Bray Youth Choir was founded on 6th October 2004 by its Music Director Frank Kelly. He founded Bray Choral Society in 1986 and became Music Director of Wicklow Choral Society in 2004.
Frank's Story
Frank Kelly was born in Dublin in 1959. He read an Honours Degree in Music at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1981 and completed his Higher Diploma in Education there in 1982.
While at university he studied piano with John O'Conor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and singing with Veronica Dunne at the Dublin College of Music. He attended Master Classes with such internationally known pianists as Pascal Rogé and Alex Kelly. He was a prize winner at Feiseanna in Dublin, Cork and Arklow and won all the major scholarships and prizes at the R.I.A.M. including 'Student of the Year' in 1981. Frank was a finalist in RTÉ's 'Musician of the Future' competition and played a number of recitals on R.T.E. radio.
Following his graduation from T.C.D. Frank went to Paris to study piano for two years on a French Government Scholarship. He returned in 1985 to take up the post of Music teacher at St. Kilian's Community School in Bray.
His conducting career began in 1977. He studied conducting with Dr. Brian Boydell at T.C.D. and Dr. Geoffrey Spratt at the Cork School of Music and U.C.C. He was Organist and Choirmaster at the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Sallynoggin/Glenageary for many years. Presently he trains Bray Choral Society (120 members), Wicklow Choral Society (50 members) and Bray Youth Choir (40 members). He has directed musicals including Grease, Oklahoma, Calamity Jane, My Fair Lady and West Side Story in very successful school productions.
In his conducting career of over 30 years Frank has conducted a wide repertoire of works from the Baroque period to the 20th Century. Notable successes include Bach’s Magnificat and St. John Passion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Mozart's Solemn Vespers, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater settings by Rossini and Haydn, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Lauda Sion, Requiem Masses by Mozart, Fauré, Verdi and Rutter, Orff's Carmina Burana, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Poulenc's and Vivaldi's settings of the Gloria and most recently a stunning performance of The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins at the National Concert Hall.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
Come and see the next performance of this incredibly talented group of youths.
- Next Event
- BYC - SPRING CONCERT
- Sat, 24th April '10 @ 8.15pm
- St. Fergal's Church, Bray
Bray Youth Choir, fresh from competing in the recent final of RTE TV's 'An Cór', present a 'Spring Concert'.
BYC will sing the 'Vivaldi Gloria' in the first half and the 2nd half will be a mix of Popular Songs, Negro Spirituals, Traditional Music and Solo pieces from our extensive repertoire.
Look out for our posters in the North Wicklow / South Dublin areas. Tickets, at €10 & €5 (Students / OAPs) with discount for families (2+2), will be on sale after Mass / Service outside several churches in Shankill, Bray and Greystones on Sunday 18th April.
Tickets also from Frank (Wicklow area) - 086 4013711 (after 4pm), or in Bray, from Philip (after 8pm) - 085 7736788 or Robert (after 6pm) - 086 8403423. Limited tickets at door - come early to avoid disappointment!!.
He has conducted on many occasions at the NCH, has appeared on national radio and television and directed "Messiah for All" on several occasions at Monkstown Church in Co. Dublin. He has travelled to festivals all round Ireland and has also travelled with his choirs to Wales, Germany and on two occasions to Austria.
In May 2000, Frank led a choir of over 120 voices from the county of Wicklow in two fine performances of Verdi's Requiem in Bray and Arklow in celebration of the Millennium. Frank has been presented with the 'Endeavour Award for Culture' by the Bray and District Chamber of Commerce on two occasions, in 1991 and 2001.
As well as school teaching and conducting he is a notable piano teacher with students at all levels up to Diploma standard. He is also very active in his local community where he has given starter lessons in various instruments and singing to children in his local national school in Ashford, Co. Wicklow.