Irish Doctors Choir and Orchestra support Rotunda Foundation during lockdown

To celebrate Culture Night on Friday 18 September, the Rotunda Foundation will share a pre-recorded online performance by the Irish Doctors Choir and Orchestra. The performance will include excerpts of the Foundling Hospital Anthem by Handel, including the Hallelujah Chorus. This virtual event forms part of a fundraiser for the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin and in honour of their 275th anniversary. 

The video can be accessed via the the Rotunda Foundation’s Facebook page at 4pm on Friday.

Donations can be made via the link at the end of the video, via the Rotunda Foundation Facebook page donation appeal and via their website.

During the pandemic lockdown, the Irish Doctors Choir and Orchestra connected together online from their own homes all across Ireland and beyond, while many of them continued to work in the health service throughout. The choir formed an invaluable support to members during this difficult time, keeping them connected and bringing cultural relief. They are delighted to be able to donate this performance for the public good.

The choir and orchestra have already begun preparations for their next performance and recording, which will be in aid of Médecins Sans Frontières’ work in the developing world, which has been hit so badly by the pandemic. They will release this online on 29 November 2020.

Irish Doctors Choir
The Irish Doctors Choir was formed in 2017. Members are doctors and medical students from across the whole of Ireland and beyond, including Scotland, England, France, Germany and Finland. The choir is self-funding and performances have raised over €8,000 for charity to date.
www.irishdoctorschoir.ie

Neil Black, a tenor with the Irish Doctors Choir, contributed to the artsandhealth.ie Covid Chronicles series in May 2020. In Reinventing Community, he discusses how the choir has been re-imagined for the virtual space and singing as a ‘sharing of presence’.

Irish Doctors Orchestra 
The Irish Doctors Orchestra formed in 2020. The Rotunda Charity event is their first public performance.