We arrived early to the impressive venue, the Royal Dublin Society grounds on the main street in downtown Ballsbridge in Dublin, known for years to Dubliners as the RDS. This building would have been built in the 1800’s and is very impressive both inside and out. The reception area has a lovely spacious, yet warm and welcoming atmosphere as you approach the main desk flanked by two smaller tables at each side. These are all draped with a baize cloth in cobalt blue to match the beautiful carpet in the same colour and are set off nicely with cream walls which show off the fine architraves and stucco work in the ceiling. All facilities such as cloakroom and rest rooms are in this area - near at hand and very spacious.

I spotted Dearbhla Collins, who is the Project Consultant of the event, as we walked in and send sincere thanks to Dearbhla for my complimentary ticket! She was busy with Gavin O’Sullivan the Operations Manager, whom I have met on occasion through Ronnie’s (Veronica Dunne) competition events. As our tickets were checked a very nice amiable gentleman chatted to us and wished us an enjoyable evening.

The concert area was set in what looked like an old fashioned library, as the walls to left and right were packed with 19th century type bookshelves from top to bottom! However, the room was so large that the seating was in the middle of the room and the walls appeared at some distance - with the seating tiered to the back of the hall. The ceiling was very impressive and the stage was a modern one constructed with an orchestra pit to the front and tiered seating toward the back of the stage for Our Lady’s Choral Society. The ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra were arriving to take up their seats as we took ours. The audience seats were not numbered so we chose two seats in the fourth row: How luxurious it felt! It was then I spied one of the committee members of Ronnie’s competition, Angela McCrone, who was seated one row ahead of us. I popped over to have a brief word with her.

Upon my hasty return to my seat, we waited for the concert hall to fill up as I read the tragic story of the background to this quaint old Irish opera. In 1819 a young 16 year old Irish girl was murdered as a result of an elopement which went horribly wrong. Her name was Ellen Hanley and she was an orphan who lived with her uncle in the village of Croom, Co. Clare. She became involved with a young lieutenant who came from an influential family whose home was nearby Ballycahane Castle. His name was John Scanlon and he persuaded Ellen to elope with him with a dowry of £200. His faithful manservant Stephen Sullivan posed as a clergyman and pretended to marry the couple. After just two months, Scanlon sought a way out of the marriage and his manservant took it upon himself to lure Ellen out into the Shannon river, knocked her unconscious and tied a heavy stone to her body and watched while she drowned.

Within weeks her body was washed ashore and the two men went on the run. They were both captured separately and executed. But it was interesting to note that Daniel O’Connell, the famous Irish statesman, was the defence barrister for John Scanlon. Among the journalists covering both trials was a 17 year old trainee reporter named Gerald Griffin. Eight years later he fictionalised the story in a novel called “The Collegians.” Griffin changed the names of the characters and these names were carried through in Dion Boucicault’s dramatisation of the novel in a play named “The Colleen Bawn.” This in turn was the basis for an opera by German composer Julius Benedict who set the action in Killarney rather than Clare. The opera finished with a much happier ending than the real life story.

The opera The Lily of Killarney was very popular up until the middle of the 20th century when it became unfashionable. As a result the original score was shredded by the publishers. Last year, Conductor Proinnsías Ó Duinn achieved the remarkable feat of researching original pieces of the opera through the archives of the British Library and then creating a new score for the missing pieces in re-creating Benedict’s original score.

When it was time for the concert to begin, the nice gentleman who talked to us earlier was now on stage, having been introduced to the audience by Gavin (the Operations Manager) as Dr Austin Mescal, President of the Royal Dublin Society! I thought, “What a friendly man, no wonder he is President,” he will bring in hoards of people with an attitude like that!

The opera opened with the orchestra playing an overture, which at times reminded me of the music in the 1940’s film with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, “The Quiet Man.” It was superb and the music filled the concert hall. Then the narrator came on stage and set the scene for us. His name is Bill Golding and he is well known to Dublin theatre audiences for about 40 years or so. He opened with the quip, “I am sure you are saying to yourself ‘is that fella still around!’ ” He is a charming actor and the audience laughed out loud. His delivery, in a faultless anglicised accent, was perfectly suited to the theme of 1800’s aristocracy; he was dressed in coat tails and a gold 19th century-type waistcoat. Then he sat down at a small table and took a glass of wine from the decanter which was placed on the table.

Anthony Kearns, tenor, walked on stage flanked by two younger singers Jamie Rock, tenor and John Molloy, baritone. They faced the audience and, dressed in coat tails with white waistcoats, they launched into some beautiful lively songs beginning with “Another cheer.” It is true: Anthony has a perfect voice for this type of “old Irish style” singing. There was perfect harmony between them and it was very entertaining. Anthony played the leading character Hardress Cregan and John played Mr Corrigan / Father Tom. Jamie played O’Moore. I had the pleasure of hearing all three of them sing at Ronnie’s fundraising events in July of last year at Kilruddery House in Bray, an old English stately home in the outer suburbs of Dublin city. It was so nice to watch them perform again, this time in a more formal setting.

Then a spotlight descended on us and a baritone voice stunned us by coming from behind our seats; this was Damien Smith who played the character Danny Mann. He sang “The moon has rais’d her lamp above” while he made his way up the aisle and on to the stage. He and Anthony Kearns were joined by Cara O’Sullivan who played the leading lady Eily O’Connor, and then by Wexford born Eamonn Mulhall as one of the leading characters, Myles naGopaleen. As Anthony moved off stage, Maria de Moel who played the Hardress’s mother, came on. Maria is a mezzo soprano and she hails from the Netherlands. Later on we were treated to the sound of Celine Byrne, soprano, who is a student of Veronica Dunne, playing Ann Chute, the Protestant heiress whom Hardress is encouraged to marry. Celine won the prestigious Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens last March.

At the interval, my friend and I automatically followed people into another large room where wine and refreshments were being served. There we met a former committee member of Ronnie’s competition, Maurice Flynn and his wife Margaret. Maurice is an expert in opera and classical music and he is heavily involved with a national yearly music competition here in Ireland called the Feis Ceoil. We had a quick glass of wine before we headed back to the concert hall by a different route where we noticed a cosy looking bar along the corridor which we had missed on our way out at the interval. We admired the architecture of the building as we made our way back into the concert hall where we settled into our seats.

The story of the opera unfolded, aided by the narration of Bill Golding who entertained us every time he got up to address the audience. He was very witty and his 19th century-style narration was punctuated with cross references to modern day living. The singers took breaks while Our Lady’s Choral Society took up various parts of the narration in tune with that of Mr Bill Golding. Their harmony was superb, and it is obvious that they are a super professional choir. At one stage my friend pointed out to me that she had counted at least 150 people on the stage including the orchestra. The highlights of the evening were when Cara came up through the audience from behind our seats singing “I’m alone,” I was totally engrossed in the emotion of the song! And the other was Anthony singing “Eily mavourneen,” which he commands so well.

There were several scenes where all these wonderful singers were singing their parts in perfect harmony facing the audience and under the watchful eye of conductor Proinnsías Ó Duinn, who along with the ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra worked tirelessly to present a thoroughly professional masterpiece. And all in such an appropriate setting; we are so lucky in Ireland to have these great Georgian and 19th century buildings to house our operas and plays, especially when the work is set in the those times!