Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Madrigals: Update for May 22: Ashford Castle and Ballintubber Abbey

Ballintubber Abbey (Photo: Abbie Roberts)

What a fantastic day! We were able to sleep in a bit, which was nice since we are still adjusting to the time change between Indiana and Ireland. After a leisurely full Irish breakfast made with care by Paul, the owner of our inn, we departed at 10:30 AM for a scheduled 11:00 AM rehearsal at the historic Ballintubber Abbey. We were picked up by our driver, Tom Moran, a very interesting man who has sailed extensively and has the classic Irish wit. Based on the humor and carefree nature of our driver last year - Greg - and the similar qualities in Tom with his fascinating life, perhaps being an Irish bus driver should be considered by more as a profession....

Regarding Ballintubber Abbey, there are some really interesting historic events and tales about the place- more than we even fathomed. You can read some of those stories here.

Madrigals Outside Ballintubber Abbey
(Photo: Michael Boswell)

The grounds and church are more beautiful than any picture could capture. It certainly helped that we had a beautiful day, but there is something very spiritual about the place. Additionally, it is a lovely acoustic for choral singing. At our rehearsal we could all sense the special potential of this as a concert venue. We were right, as you'll read later.

After our rehearsal, a kind man named Con gave us a tour of the grounds as well as shared the history of the place, followed by our lunch at a place in Cong called 'The Crowe's Nest' (It was a very nice restaurant with really good food and reasonable prices) - and then we went to Ashford Castle, which is practically next door to the town of Cong. By the way, Cong is the town where much of 'The Quiet Man' was filmed; a movie starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

Ashford Castle (Photo: Sara Langenberger)

Ashford Castle is amazing. It is truly a castle that has been renovated into a modern-day, swanky hotel. The entire castle and the surrounding grounds of 350 acres are immaculate. They even have a falconry school! Be sure to check out their website.

'Quiet Man' Statue in Cong
(Photo: Catherine Larson)

When we entered the castle, we were met by our liaison Jayne, who was delightful. She led us to the "dungeon" which is now just a very nice basement, to a room where there was tea and coffee awaiting us. After indulging, we went up to a common area where a few of the guests were just relaxing and sang for them after we were introduced by Declan, the director of the Mayo International Choral Festival. It was a short, but well-received performance. Then, we went back downstairs for more tea and coffee before setting off on our own to explore the beautiful grounds and gardens of the estate. It is difficult to imagine a more perfect setting: the weather was perfect, the flowers were in bloom, and a sweet aroma enveloped most of the grounds. The wooded areas were welcoming with lovely hiking trails, and there were falcons at play. Some of us even had them fly just over our heads as they made their ways back to their falconers. It was really an idyllic day.

Ballintubber Abbey (Photo: Justine Gibson)

Next, we stopped for a brief stroll around Cong, with a few of us getting pictures by the houses where 'The Quiet Man' was filmed. We grabbed a quick dinner at Supermac's and changed into concert attire on the bus (By this point, we were no longer indulging in the finer things of life offered at Ashford Castle...) and returned to Ballintubber Abbey for the concert.

We were the last of five choirs, with the others being generally local. There was a lot of variety in choirs and repertoire, with a children's choir, a youth choir, two church choirs and us. Pieces ranged from simple hymn settings to impressive a cappella arrangements of pieces such as 'Uptown Funk.' Then they invited the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Madrigals up to sing. The next 25 minutes are a bit of blur, because we all seemed to enter into a transcendent state, of sorts. We were so together, musically and spiritually. There may be nothing more thrilling than making music with others that is filled with collective nuance and a shared community of pulse and tone. The energy in the room between choir and audience was palpable, and when we finished our final selection - 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken' arranged by J. David Moore, we received an immediate standing ovation. After speaking with audience members, we were pleased to attend a brief reception with tea and cookies. Then back to the inn!