A new choral work by Kevin O'Connell for the Palestrina Choir receives its premiere on 21 June

Kevin O'Connell's latest large-scale choral commission, a setting of the Mass for choir and organ in Latin, will be premiered as part of the Liturgy, at the Solemn Latin Mass in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin on Sunday 21 June 2015 at 11.00am. The setting is intricate and challenging, carefully crafted in its complexity to suit the ensemble of talented boy choristers and professional adult male singers of the Palestrina Choir.

Contemporary commissions for serious choral settings of the Mass have become something of a rarity and this new setting joins a number of significant settings, including those by James MacMillan, Lennox Berkeley, Flor Peeters, Edward Rubbra, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten.

'I am really delighted both that the choir will sing this new piece in the context for which it was composed and that the Arts Council has supported this commission. I believe this will be a significant event for both Irish contemporary music in general and Irish Sacred Music composition in particular.' Blanaid Murphy, Choral Director