Tenebrae with Conor Hinds as Narrator and The New Quay Singers

A moving and atmospheric event in the Easter calendar, mark Good Friday this year at the Portico of Ards in Portaferry.

Each year we mark Good Friday in our Tenebrae Service, with our friends from Portaferry Presbyterian Church. Join us on Friday 3rd April, when the renowned Irish actor, Conor Hinds, will narrate the Gospel of St Matthew from Christ’s arrest at the Garden of Gethsemane to his death on Golgotha. The music, sung by the New Quay Singers with the Portico Orchestra and Richard Campbell on organ, will be Stanford’s glorious Requiem. Rebecca Murphy (soprano), Sarah Richmond (contralto), Dessie Havlin (tenor) and Ryan Garnham (bass) will take the solo parts.

In the dramatic service of Tenebrae – with its origins in the 4thC, after each reading (or “Shadow”), a candle is extinguished and the lights dimmed a little, until, for the last reading, the building is in total darkness and the Strepitus – the “great noise”, is sounded.

The Rev Brian Gibson will preside for the service.

Everyone, whether they have a religious faith or not, is welcome to join us for this poignant and moving event.

Admission is free of charge but there will be a retiring collection – suggested donation £10 pp