Irish celebration

The Tara Singers, a choir of 40, will sing a mixture of traditional Irish melodies and some sacred songs at the historical homestead at 1pm before afternoon tea is served.

The concert will be part of a Highland Celtic Celebration to mark the anniversary of the historic house, which was restored by Carmelite nuns, who bought the property in 1959.

Every year, the choir performs for the Carmelite nuns, who live in a monastery on the Ormiston property, named after a Scottish village.

Sugarcane pioneer Captain Louis Hope, who bought the site in 1850, named the property Ormiston after the village on his family estate in Scotland.

The nuns, who have taken a vow of silence, will listen to the choir perform a special late-afternoon concert from a chapel at the side of the monastery.

For those who love Irish reels and jigs, Scottish and Irish dancers from the Jill Dobbs School of Dancing at Cleveland and Wynnum will warm up the crowd of picnickers with an 11.30am performance in front of Ormiston House.

After the dancing, the Ormiston Heritage Pipes and Drums band will perform along with The Redlands Sporting Club Pipe Band will perform.

The pipers will also perform again in the late afternoon.

The Tara Singers choir has just finished a busy and successful schedule, which included its sell-out Come Back to Erin concert, and singing for St Patrick's Day and Irish Week.

Musical identity Patricia Kelly and her accompanist Patricia Devereaux founded the Tara Singers, the official choir of the Queensland Irish Association, in 1995.

The choir's next concert at the Queensland Irish Association will be Songs of Ireland with operatic tenor Dimitri Kopanakis on Sunday, June 17, from 2pm to 4pm.

Tickets for the Ormiston House concert will be available at the gates.

For more details about the concert, call Joyce Kenny on 3863 2432 or email joyken@ doggy.com.au