Â鶹Éç

The Mossgrove Singers:

Dream A Little Dream Of Me  - Kahn, Schwandt & Andree

What A Faithful God Have I - Robert & Dawn Critchley

Just The Way You Look Tonight - Kern, Fields

The Majesty And Glory Of Your Name - Johnson, Fettke

Concentio:

Anthem (from ‘Chess’) - Andersson, Ulvaeus

The Ground - Ola Gjeilo

Nella fantasia - Ennio Morricone

Sleep - Eric Whitacre

Evening Prayer - Ola Gjeilo

Zadok The PriestÌý-Ìý±á²¹²Ô»å±ð±ô

The Mossgrove Singers was formed in 1967 by the late Olive Watson, primarily to give girls in Mossgrove Park, Glengormley (where she lived) an interest during the long summer holidays. Numbers grew quickly, friends of the girls joined, and a children’s choir was formed. Some of those original members still sing with the ladies choir today.

The Choir has enjoyed much success at festivals throughout the UK including the famous International Welsh Eisteddfod and at Sainsbury's choir of the year.

The Choir has been experiencing something of a renaissance in the past several years.  Olive Watson's daughter Judith took over the baton when her mother died, and when she moved on to other choirs the Mossgrove Singers then benefited much from the leadership of first Joni McCabe and now Thomas Brown.

Thomas Brown was born in Belfast and is married to a former member of the choir, Katrina Brown and they have 2 daughters, Darcey and Gracie.  He studied Piano performance in Belfast under Bertram Jones and at the Royal Academy of music and furthered his passion for music at Trinity College London where he obtained a Fellowship in Piano recital.  Thomas works closely with the Associated Board as an accompanist throughout the country supporting students in preparation for the music exams.

Some of Thomas' achievements include Young performer of the Year '94 and 1st place in Belfast Festival for Piano Solo.  Thomas started with the Mossgrove Singers as their pianist and was asked (forced?) to take the directorship for the choir temporarily, which turned out to be permanent, and thankfully has proven to be very interesting and enjoyable. He says he is looking forward to working with the choir ‘and their Zimmers’ for another 48 years.

Concentio Chamber Choir was established at Queen’s University Belfast by Jonathan Ireland in May 2005. Originally consisting of just eight members, all of whom were studying at Queen’s, the grown significantly in both number and reputation over the past 10 years to become one of Ireland’s most sought-after ensembles.   Tonight the choir is delighted to welcome back a number of members who have performed with Concentio in the past and have since moved away for work or study purposes.

As well as performing at over 150 weddings, funerals and church services since 2005, the multi award-winning choir has given over 70 concert performances – all of which have been in aid of charity, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for very worth causes across the UK and Ireland and further afield. 

Jonathan Ireland studied Music at Queen’s University Belfast. During this time he was awarded a choral scholarship by St. Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, and the Hamilton Harty Scholarship by Queen’s University, which enabled him to pursue further musical studies in Cambridge and France.

Aside from Concentio, he directs the Pro Bono Choir – the choir of the Law Society and Bar Society of Northern Ireland – and is the Director of Music at Stormont Church. He also sings with a number of ensembles, including the Voices of Ireland; Priory Singers; the Company of Musicians, based in Cambridge; and the LMV Consort, based in Languedoc region of France. 

Jonathan is a founding Partner of Lanyon Communications – a boutique advisory firm specialising in corporate communications, investor media relations and strategic business marketing consultancy.  He has received numerous professional awards.