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Gavan Ring, Paula Hughes, Lisa Dowdall and Kenneth Rice who delivered the concerts this week.
AFTER their heartwarming visits in August, Covid Care Concerts returned to residential care homes in Kerry this week, bringing music and memories to some of those most affected by the COVID19 pandemic.
Funding from Creative Ireland Kerry brought the concerts to residential care home settings in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel and Kenmare.
Residents and staff gathered in outdoor areas or listened to the performance through open windows and doors. The musicians are visiting 10 residential care home and hospital settings over five days from Wednesday to Saturday.
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At Aperee Living in Tralee, which they visited on Thursday, a member of staff remarked; “It was brilliant; we were delighted when they came in August and even more thrilled today.”
The positive effect that music has on the staff and residents alike was apparent when she added; “It was emotional to see the residents singing along to the Rose of Tralee.”
The performers and musicians – Gavan Ring, Kenneth Rice, Lisa Dowdall and Paula Hughes – encourage residents to unlock memories around well-loved songs through writing down or recording a little oral history that they associate with the piece.
“We all have deep emotional connections to music,” says Gavan Ring, “and allowing these emotions to be expressed has a great therapeutic effect.”
Blackwater Valley Opera Festival partnered with the renowned classical music ensemble Mobile Music Machine to deliver these one-hour concert recitals at an appropriate social distance in the grounds of care homes.
The concerts took place in Kenmare Nursing Home and St Joseph’s Care Home in Kenmare; Oaklands Nursing Home, Aras Mhuire Care Home, Listowel Community Hospital in Listowel; Ocean View Nursing Home, Aperee Living, Our Lady of Fatima Nursing Home in Tralee and Heather Lee Nursing Home and Killarney Nursing Home in Killarney.
