CMC Ireland Launches its Vocal Catalogue for all voice types with piano accompaniment

Aileen Cahill, Orla Shannon, Susan Brodigan, Evonne Ferguson, Dr Patricia Flynn (CMC Chariperson) and Dr Seán Doherty (DCU) at the launch of CMC's Vocal Catalogue.

CMC launched its new Vocal Catalogue for all voice types with piano accompaniment at an event in the CMC Library on Thursday 30 January. Curated by CMC Scholar-in-Residence Orla Shannon, this catalogue is the first of its kind to provide a practical resource for both singers and teachers in search of contemporary repertoire by composers from Ireland.

As part of this launch, Orla performed three works from the Vocal Catalogue: the third movement Wild Imaginings Fiona Linnane’s The Bay of Fundy, Jonathan Nangle Snáth/Yarn and Joan Trimble Girl’s Song, accompanied on piano by Aileen Cahill.

Scholar in Residence Orla Shannon performs at the launch of CMC's Vocal Catalogue

This launch also marked the culmination of CMC’s inaugural Scholar-in-Residence scheme, with DCU PhD candidate (IRC Awardee) Orla Shannon, whose research explores gender inequality in the canon of twentieth-century Irish art song.

Library Co-ordinator Susan Brodigan speaks at the launch of CMC's Vocal Catalogue.

As part of this scheme, Orla has collaborated on a number of key projects with CMC, both as a musicologist and as a performer. These included, among others, a lecture-recital as part of Culture Night, a performance at our Composer Christmas Party, a recording with Aileen Cahill for Near TV, a discussion of her research on our podcast Amplify, written pieces for CMC’s website as part of Library Week, culminating in the curation of this Vocal Catalogue, which is a selection of works from the greater body of works in the CMC collection, and will aid performers and teachers in exploring contemporary vocal repertoire from Ireland.

A PDF version of this catalogue is available on the CMC website here.