Orchestra during the Tóstal era

Orchestra during the Tóstal era

Cork Film Festival, Orchestra, Tóstal, Aloys Fleischmann, Cork Symphony Orchestra, Cork Choral Festival, City Hall

This is an undated black and white photo of a symphony orchestra playing on the stage at the Cork City Hall. The all-male symphony orchestra is not identified but we note that they are all standing, as is the audience, and they might be playing the National Anthem at the end of the concert.

The photo notes that this photo was taken during the ‘Tóstal era’ so we might date it to the mid-fifties when Tóstal was inaugurated in Cork in 1953. Tóstal was a festival held around Ireland to celebrate Ireland’s national image and lift the country from a period of economic depression. Music was very much a part of this rebranding with the establishment of the Cork Choral Festival in 1954 spearheaded by Aloys Fleischmann (1910-1992) who founded the Cork Symphony Orchestra in 1934. Fleischmann was a member of the Cork Tóstal Council from 1952 to 1954, and would go on to be the director of the Cork International Choral Festival from 1967 to 1987.

University College Cork, Cork Film Festival, Liam Kennedy

Cork Film Festival Collection

University College Cork

1950

Liam Kennedy

Photo
TIFF
JPEG

English, eng

1950
Cork, Ireland

Photo

210 x 157mm