Talented sisters keep spirits up

IN the midst of the doom and gloom of the present time, three talented sisters have done a fantastic job in keeping people’s spirits up with a series of musical interludes online, guaranteed to get feet tapping or helping to provide some minutes of relaxation, depending on the musical piece chosen.

The Crowley Trio are sisters, Eva (16), Ellen (14) and Gráinne (11) Crowley from Riverstick. Students of the Cork ETB School of Music in the Kinsale and Ballincollig centres, their teachers are Ruth O’Shea (piano), Lisa O’Brien (violin) and Coral O’Sullivan (oboe).

Eva learns piano and oboe, while Ellen and Gráinne learn piano and violin. They have been playing together as a trio for the last four years. They play a mixture of classical music, music from musicals and films and popular music.

They performed in a lunchtime concert as part of Kinsale Arts Weekend last summer, have performed at fundraising events in aid of Marymount, have played at weddings, masses and carol services, and in several concerts and competitions with the Cork ETB School of Music.

Last November, Eva and Ellen played for Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D. Higgins, on his visit to their school.

Ellen performed on the ‘Late Late Toy Show’ in 2017 and Gráinne performed with her group called the ‘Wispas’ in the ‘Toy Show’ in 2019.

Over the past few weeks that their schools have closed, they have been posting videos of them playing on social media, hoping to bring a smile to the faces of people who are self-isolation due to Covid-19.

A personal  favourite is ‘Mamma Mia’ on the piano for six hands and everyone should tune in on line to sample over 12 different tunes from these fantastic girls.