I have just received the concert video from the Eureka College Broadcasting department, who filmed the Eureka Irish Extravaganza 2025. I’m excited to share the premiere of In Tír na nÓg! This performance with the Eureka College Chorale and my Irish band Turas is the original SATB version, but I have now arranged it for TBB, SSA, and 1-2-part chorus. The 1-2-part one is simplified to be more appropriate for younger singers.
Read the blog entry I wrote about In Tír na nÓg!
Irish music at Eureka
In 2024 and 2025, I organized collaborations between my Irish band Turas and the Eureka College Chorale, Chamber Singers, and Instrumental Ensemble. I taught 4-6 songs from the band’s repertoire by ear to the choirs, often using Solfège to teach the harmonies for the choruses. For the verses, I divided them up between student soloists. Therefore, in our small chorus of about 15 singers, everyone got multiple opportunities! The Instrumental Ensemble learned some of the jigs, slip jigs, and polkas, and Turas performed with them. Two students even learned to play the tin whistle!
The concert also included a 20-30-minute Turas set and several choral arrangements of Irish songs that were more elaborately crafted and did not include the band.
Someday, we’d like to bring the structure of this Turas collaboration to other schools. It was a big hit with Eureka and Turas audiences!