A concert entitled Midsummer Music, featuring two Fermanagh-born musicians, is to be held in St. Michael’s Church, Enniskillen tomorrow (Thursday) at 7.30pm.

The concert, held in support of The Alzheimer’s Society, will feature organist Matthew Murphy from Enniskillen and Lauren Coulter, soprano, from Ballinamallard. Dr. Linley Hamilton, professional jazz trumpet player and presenter on BBC Radio Ulster, will be joining the musicians for the evening. Lauren developed a close working relationship with Linley through her studies at Ulster University, Magee, and he will perform on the trumpet during the concert.

The music will be a mixture of sacred and secular classical. The sacred portion will include pieces by Faure, Vivaldi, Haydn and Franck, accompanied by organ. The classical part will include pieces sung in various languages including German, Italian and English, by composers such as Elgar, Wolf and Purcell.

Matthew will be playing various solo organ pieces, primarily German organ music by Dietrich Buxtehude and Felix Mendelssohn.

Matthew Murphy began studying piano at the age of five and gained a Diploma at the age of 14.

He is a former organist in St. Michael’s Church, Enniskillen, playing on Sundays and for other events throughout the year, including for the visit of The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins in September 2015.

He is also a former temporary organist in St. Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen. Matthew also was accompanist for the Fermanagh Choral Society for several years under the direction of Don Swain.

He studied organ with Ian Mills (St. Columb’s Cathedral, Derry) and David Chrzanowski (Yale graduate) while on a gap year placement at Westminster School, Connecticut, USA.

He was awarded an organ scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford following auditions in 2015 and will begin organ playing duties at Oxford in the Autumn along with a degree in History.

Lauren Coulter is a classically trained soprano from Ballinamallard.

She started taking lessons with David Robertson at the age of eight.

Her performance experience includes as a member of the Ulster University Chamber Choir, regularly performing as a soloist.

She was in a chosen group of 30 students that sang in Carnegie Hall, New York, in honour of Paul Mealor. She sang the second movement of ‘Stabat Mater’ as a solo at an event for the Irish Ambassador in New York and she regularly attends the Charles Wood Summer School.

She was a member of the NI Opera chorus in 2015 for their production of Turandot by Puccini, and a member of the Fermanagh Choral Society.

Lauren has recently graduated with a First Class honours in music from Ulster University and aspires to become an opera singer in the future.