Schola Gregoriana sing at Watou Festival

Schola Gregoriana Maynooth will perform at the Watou International Festival of Gregorian Chant in Belgium. 18 – 21 May 2012

The Watou Festival is the world's foremost chant festival, and the Schola is the only group from Great Britan and Ireland to have been invited to participate. Schola Gregoriana Maynooth is a joint SPCM–NUIM project, founded in 2000 by Dr John O’Keeffe and Professor Gerard Gillen. It became an all-female choir in 2007 under the conductorship of Giovanna Feeley. The group is currently led by Hannah Evans.

Some of the music which will be performed by the Schola in Watou is taken from the Lismore Gradual, a  twelfth-century manuscript representing the oldest extant Irish repertoire. The assistance of Dr Frank Lawrence (UCD) in transcribing this material is gratefully acknowledged. The Schola will also perform chant from the Graduale Novum, a new interpretation of plainchant published by the International Society for the Study of Gregorian Chant (AISCGre).

Schola Gregoriana Maynooth wishes to acknowledge Culture Ireland as one of its funding sponsors for the trip to Watou.