Music and theater in honor of the Frankish apostles

German-Irish cultural evening impresses with sensitive singing, virtuosic instrument playing and creative shadow theater – “We will all never forget these days”

Mullagh (POW) The Franconian apostles Kilian, Kolonat and Totnan were honored with a concert with German and Irish actors on Friday evening, October 4th in the Kilianskirche in Mullagh. The newly composed song “Saint Kilian’s Prayer” was performed for the first time, performed jointly by the church choirs from Mullagh and the neighboring Cross. In addition, students from the local Saint Kilian’s School performed the shadow play they had written about the life of Saint Kilian for the guests from Germany.

Eamonn Carolan, former secretary of the Saint Kilian’s Heritage Trust, described the event as a musical continuation of the previous evening, when Germans and Irish marched together with the relics of the saints from the Saint Kilians spring past the lake and mountain of Mullagh to the local church. “It is a privilege and an honor that you have brought us the relics of Kilian to the place where he was born for the first time since his departure more than 1,300 years ago. We will all never forget these days. A sincere thank you from the people of Mullagh to the people of Würzburg,” Carolan called out to the visitors in German.

A significant part of the program was played by the young men of the Würzburger Domsingknaben. Alternately under the direction of cathedral bandmaster Alexander Rüth and cathedral cantor Julian Beutmiller, they sang works by, among others, Johann Evangelist Habert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and, in keeping with the feast day of Saint Francis, “Seigneur”, the setting of a prayer of the saint written by Francis Poulenc .

The Irish hosts offered the solo trumpeter Grace Taite with the piece “Il Silenzio” by the jazz trumpeter Nini Rosso and the accordion orchestra “Accora Orchestra” under the direction of John Chilton with a piece each by Bizet and the “Irish Suite” by the Hungarian Mátyás Seiber. In addition, four former students of Saint Kilian’s School sang the British folk piece “The water is wide” together with two of their teachers – one of whom also played the harp.

A musical highlight in addition to the premiere of the Kilianslied, newly composed based on the text of the Kilian prayer written by Father Ronan Drury, was the playing of the Uilieann Pipes by Father Darragh Connolly, responsible for public relations for the Kilmore diocese. This Irish bagpipe is supplied with air not through the mouth, but via a bellows attached to the elbow and also allows for far more varied and dynamic playing than its Scottish relative. The audience paid tribute to all musicians with the bishops Dr. Franz Jung and Martin Hayes, Bishop of Kilmore, led the audience with sustained applause.

At the end of the evening, the former sixth graders performed the shadow theater they had written about the life of Saint Kilian in the school building of the nearby Saint Kilian’s School. It thrilled the audience with its entertaining and creative production on the shadow screen and skillful dance performances in front of it.

There was a varied music program and shadow theater on the evening of October 4th in Mullagh in honor of the Frankish Apostles.