Enjoy baroque music in Westport church fundraiser
By Tom Gillespie
PAULINE Graham (soprano), Patrick Early (violin) and Michael Quinn (organ) are presenting a concert of baroque music in Holy Trinity Church, Westport, on Friday, August 12, at 8 p.m.
The concert will feature three of Handel’s charming German Arias and Henry Purcell’s ‘An Evening Hymn’.
Instrumental music is also on the programme, including an arrangement of ‘Summer’ from Vivaldi’s best-known work, The Four Seasons, and violin music by Corelli.
Michael Quinn will perform organ music by J.S. Bach and Louis Couperin on the church’s Telford pipe organ, which dates from 1852, and which was originally made for a chapel located on the grounds of Westport House.
Located on the Newport Road, Holy Trinity Church is celebrating 150 years since its dedication this year. Designed by Thomas Newenham Deane, this historic church is currently undergoing much-needed restoration work, and proceeds of the concert will benefit the church’s restoration fund.
Pauline Graham and Michael Quinn run Louisburgh Music School, and the choir Louisburgh Voices, which presented Louisburgh’s first opera, Dido and Aeneas, in 2019.
Pauline has appeared at early music festivals in Sligo, Galway, Utrecht, and Cremona, and is looking forward to performing this programme in the fine acoustic of Holy Trinity Church.
Violinist Patrick Early is well-known to Westport audiences through his work as a chamber musician, music educator, and as the founder of the Octagon Ensemble.
The concert will take place in Holy Trinity Church, Newport Road, Westport, on Friday, August 12, at 8 p.m. Tickets are €12 (concessions €10), available at the door.
For more details, contact westportcamerata@gmail.com or call (087) 3674260.
By 1855, the Church of Ireland community in Westport had grown too large to be accommodated in the old church. As the old building was falling into disrepair, plans to repair or build a new church were being considered.
In April 1869, plans were approved to build a new church on the Newport Road in the town. It would replace the old parish church that had been built in 1797 in the demesne of Westport House.
The site chosen on the Newport Road was a wooded area and trees had to be cleared for the building of Holy Trinity Church. This site had been donated to the parish, for the purpose, by the Most Noble George John, Third Marquess of Sligo, on December 23, 1868.
Holy Trinity Church was consecrated on September 26, 1872, by the Right Rev. Dr. Charles Broderick Brendan, Bishop of Tuam.
Thomas Newenham Dean designed the church. Amongst his other great works in Mayo is Turlough House, Castlebar, where now the National Museum of Country Life is situated.
Holy Trinity Church is of Gothic style, consisting of a semicircular apse at the east end, the organs being in the north side and the tower and spire on the south side. The porches are on the west side.
The spire reaches a height of 185 feet; the spire is surmounted by an Irish cross in gilt metal, 6 feet long.
The church is built of Irish stone, believed to be located in the locality, punched, and the dressings being in Scotch stone.