Ben Russell

Old Columban, Benjamin Russell, continues his rise to fame, this time in the Netherlands. Ben, again the youngest performer, reached and performed in the semi-finals of the International Vocal Competition and was invited to have a masterclass with Russian Baritone Sergei Lieferkus. A clip of the masterclass can be seen by following this link.

Ben is also looking forward to being one of five invitees to Elly Amiling's Lieder course on Tuesday and Wednesday, a real treat for the young performer.

We wish Ben the very best of luck for the remainder of the competition and look forward to hearing him sing again soon.

Beat obesity... with drums!

In an article in today's Irish Times Marcus Smith and Steve Draper, sports scientists, along with Clem Burke, the drummer from the band Blondie, exposed drum practice for the physical work out that it is!

Dr Smith explains 'when performing a full-length gig, 'the drummer is playing for 90 minutes, the equivalent to a football match'. Drumming for an hour can burn up to 600 calories. The exercise is intermittent so the heart rate goes up and down regularly.'

By gradually increasing the tempo of a click track played into a drummer's headphones the performer has to slowly increase effort which in turn pushes the heart into cardiovascular workout mode.

The study was undertaken as part of the Biorhythm Live event at the Science Gallery in Dublin. Rhythm is the first of three events at Biorhythm Live. The other two are Emotion and Voice.

Click here for the full article.

Newpark Feis

Columbans have had an extremely successful week at the Newpark Music Feis. Winners from various levels throughout the school will be taking part in the Winners' Concert in the John Field's room of the National Concert Hall this Sunday the 16th May.

The performers will include Lingfan Gao (IV) who won first place in the U16 Piano competition with an astounding 92%! Siobhán Brady (II) came first in the U16 Classical Singing, and was also very highly commended for her Cello in the U18 Concerto Cup. Molly Buckingham (II) won first place in the U14 Singing competition. Last, but certainly not least, Antonia Esses (I) also won first place in the U14 Piano solo with a mark in the 90s.

Very well done to all who took part and especially the winners. The concert on Sunday promises to be an excellent affair.

In the National Concert Hall

Last year's winner of the Dublin International Piano Competition, Alexj Gorlatch, will be playing at the National Concert Hall this Wednesday at 8pm. Following the disruptions to flight schedules Gorlatch admitted he was ready to take a boat to Ireland, so determined was he to play in the city that helped launch his career as an International Pianist!

'Since the competition, I have played quite a lot of concerts across the world from New York to Japan' stated Gorlatch. His tour locations include Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London. He also has plans to perform with the Berliner Philharmonie.

For more information see this article in Monday's Irish Independent.

Elisabeth Smalt premieres new work by Garrett Sholdice

Friday, 23 April, 2010. 8pm
Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2

Volcano permitting, the Dutch viola player Elisabeth Smalt, will be premiering Garrett Sholdice's The only thing to do is simply continue as part of Dublin's i-and-e festival. The title is from a poem by the New York poet Frank O'Hara. The i-and-e festival runs across 23–25 April. Please see this linked website or watch the Ergodos Twitter feed for updates regarding any possible volcanic interference.