When the Belfast-based Cappella Caeciliana formed in 1995, its ambition was modestly confined to singing in church services. Now, on the eve of its 30th anniversary, the 27-strong choir has become a mainstay of Northern Ireland’s choral scene.

Founded by a group of friends that included a trio of Catholic priests – David Delargy and siblings Eugene and Martin O’Hagan; later to find international fame as ‘The Priests’ – early performances were infrequent and confined to churches.

With its original dozen voices neatly dividing into three per section, the choir quickly began to create the unified sound that has become its signature, initially under its first director, Bob Leonard, then head of music at Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch, 16 miles south of Belfast.

At the time, Northern Ireland’s capital was well-served by amateur choirs of every scale, from the Priory Singers – founded in 1976 and still going strong – to the venerable Belfast Philharmonic Society, which celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary this year.

‘We saw ourselves, perhaps, as the Catholic complement to Priory’s Anglican accents,’ says Cappella Caeciliana’s longest-serving member, bass Philip O’Rawe, who joined in 1996 and serves as its treasurer and events and publicity manager. ‘But we didn’t envisage operating in the same way. We were liturgically focused to begin with and only moved into giving concerts later.’

The choir’s first concert performances in 1997, a year before the signing of the historic Good Friday Agreement, were an early sign of its own growing confidence, and of larger changes occurring in a Northern Ireland striving to turn away from the sectarian violence that had scarred it for a generation and more.

Appointed Leonard’s successor in 1999, Donal McCrisken set about increasing membership to 18, the ensemble’s size remaining stable for the remainder of his tenure. As the number of singers grew, so did the choir’s reach. Performances outside its native hinterland followed, including in Bavaria, Salzburg and Rome.

McCrisken also broadened the choir’s repertoire, one that to begin with, O’Rawe remembers, ‘was very much Byrd, Palestrina, Victoria, Gibbons and some Mozart and classical’.

In the optimistic environment around the ceasefires and Good Friday Agreement that brought the Troubles to an end, the choir flourished. Ranked fifth from a worldwide entry in the 2004 Montreux Choral Festival, it performed in the Vatican in 2008, and in 2011 made its American debut and partnered with Royal Ballet dancer Carlos Acosta.

It was also during McCrisken’s stewardship that the choir began to commission new work, most significantly to date James MacMillan’s Ut omnes unum sint for its 20th anniversary in 2015, which it also recorded with The Priests, directed by the composer – on one of five CD releases to date.

‘That was a really strong collaboration,’ recalls O’Rawe. ‘James recognised in what we were doing his own interest in and commitment to liturgical and concert music. It was very important to us. Other partnerships have been very positive too, for example with [baritone, conductor and podcaster] Eamonn Dougan.’

Like every amateur choir, Cappella Caeciliana juggles with the behind-the-scenes challenges of its members’ domestic, employment and other obligations. ‘Some are also involved with other choirs, and getting everyone to commit to a concert date can be a bit of a struggle. Covid-19 certainly didn’t help, and we are still recovering from that.’

Also hidden from public view are the choir’s long-established efforts ‘to encourage our singers to raise their game’ in providing individual singing lessons and group workshops, notably led by baritone and Royal College of Music professor Russell Smythe, and soprano Kathryn Harries, vocal consultant to Northern Ireland Opera until her death
in 2023.

The intention, explains O’Rawe, ‘is not to have a choir of soloists. The blend of voices is the most important thing for us. If you listen to our CDs from 2001 onwards you can hear how our sound has changed very significantly.’

In 2020 the choir faced its biggest challenge yet when the Covid-19 pandemic severely restricted its operations and prompted the retirement of a third of its members.

‘Ironically, as we celebrated – online – our 25th anniversary, we were back at square one with around 12 members.’

The appointment in late 2021 of Belfast-born Matthew Quinn (no relation) as McCrisken’s successor heralded a transformation of Cappella’s activities. The relationship had an early good omen, Quinn having being taught by McCrisken at the city’s St Malachy’s College.

‘It’s where my love of music was fostered,’ he says. ‘I played violin in the college orchestra, then in City of Belfast School of Music, up to the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra.’

Having begun to sing at primary school, he was in an early intake for Belfast’s St Peter’s Cathedral’s Schola Cantorum in 2005. In his mid-teens he was active with the Ulster Youth Choir (now the National Youth Choir of Northern Ireland) with his conducting career beginning around the same time. Having formed a choir with friends, he found himself ‘stuck with conducting duties. And I loved it!’

On graduating in music from the University of Manchester he returned home to work as an assistant producer with BBC Northern Ireland’s classical music department for three years. ‘It was a really helpful experience as a conductor to have the chance to develop my “producing ears”. ’

Quinn’s first brush with Cappella Caeciliana came in 2020 when he was hired to sing on a planned tour of Poland. Covid-19 put paid to that. One of a large number who applied to replace McCrisken, he eagerly took up the post in January 2022.

‘I was well aware of Cappella’s reputation. I saw them as a leading light in Northern Ireland’s choral scene, determined to punch above their weight and to push what we can achieve in choral music.’

Like the majority of choirs in the region, Cappella is an amateur organisation. One, however, that aspires to a more professional approach in providing individual and group training and development sessions for its members. It’s a duality Quinn embraces.

‘What is the definition of “amateur” and “professional”? Is it to do with being paid? Or about doing it for love? Cappella blurs those distinctions. It has a very professional approach to making the highest-quality music it can.’

Arriving in the wake of the pandemic, Quinn was immediately faced with the choir’s numbers having plummeted. His response was to double them.

‘In some ways,’ confesses O’Rawe, ‘it was the silver lining of Covid in that it forced the issue of our renewing our membership. We still have members of 10- to 15-years standing, but it is younger now than it was’.

That more youthful profile, together with a policy of offering free tickets to under-25s and students of any age, has led to a noticeable diluting of grey hair at its concerts.

For Quinn, the dual challenge of recovery and replenishment was also the solution. Not least after the shock disbanding of the longstanding professional choir of Belfast’s Anglican cathedral, St Anne’s, shortly after he took hold of Cappella’s reins. Out of its ashes, Matthew Owens formed the similarly-accented Ulster Consort.

‘It was a perfect time to re-examine what Cappella was doing and how we fitted into Northern Ireland’s choral landscape. We have a symphonic chorus in the Belfast Philharmonic Society, smaller ensembles like Sestina, and new ones like the Ulster Consort. With a larger member base, I thought we could expand into works that are less performed; the smaller ensemble pieces that might require a group of instrumentalists.’

That led to Cappella giving a rare local performance of Bruckner’s E minor Mass with wind and brass accompaniment. And to staging Bach’s St John Passion in Belfast’s once notorious Crumlin Road Gaol, a prospect that caused O’Rawe at least one sleepless night.

‘Matthew has been a dynamic figure but as treasurer I was horrified at the expense,’ he admits. ‘However, it was a great artistic success, and the sort of thing we want to do again.’

Repertoire and venues are central to ambitions for the choir, says Quinn: ‘How do you present choral music and bring people inside the sheer level of drama it offers? Taking it out of its traditional spaces takes them away from the weight of academic associations, demystifies the music and allows audiences to just experience and enjoy it.’

O’Rawe’s aspiration towards a ‘blend of voices’ is also something Quinn is striving for. Certainly the unison sound of the choir during his short tenure has become noticeably more refined and eloquent.

‘Every choir has a house style; how they voice vowel and consonant sounds, how they flow together. If it’s consistent across that – which is what I’m aiming for – you achieve a coherent, blended sound.’

Where he places Cappella alongside its peers is another matter preoccupying Quinn. ‘We want to take risks and redefine what audience attitudes are to choral music. Presenting repertoire in unusual locations and different ways helps focus emotive and dramatic qualities, which, in turn, helps audiences to connect with it.’

Notions that also colour his thinking about future repertoire choices, including oratorios ‘which aren’t usually performed in Northern Ireland, and on a smaller scale with a little dramatic presentation and occasionally instrumental accompaniment’.

All of which, of course, requires money. With no regular source of funding other than members’ subscription fees, a crucial emphasis is placed on box office income.

‘The arts are so badly under-funded in Northern Ireland that we’re chasing a small share of a small pot to begin with’, says O’Rawe. ‘We’ve had some Arts Council grants and some commercial sponsorship but it’s not easy. Until recently we rarely paid anybody – we weren’t able to – but we are moving towards a more professional way of working.’

The reliance on income from ticket sales has seen the choir developing new outlets, not least supporting superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli in Belfast’s 9,000-seat SSE Arena in 2022.

A recent collaboration with New Dublin Voices for Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir saw well-attended performances in both of Ireland’s capital cities. Also significant was the choir’s first-ever visit to London (where Quinn is now based) during the St Patrick’s Day weekend in March this year at St Paul’s, Covent Garden when it championed eight Irish composers.

High-profile projects on the horizon include performing at Titanic Belfast, potential reunions with The Priests and Eamonn Dougan, and a return to touring, alongside a commitment to pushing boundaries to continue to reward existing and attract
new audiences.

It is, Quinn sums up, ‘about being ambitious and stretching what people think choral music is and can be here in Northern Ireland’.

Michael Quinn is a freelance arts journalist, theatre director, and programming consultant for the Portico of Ards in Portaferry, County Down

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Choir & Organ. Never miss an issue – subscribe today