Saturday 3 November 2018

The concert will commence at 7.30pm and doors will open at 6.30pm. Admission is by reserved ticket only and early booking is recommended.
Tickets cost €30 and €25 and are  available  online at www.knockmessiah.com and also from the Development Information Office at Knock Shrine (located beside Knock Basilica), online from Eventbrite.ie or at IT Music, Cavendish Lane , Castlebar & 7 Forster Court, Galway City. 

Have a look back at the wonderful time we had last year!

Early booking is advised as tickets are selling fast! 

Find out more..

Following last November’s unprecedented sell-out performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Knock Basilica, the trumpet shall sound once again on Saturday 3 November with the return of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for the second  performance at the Basilica  of the world’s most famous and beloved oratorio, renowned for stunning choruses and arias.

Overflowing with the most exciting choral writing, thundering timpani and blazing trumpets, the Messiah energises audiences, and leaves them singing ‘Hallelujah’.

The first ever performance of the Messiah took place at Neal’s New Musick Hall in Dublin’s Fishamble Street in 1742. The “subscription list of six hundred persons was quite filled”, according to Handel himself, as ladies heeded pleas by management to wear dresses ‘without hoops’ in order to make ‘room for more company’ – something we trust will not be a problem at the more commodious Basilica!

Featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by Proinnsías Ó Duinn, with a 180-strong choir and an incomparable line up of soloists, this will be a sensational evening of delightful and thrilling music making.

An alumna of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden’s Young Artist Programme, Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio, London, Anna Devin has performed on operatic and concert stages throughout Europe and the U.S.  Recent highlights include performances in La Scala Milan, Vienna, Madrid, Salzburg, Covent Garden London, Seattle, Lausanne and Carnegie Hall New York.

Tenor Peter O’Reilly is a graduate of the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and has been a very successful prizewinner in the ESB Feis Ceoil, most recently winning the Cuisine de France John McCormack Bursary.   His engagements to date take him from Dublin to the Buxton Festival and include two world premieres

Dublin born Mezzo Soprano Kate Allen has enjoyed international recognition for her performances in Europe and the USA where appearances include Northern Ireland Opera, Ulster Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, La Fenice, Santa Barbara Opera and the Wexford Festival Opera.

Irish bass John Molloy has graced the stages of concert halls and theatres all over the world.   Recent credits include performances in Bologna, Rouen, Netherlands, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera London, Shanghai Opera, Rotterdam and Canberra.

Proinnsías Ó Duinn served as Principal Conductor with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra from 1978 to 2002 when he was appointed Conductor Laureate.  During this time he recorded commercially with both the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. His repertoire ranges from popular music to major symphonies and includes many national and world premières.  Proinnsías Ó Duinn conducts the international Messiah-Choir by invitation every year at the German city of Halle, the birthplace of Handel, and is the pre-eminent interpreter of the Messiah in Ireland.

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra has been introducing orchestral music to new audiences since 1948 and was voted World’s Favourite Orchestra in an international poll (Bachtrack.com, 2015).

Our Lady’s Choral Society was founded in Dublin in 1945 and in its annual performances appears regularly at the National Concert Hall with the National Orchestras. The coming together of OLCS with members of the Mayo Chamber Choir and Cór Mhaigh Eo will create a 180-strong choir to raise the roof of the Basilica in the breathtaking choruses, such as the Hallelujah and the great Amen.