Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Madrigals: Beautiful Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Achill Island

Madrigals in beautiful Doolough Valley (Photo: Tom Moran)

Today was supposed to be a "light day" for us, but this blogger is exhausted. We covered a lot of ground today, and saw countless sights...

Falls on the Erriff River (Photo: M. Boswell)

Our day began with a 9:15 a.m. departure from our inn. Our first stop was to be Kylemore Abbey, but we saw so many things before getting there. Our driver, Tom, lives in this area and knows the Connemara region like the back of his hand, so he took "the scenic route" driving us down many narrow roads that provided some incredibly beautiful views of mountains, lakes, rivers, fjords, and sheep. Lots of sheep. Our first stop on this Irish country drive was a monument built to remember those immigrants who left the area and lost their lives during the potato famine on coffin ships; the name applied to ships because of their questionable sea-worthiness. Then we drove more and found ourselves in a huge valley surrounded by green mountain with a large beautiful lake and sheep scattered about. It is hard to believe a place of such grandeur exists in such a small country. In this area, we stopped at another memorial erected to remember a large number of people who died during the potato famine. They lived in one town and had heard rumors there was food in a town many miles away. When they got there, it was found not to be true, and on their return over this massive landscape, a great many of them succumbed to starvation before making it back home.

Famine Memorial in Doolough Valley (Photo: Justine Gibson)

We drove more and made a stop by a bridge over a picturesque river where we stretched our legs, hiked to a waterfall, and watched fisherman try to catch some of the trout and salmon that we could easily see from the bridge. After more driving - and sheep - we finally arrived at Kylemore Abbey. To read more about this place and its romantic/tragic history, visit the Kylemore Abbey website.

Kylemore Abbey (Photo: M. Boswell)

One thing to know about Kylemore Abbey is that on the grounds there is a beautifully constructed Neo-Gothic church. We knew this and had inquired about performing there in advance, but a change in the timing of our plans made us believe that was no longer possible. Yet, when we arrived to pick up tickets, we saw a poster listing a performance by the SMWC Madrigals. Of course, we assumed this was now an outdated sign since our schedule had changed, so we grabbed lunch on the grounds not thinking too much about it. After lunch, we decided to go to the church just in case there were people who had seen the signs and were expecting a performance. To our surprise, the church was packed, and sure enough the time was 1:00 p.m., when we had originally been scheduled to sing. So, I went up to the front of the church and said "Excuse me. Are you expecting a choir?" to which they answered confidently "Yes!" Luckily, we have several of our pieces memorized by now and I happened to have my pitch pipe in my coat pocket. So, we sang four pieces to an extremely welcoming and enthusiastic audience. It was so nice to have so many people come and talk to us about their enjoyment of our singing, the places they are from, their experiences in Indiana, etc. (There was one woman from Indianapolis and one gentleman who used to visit Terre Haute a lot when his sister lived there). Next, we toured the main building, but because several exhibits were missing and because the building is undergoing some renovation, we found that to be a rather fast tour.

Michael talking with audience at Kylemore Abbey
(Photo: Abbie Roberts)

We boarded the bus and traveled north to Achill Island, Ireland's largest island. This is also where Tom, our bus driver, is from so he really enjoyed showing us his hometown and taking us to all these historic sites. He and his friend Vincent created the Achill Heritage Center along with a museum they started, connecting many Americans to their roots on Achill Island. They also have plans to convert an old local monastery that has generally fallen to ruin. Tom is an extremely interesting man, having projects such as this in the works, as well things in his past such as sailing all over the world. His pride in his home is evident, and he was constantly honking his horn and talking to neighbors as they passed by. He wanted to show us so much that we ran a little late, but he bought us all ice cream so we forgave him! A few of the things he showed us were their new museum, a completely deserted village of one hundred stone houses, and an epic trip into the clouds where we could look down the cliffs into the ocean, viewing beautiful Keem Beach where he also took us for a stroll. And of course, in all these places, more sheep.

Achill Island (Photo: Abbie Roberts)

Keem Bay, Achill Island (Photo: Sara Langenberger)

We had to hurry back to Castlebar town where we were the invited guests of a concert that was featuring other choirs of the festival. After grabbing a quick meal from McDonald's (it's much better here, by the way) and changing into clothes more fitting for a concert, we made it in time to hear three of the four choirs. We especially enjoyed our North American friends from Canada, the St. Albert Singers with whom we are participating in a wreath-laying ceremony tomorrow at the city's Peace Park. More to come on that tomorrow! It was a very full day - enjoy the pictures and thank you for following our journey.

Blog Post Author: Michael Boswell, Director of SMWC Madrigals

Blog Editor: Sharon R. Boyle, Associate Professor of Undergraduate Music Therapy

For more information about the SMWC music and theatre programs, please visit our website!