ON THE TOWN: The boy sopranos stood like angels in a row, dressed in white surplices over blue robes. With faces full of innocence, they took their note and began to scale the tonic sol-fa, under the direction of Blánaid Murphy, director of the Palestrina Choir, writes Catherine Foley.
Their voices filled the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, and their parents looked on in admiration. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!
The choir at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral has been in existence for 100 years. This is "the ideal place to pray, to worship and to enjoy silence", said Father John Delany, administrator of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral and chaplain to the boys in the choir.
Jack Mulcahy, chairman of the quarterly magazine, Irish Arts Review, was never a boy soprano but he's a fan and has produced the choir's first CD, Christmas with the Palestrina Choir.
Actor Breandán Ó Dúill, who was a boy soprano in 1947, was among those who took time out to listen and get a copy of the choir's first CD.
Éanna Mac Criostail, who joined in 1980 as a boy soprano, explained he is now in the adult section.
Eilis O'Brien, DCU's director of communications and marketing, was a proud mother watching her son, Morgan O'Brien (9), sing with his fellow choristers. Dr Mary Sugrue, chairwoman of the choir's parents' committee, also watched her son, Diarmuid Sugrue (10).
Prof Gerard Gillen, of NUI Maynooth, who plays the organ at Mass every Sunday, said with a twinkle in his eye that he sometimes causes consternation at Communion when he improvises - "jammin' for Jesus", you could say.
For those who want to hear them, the Palestrina Choir sings next Saturday, December 7th, in the National Concert Hall - with Gillen on organ, and Emmanuel Lawler as tenor.