Concert of sacred music to mark Good Friday

Collegium Chamber Choir and conductor Mark Duley will join forces this Friday for a special concert, Juxta Crucem: Music for Good Friday, which will take place in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church in the city at 5pm.

Presented by Music for Galway, the concert is designed to allow people a period of musical contemplation on this significant day in the Christian calendar. Pieces which will be performed will include Palestrina’s Stabat Mater and excerpts from Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories, as well as works by Francis Poulenc and Orlandus Lassus.

The works will be sung by Collegium, Galway’s newest choir, and the latest addition to the St Nicholas Schola Cantorum – which now numbers five choirs. Most of its members already sing in one of the Schola’s other choirs and many are also involved in other Galway choral ensembles. Membership is by invitation or audition.

The choir doesn’t meet regularly for weekly rehearsal but members come together to rehearse for and perform specific projects such as this one.

The choir’s director Mark is one of Ireland’s most well-known choral specialists, and has led workshops and masterclasses for choirs and conductors in Ireland, the UK, and mainland Europe.

As well as having a busy freelance career, Mark is organist of the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas, and founder-director of St Nicholas Schola Cantorum.

■ Tickets for this event are €18/€14/€6 from Music for Galway 091-705962, or Opus 2, 4 High Street, or www.musicforgalway.ie