The Museum will welcome Cantoral, a female vocal ensemble, to perform a selection of pieces in the reception area of the Museum to mark the Summer Solstice on Saturday 20^th of June.

Inspired by the collections at Kildare Street, Cantoral will perform a short programme of medieval chant, song and polyphony that celebrates the Irish saints and Irish medieval musical heritage. The programme will include Letabundus decantet hibernicorum, a prosa for St Patrick from the 14th-century Dublin troper, Virgo decoratur, a chant from Office for St Brigid, found in a 15th-century Irish breviary, and Ecclesie pastores, an antiphon for St Gall, dating back to the 10th century (if not earlier), among many others.  
 
Cantoral is a female vocal ensemble specialising in western plainchant and medieval polyphony, with a particular interest in repertoire from and connected with Ireland. The ensemble is directed by Parisian-based singer, Catherine Sergent. Founded in 2008 by Catherine Sergent and Helen Phelan, Cantoral has featured several staff and graduates of the MA Ritual Chant and Song programme at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. The ensemble had its international debut in 2009 at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. Cantoral has since sung for the Dalai Lama in Ireland, and has performed at the Galway Early Music Festival,  the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Harvard, and University of Notre Dame, among many other prestigious venues and festivals throughout Ireland, the United States, and France, including Festival Voix & Route Romane. Their recording, Let the Joyous Irish Sing Aloud/Laetabundus Decantet Hybernicorum Cetus, is a collection of chants celebrating the saints of Ireland.
 
Cantoral Artistic Director, Catherine Sergent is a longtime member of the world renowned Discantus ensemble, a women’s a cappella vocal ensemble bringing to life the vocal music of the Middle Ages. Its prolific discography has won high critical acclaim, as well as several awards. The 13th recording, "the Argument of Beauty" (sacred polyphonies by Gilles Binchois, at æon recordings) was rewarded the 2010 best recording of the year by Le Monde newspaper.
 
No booking required. This recital will take place in the Reception, on the ground floor, and will allow as many participants as possible to attend. Places allocated on a first come first served basis.