By Seamie Briscoe

The Western Motors car sales showroom in Drogheda  was packed to capacity on Sunday for the launch of Drogheda soprano Amie Dyer new Christmas record, "Silent Night".

Amie and her musical friends certainly got the Christmas festivities off to a great start with a splendid afternoon of solo and choral singing. Santa commenced proceedings with his "goodies" bag when he dropped in at 3pm.

The popular Drogheda soprano has spent the past two years under contract to the Linz Opera House in Austria and has returned to her native Drogheda for a spell before she returns to the continent.

As she explained to her audience during the launch; "It has always been my ambition to release a record and a wonderful opportunity arose when Volkswagen very generously presented me with the sponsorship to realise my dream.

“I have always loved the Christmas period and singing in the local churches and decided it was appropriate to release "Silent Night". I sing in several languages and I have included my own native language, for this release, and the first verse is “as Gaelige”. It may be the first time it has been recorded in Irish". 

Amie compered the evening's entertainment and introduced her guests, the excellent all-ladies Drogheda Community Choir, "Vibrant Voices" which was established by Jade Quinn.

Santa Claus certainly left her next guests, "The Loving Life" choir in good mood, comprised of children aged 5 to 18 years of age and as well as melting the hearts of the audience they performed superbly.

This choir is the proud initiative of the Foscadh Housing Association which aims to help children improve their confidence and boost their self-esteem. There is little doubt, based on this performance, both of these aspirations have been achieved.

The wonderful young girl vocalist, Alice Reynolds, showed stage maturity beyond her years and drew huge applause for her excellent singing.

However, Amie's great friends, David Leddy and the Drogheda Male Voice Choir, brought the audience to their feet with a standing ovation when they accompanied Amie Dyer for "O Holy Night" and the wonderful "Jerusalem" before joining Amie for "Silent Night".

It was easy to discern the marvellous musical rapport that exists between Amie Dyer and the Drogheda Male Voice Choir whom she has been singing with since she was 16 years of age.

Amie's record has now gone on general release and can be sourced on Spotify and all the major musical outlets.