THE National Chamber Choir finished its eight concert tour of Ireland on Tuesday night, with an enjoyable concert in the chapel of Blackrock College. One of the most beneficial aspects of the NCC's recent work has been the Church and General/Bus Eireann Composition Workshops, which encourage school pupils to compose. The workshops give the young composers the chance to hear their music performed by a professional ensemble; so it was appropriate that this tour should include a new piece by 17 year old Jennifer Kelly, who recently won the Gerard Victory Memorial Commission, and was asked to produce a piece suitable for performance in church.

The Hills are Calling uses texts from Fianis Ledwidge and the Bible. The music's conservative idiom does not detract from Kelly's achievement, for this piece shows that she has musical ideas and knows bow to sustain them appropriately. Most remarkable is her technical fluency which, in any country, would be unusual in one so young.

The tour included two other new pieces, Requiem for Roger by the NCC's artistic director and conductor, Colin Mawy, and Agnus Dei by a choir member, Conor O Reilly. Both are conservative in a very different way from the Kelly, for they explore atmospheric choral sonorities and, dissonance notwithstanding, their sounds bare indebted to traditional English choral idioms.

Fergal Caulfield gave a sturdy performance of the Ricercare from Bach's Musical Offering, and was on top form for the demanding organ part in Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb. In a programme which included Victoria's O Quam Gloriosum and an engaging double choir piece by the 17th century Spanish composer Juan de Padilla, the Britten received the most well rounded performance. It made a strong ending to one of the best concerts I have heard from the NCC in the last year or so.