cathymcevoy

So you direct choirs?

Yes, among other things. My current roles are; Artistic Director to professional vocal harmony group The Gospel Project , conductor/musical director of Sandymount Gospel Choir, the Portmarnock Singers, Master Card Workplace Choir, HSE WorkPlace Choir at Cherry Orchard, and the Waltons Sing Your Heart Out Choir  In the past I’ve held the Musical Director’s post with notable choirs such as Gardiner Street Gospel Choir and Discovery Gospel Choir, as well as directing ensembles in every imaginable setting from workplaces to theatres, to hospitals to prisons. One of my earliest choirs, the Ballymun Gospel Choir, is now sadly disbanded but will always have a special place in my heart.

I’ve been employed as choirmaster/vocal arranger for theatre by the Abbey Theatre, the Civic Theatre, the Gaiety School of Acting and RTE Radio One. In 2009 I conducted the Irish premiere of The Poverty Requiem, a piece composed by Dutch composer Peter Maissan to mark UN Annual World Poverty Day, October 17th.

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What’s The Gospel Project then? Is it a choir?

It’s a vocal harmony group, or kind of a boiled-down choir. Where a choir has a group of people singing soprano, alto, tenor, bass etc….. The Gospel Project has just one person singing each part, each of whom also plays an instrument (keyboard, flute, guitar, fiddle and percussion). My role as Artistic Director is to lead the ensemble, create our vocal arrangements and handle the administrative side, as well as being a performing member of the group.

We raise the roof at festivals, perform at wedding ceremonies, and write our own original material in the gospel genre. Formed in 2004, we are Ireland’s only professional gospel ensemble and have headlined venues such as the National Concert Hall, the RDS, the Sugar Club, Crawdaddy, and the Phoenix Park. Our debut album, on the outside, was released to critical acclaim in 2009 and our current single, heard you call my name is available on Apple Music

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So where did you learn to do all this?

On the job, mostly. My conducting career started entirely by accident, when the Musical Director of Gardiner Street Gospel Choir became ill in 2002 and with no prior conducting experience I had to stand in for him for a season. Once I got over the shock I realised I had something of an aptitude for the task, and that gave me the confidence to go on and direct a number of choirs of my own. But I do have the following training:

 I hold a Music degree (honours) from Trinity College, Dublin, and a Masters in Composition from N.U.I. Maynooth.
Like most musicians, I’m always learning, and always striving to develop my skills as a musician and conductor.I’ve pursued specialised training in Conducting with masters such as George Hurst (UK), Axel Theimer (Austria/U.S.), Robert Houlihan (Ireland) and Rodolfo Sanglimbeni (Venezuela). Some of this training was made possible thanks a Travel and Training Award from the Arts Council of Ireland

See also the Arrangements page.