and privilege to perform these works with professional orchestras and soloists in major venues in Ireland and abroad. Please join our mailing list to be kept informed of future concerts, and information will be on our Upcoming Concerts page.
Music Director – Ciarán Kelly
Ciarán Kelly took up his appointment as our new Music Director in September 2022.
Ciarán hails from Derry and has sung competitively and as a performer in Ireland, the UK and America. He is the recently appointed Head of Music in King’s Hospital School, Palmerstown and is a former Assistant Director of Music at St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral, Dublin. Ciarán has an MMus in Choral Conducting, is an experienced choral tutor and has led workshops with choral societies, schools and universities in the UK, Europe and Asia. He was also founder and artistic director of Ardú, a professional prizewinning vocal ensemble. He was appointed Choral Director of Cór Linn in August 2023.
Future Plans
The Guinness Choir will perform JS Bach’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’, German version, on Wednesday 3rd December 2025 in the National Concert Hall (NCH), Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin.
In mid June 2026 we will embark on a four-day singing tour of England, including concerts in Cambridge, Norwich and other locations in Norfolk and Suffolk.
For more information please see our Upcoming Concerts
Our Rehearsal Venue
Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines is our wonderful rehearsal venue. The church includes a generous, comfortable rehearsal space and full washroom facilities. There is free on-street car parking (after 7pm) and the Beechwood Luas stop is 7 minutes walking distance. Rehearsals are held every Tuesday from 7:30p.m. to 9:45p.m. from September to May. There is a short tea/coffee break to catch up with friends.
Joining the choir
