The Everyman theatre in Cork has announced a new concert series for Spring, curated by Cork musician John O'Brien. We asked John the BIG questions . . .
Music of... is a new genre-defying concert series in three parts featuring the recently formed Ora Quartet and well-known Cork artists.
The recently formed Ora Quartet, featuring Siún Milne and Molly O’Shea (violins), Ali Comerford (viola) and Yseult Cooper Stockdale (cello) will provide the musical backdrop.
Sunday 4 February will see the series kick off with Music of… Sadness and Comfort. The evening’s guest is star mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan, who'll return to The Everyman stage following the Irish National Opera’s tour of Werther in 2023.
Joining John, the Ora Quartet and flute and fiddle player Johnny McCarthy, O’Sullivan will shake things up with influences from her operatic background and more.
Speaking about the new series, John, who leads the series and will guide audiences through each evening, says, "With our incredible Ora String Quartet as the heart of the series, and with world class guest artists, we will play music, from across different eras and genres, that explores big emotions, and our common humanity. I'm so excited to share this with our audience!"
Tickets on sale now from Everyman, Cork. Phone 021 4501 673
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I'm a freelance conductor, director and composer, and now curator! from Cork.
How would you describe your music?
I try to make music that communicates very directly and with empathy. When I write music, I'm trying to connect emotionally with the audience. There is lots of detail and complexity if you look under the hood, but I'd like the audience to receive it in their heart first. When I perform other people's music, I try to be the emotional conduit between the composer and the audience.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Puccini, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Shostakovich, Steve Reich, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Sondheim, Bernstein, John Williams, Dinah Washington, Joni Mitchell, Queen, Piazzolla . . .
What was the first gig you ever went to?
7Up Beat on the Street on the Straight Road in Cork. My first opera was Manon Lescaut by Puccini in Rome when I was about 18. It changed my life - It started at about six in the evening, and finished about midnight, because after each 40-minute act there was as long an interval where we ate and drank across the evening. I was up in the cheapest seats in the balcony, where the local old ladies sat knitting and commenting on how this performance was better or worse than the many previous ones they'd seen. It was a proper communal experience and showed me what's possible.
What was the first record you ever bought?
R.E.M.’s Everybody Hurts or Kiri Te Kanawa singing Mozart - I can't remember which was first.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Randy Newman's I Think It's Gonna Rain Today.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"Sing me one last song, I shall feel very lonely when you are gone" by Éadaoin O'Donoghue/Oscar Wilde from our opera of The Nightingale and the Rose.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Mahler Symphony 9 had a particularly profound impact on me last year in New York. I think there would be enough in that to keep me moved, questioning, and provoked, for quite a while. Or Joni Mitchell's orchestral version of Both Sides Now.
Where can people find your music/more information?
There are lots of videos and recordings on my website. I'm curating a series of concerts at The Everyman, Cork. Music of . . . starting on the 4 February. I'm directing a semi-staged performance of the opera The Tragedy of Carmen at the Cork Opera House on 14 February. I'm conducting Brahms Symphony 1 and Stanford Stabat Mater with the CSMSO for the opening of the Choral Festival. And I'm currently writing a film soundtrack for the feature film Stupid August, which will be released towards the end of the year.
Alan Corr
