Information

The Fleischmann Choir was founded in November 1992. Initially called the Cork School of Music Symphony Orchestra Chorus, it sang in public for the first time on 22 April 1993 when it gave a concert with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Cork’s City Hall to mark the opening of the 40th Cork International Choral Festival. The programme was of music by Aloys Fleischmann – one of the founders of the Festival – who had died the previous year. Shortly after this concert, and with the permission of the family, the choir was renamed in memory of the man who did so much to further the cause of choral music and choral singing in Ireland. From 1992 to 2013, the choir was led by founder-conductor Dr Geoffrey Spratt (former Director of the Cork School of Music and founder-conductor of the Irish Youth Choir and Canticum Novum). In 2013, Conor Palliser was appointed conductor; and since September 2022, the choir has been under the direction of Tom Doyle.

The Fleischmann Choir has achieved an enviable reputation for fulfilling its mission to perform the large-scale repertory for choir and orchestra. Past concerts have included Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Vaughan Williams’ Towards the Unknown Region, Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Dvořák’s Te Deum, Stabat Mater and Mass in D, Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Honegger’s Christmas Cantata, and Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. In addition, the choir has accepted invitations as diverse as ‘Songs of Praise’ for the BBC, backing Johnny Logan during the Eurovision Song Contest broadcast by RTÉ from Millstreet, Co. Cork, and singing with Niamh Kavanagh for her RTÉ Christmas Show from Cork Opera House. The choir tours regularly with past performances in Italy and Germany.