Soprano to perform free concert in Limerick's St Mary's Cathedral

IT'S a homecoming of sorts for soprano Helen Hancock who performs a free concert in Limerick this weekend.

A Dublin born/Galway soprano, Helen studied singing at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) and TU Dublin.
In 2015, she returned to vocal studies with Professor Owen Gilhooly Miles at the Mid-West Vocal Academy in Lisnagry, Limerick.
She drove to Limerick from Galway every week for six years and her very first recital was in St Mary's Cathedral in 2018 with pianist Irina Dernova.
She has returned to the Limerick city venue many times since with Irina.

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This Saturday, January 31 at 3pm, Helen returns to St Mary’s Cathedral or a one hour programme (no interval).
Entry will be free but there is a suggested donation of €15-€20.
“It is so full circle that the first concert of my album launch tour will be in Limerick, where it all began 10 years ago with my teacher Owen. I am so excited to share this music with the lovely Limerick audience,” said Helen.
Saturday's concert is to celebrate the launch of her debut album TOGETHERNESS on Navona Records.
For the Limerick performance, Helen welcomes her German pianist Paul Cibis back to Ireland for a series of concerts on the theme of love.
The programme for the St Mary's Cathedral concert includes: Frauenliebe und leben (a woman's love and life), which explores the ecstasy of early love to engagement and marriage, the birth of children, the pain of loss and the experience of love that continues beyond the grave.
Also included will be folksongs from Greece and Irish songs by Ina Boyle and Thomas Moore.
Helen first met Cibis a few years ago when she was in Berlin receiving coaching on an Arts Council Agility Award.
“I was introduced to Paul by my coach Gerhard. I knew immediately that his playing was different. There is a musical telepathy that can happen between a singer and a pianist and it is not something you can conjure: it is either there or it is not and when it is, it is special.”
She added: “That special telepathy means you can take risks in performance, you can go further than you have in rehearsals, you can feed off that heightened energy that you only ever get in live performance.”
For further derails see helenhancocksoprano.com