{"id":93,"date":"2026-04-28T14:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/?p=93"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:23:39","slug":"college-choir-in-the-emerald-isle-lauren-mlicko-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/college-choir-in-the-emerald-isle-lauren-mlicko-26\/","title":{"rendered":"College Choir in the Emerald Isle, Lauren Mlicko \u201926"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over this past Spring Break, the Holy Cross College Choir completed a weeklong tour of Ireland, performing in some of the most historically and culturally significant venues the Emerald Isle has to offer. The Choir took twelve pieces\u2014ranging from spirituals to movements from Vivaldi’s Gloria to traditional Irish songs\u2014on the road, stopping in Galway, Cork, Dublin, and a few other places along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From One Coast to Another<\/b><\/p>\n

As my roommate and I boarded the bus from campus to Logan Airport, I couldn\u2019t help but feel a rush of excitement. After studying abroad in the UK last year, the prospect of going back across the pond was finally becoming real! No sooner did we land at Shannon Airport than the Irish weather welcomed us at the Cliffs of Moher. In the evening many of us attended mass at the Galway Cathedral, where the priest was somehow aware of our presence, and called out\u00a0 \u2018the choir from Wor-chester\u201d during mass. With that I think we felt truly welcomed to the West Coast of Ireland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next morning we made our way through the beautiful Connemara circuit. We then started our performance tour with a pop-up concert in the waiting room of the University Hospital Galway. From my perspective, both as a singer and as a conductor, the waiting room columns obstructing parts of the choir\u2014as well as the absence of music stands\u2014quickly forced me to tap into a sense of self-trust that I did, in fact, know this music by heart. Though it certainly wasn\u2019t the kind of venue we\u2019re used to, it was clear that people found our performance to be a pleasant surprise. The continual hustle and bustle of the waiting room reminded the choir that, while this tour we\u2019d embarked on was an incredible opportunity to make memories together as an ensemble, it was just as important that we were creating memories for our audiences, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our last concert in Galway took place at the local university and featured Voices of Galway, a community choir welcoming singers of all ages and experience levels to make music together. They were the perfect group to kick our tour off with in earnest, especially by joining us on the Gaelic song Mo Ghile Mear (\u201cOur Hero\u201d). Their warmth and enthusiasm gave us just the boost we needed to get over our jet lag.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cork, Cobh, and Castles<\/b><\/p>\n

After a night enjoying Galway\u2019s vibrant pub scene, it was already time to move on to our next stop: Cork! On the way there, we visited the iconic Blarney Castle. (Yes, I walked up the treacherous spiral staircase to the top of the castle, and no, I did not kiss the Blarney Stone. After all, I already have the gift of gab\u2026)<\/span><\/p>\n

While walking through the beautiful gardens surrounding the castle, about ten of us in the choir found a small stone hut in which we couldn\u2019t help but sing together. The surroundings were simply too magical to leave without making our mark; I still can vividly remember the child-like joy I felt in this spontaneous moment of music-making, as my friends and I created an iteration of the Gaelic song \u201cB\u00ed a \u00cdossa\u201d that felt newly haunting and other-worldly. I found out later that anyone roaming the gardens could in fact hear us, but who doesn\u2019t like a bit of mysterious choral music emanating from the rose bushes?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon finally arriving in Cork, the choir had some free time to explore the city, before enjoying a lovely dinner back at our hotel. Many of the seniors had the chance to sit and chat with our fearless leader, Director of Choirs and Professor of Practice Dr. Katie Gardiner. We covered everything from the trip so far, to our astrological signs, to our future career aspirations. How lucky are we to get to make music with people we like spending time with, <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>whom we look up to!<\/span><\/p>\n

Our next performance was in the coastal village of Cobh, just southeast of Cork. I\u2019ll never forget driving down the hill of the village and seeing our venue for the night, St. Colman\u2019s Cathedral, ahead of us, with only the water visible beyond it. It was as if the entire country ended right there, with the gray water against the gray sky, enticing us to find their meeting point. We once again joined with the local community choir for Mo Ghile Mear, and were once again met with incredible kindness and generosity from our hosts. St. Colman\u2019s choir also gifted us with the Irish blessing, a version of which we ourselves have performed many times before:<\/span><\/p>\n

“May the road rise up to meet you.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

May the wind be always at your back.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

May the sun shine warm upon your face;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The bus ride back to the city that night was silly and celebratory, full of tin whistle playing and singing along to traditional Irish songs and American pop songs alike.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The (not so) Rocky Road to Dublin<\/b><\/p>\n

Day 6 brought another long bus ride in the pouring rain, but all was well once we arrived at our final destination for the tour, the capital city of Dublin. Our next performance took place at The Lark in Balbriggan, just north of Dublin city, and home to The Irish Institute of Music & Song. We entered a space very much like our own Luth Concert Hall in the Prior Performing Arts Center, and were met with enthusiasm by Dr. Michael Dawson, the Irish Music Institute and Lark Hall\u2019s founder. The evening was one of sparkling vocals and emotional storytelling by both the Holy Cross Choir and the Maynooth Chamber Singers. I was especially moved by their rendition of \u201cEven When He Is Silent\u201d by Kim Andre Arnesen, a piece which puts stunning harmonics to the haunting words that were found etched into on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany, by a Jewish individual in hiding during World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe in the sun, even when it\u2019s not shining.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I believe in love, even when I feel it not\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I believe in God, even when He is silent<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Admittedly, such a visceral emotional experience as an audience member made walking up on the stage for our performance more demanding than usual. But as soon as we began singing, I could feel how we were empowered by the musical gift we just received to give something of our own in return. From Moses Hogan\u2019s \u201cGive Me Jesus\u201d to Stephen Paulus\u2019 \u201cThe Road Home,\u201d we brought to life some of the most touching compositions by American composers we have today, to a community who had brought us equally beautiful pieces from their own tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Parting Glass\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Our last full day in Dublin brought us to the venue I was most looking forward to: the historical gem of Christ Church Cathedral,which originally dates back to 1030 as a Viking church, and currently seats the Archbishop of the Church of Ireland. Our final performance was made especially memorable by the cathedral\u2019s organ, which our resident organ scholars at the College, who had accompanied us throughout the tour, played beautifully. As it happened, however, this wouldn\u2019t be our last performance in Ireland, thanks to the hospitality of The Merry Ploughboy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our farewell pub dinner was an evening of delicious food, fulfilling conversation, and entertaining performances by Irish trad-musicians and step dancers. Most memorably of all, the College Choir gave one last impromptu performance of \u201cHark, I Hear the Harps Eternal\u201d by Alice Parker for the pub’s patrons. As a student conductor with the College Choir, I was lucky enough to conduct this piece on each leg of our tour, across each of the communities we were so openly welcomed into. This final performance, however, was uniquely special. The choir sang without their music, and without the usual pressures that come with a formal concert. As I conducted this wonderful piece and this wonderful group for the fifth and final time, I was struck by their resounding confidence and bold sound. I felt the people at the tables surrounding us gasp as each section of the choir took their moment to shine. As the piece came to a close, I saw my friends smiling back at me, with pride and joy in themselves and in each other. This image, which still lives vividly in my mind, perfectly captures the best of what a group like College Choir can do: build community through art. While the excellence we pursue is worthy in its own right, it is ultimately our feelings, and those which we evoke in others, that make our work truly meaningful.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over this past Spring Break, the Holy Cross College Choir completed a weeklong tour of Ireland, performing in some of the most historically and culturally significant venues the Emerald Isle has to offer. The Choir took twelve pieces\u2014ranging from spirituals to movements from Vivaldi’s Gloria to traditional Irish songs\u2014on the road, stopping in Galway, Cork,… Continue reading College Choir in the Emerald Isle, Lauren Mlicko \u201926<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":800,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"issue":[12],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-volumes","issue-vol-3-spring-2026","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/800"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/art-notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}