Ardú I Ireland
There are those groups that invariably 'stick' in an organiser's mind. Years ago, we heard this group for the first time and were charmed by their sound even then. Given that we have to make choices, also in terms of style, there was always a [valid] reason to programme them 'not this edition'. This year, we went looking for them again with the determination to make it work now. When the video below was unleashed on the board members during the review of the shortlist, it was very quiet. Here and there you could hear '...wow' or '...goosebumps'.... The video below already tells a lot. We are proud to bring Ardú to our festival.
Ardú verwacht jullie, luister maar:
Ardú is an award-winning ensemble and a pioneer of contemporary vocal music in Ireland. This vocal band has a busy touring schedule and has so far represented Ireland at international festivals in London, Edinburgh, Finland, Croatia, Austria and Italy. Ardú regularly performs at high-profile festivals in Ireland, including the City of Derry International Choir Festival (2020), MusicTown Festival (2020), K Fest (2019) and the Cork International Choral Festival (2018), where they performed alongside Swedish trio Solala. The group has been featured on TV and radio, including the Ray D'Arcy Show, the BBC Proms and Sing: Ultimate A Cappella on Sky One. They supported US a cappella group Straight No Chaser at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in September 2019.
Ardú has also won many awards, including first prize in the 2018 Choirs for Christmas competition on RTÉ Lyric FM, and came second at the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards 2019 in the 'Best Classical/Folk song' category for their recording of Homeward Bound, arranged by Oliver Lambert. They also received the audience award at the 2019 Vokal.Total festival in Austria.As ambassadors of the contemporary a cappella genre in Ireland, Ardú founded the Irish International A Cappella Festival in 2017.