May 2020 POSTPONED 2021

The 9th Mayo International Choral Festival will take place across Castlebar's region in fantastic locations and venues from Wednesday 20th to Sunday 24th May 2020.

The event has become the most popular Choral Festivals in Ireland. There will be international and national choirs, competing and non-competing choirs divided in 15 competition categories. New, this year, are two categories: work-place choirs and third-level/university/college choirs.

The theme of the festival is to allow choirs to meet with other choirs, share musical experiences and enjoy a great weekend in the beautiful and inspiring Mayo.

All choirs will performe in venues with special acoustics including Ballintubber Abbey which dates back to the 12th century.

Highlights for visitors include tours of Mayo, local choirs, local performances, the Song-way Choral Trail and the Saturday evening Gala Concert.

Competitions are open to the public on Saturday in the GMIT Mayo Campus which dates back to 1866.

The winning choirs will perform at the Gala Choral Concert. All long Saturday mini-performances of choirs will also take place throughout the town of Castlebar.

On Sunday morning at 10 am the Choirs will also sing at Mass in various locations in Mayo.

Here is the 2020 programme:

Wednesday 20th May

• Concert / Presentation to honour one of Mayo’s Musical Maestros

• Sight-seeing opportunities

Thursday, 21st May

• Evening concerts with local and visiting choirs in various venues throughout Mayo

• Sight-seeing opportunities

Friday, 22nd May

• Evening concerts with local and visiting choirs in various venues throughout Mayo

• Mini-performances on the Songway Choral Trail during the day

• Sight-seeing opportunities

Saturday, 23rd May

• Competitions and Adjudications

• Mini-performances on the Songway Choral Trail during the day

• Gala Concert and afterwards the after-gathering at the Festival Club

Sunday, 24th May

• Choirs perform at church services

• Closing Event

• Sight-seeing opportunities