Summer Music in Rural Ireland:
Loughcrew, Calary, Downpatrick, Lismore
Reviewed by: George Fleeton.
Tucked into the north-west corner of Co. Meath, close to Oldcastle, Loughcrew Garden Opera marked its thirteenth year of operation with an impressively cast and sung Le nozze di Figaro (Marriage of Figaro), Mozart’s comic opera from 1786, and the most innovative opera of the 18th century.
On the first night (July 20), having arrived from England as a package, directed by Nicholas Heath for Opera à la Carte, this production’s teething problems had clearly been ironed out, the ensemble play-acting was excellent, the band (keyboard, flute, two clarinets and bassoon) played most impressively and permitted every phrase of the set piece arias to reach us crystal clear.
The sole native Irish singer in the cast, soprano Norah King (Susanna), tackled her complex, central role superbly, interacting confidently and convincingly with Melinda Hughes (La Contessa), Flora McIntosh (Cherubino), Kate Symonds-Joy (Marcellina) and Sian Winstanley (Barbarina).
The set may have been spartan and the props minimalist but the costumes looked right, proper and comfortable.
On a square dais, about one metre high, in the centre of the marquee, the choreography of the ten characters was highly skilled, with delivery well projected towards the three audience sectors, and dramatic entrances and exits all around.
The respect for the genius and integrity of Mozart’s music and of the wit of da Ponte’s libretto was palpable and well appreciated by an audience that stayed the pace until just short of midnight.
Fidget Feet, an aerial dance theatre company based in the midlands, provided the entertainment in the open air ruins of the 17th century chapel associated with Oliver Plunkett’s family, surrounded by rolling parkland, full of cattle and sheep, ‘arranged’ between us and the huge, floodlit stone portico over at Loughcrew House.
The lady of the house, Emily Naper, has knitted her annual garden opera festival so successfully into the fabric of summer music in rural Ireland that it’s unbelievable that the Arts Council still takes no hand, act or part in supporting this event.
There is no Irish national opera company: Lyric Opera Productions and Opera Theatre Company do not make excessive demands on what public sector funding is available, yet the bulk of that is poured into Wexford which offers negligible opportunities for indigenous singers and musicians seeking performance experience on Irish stages.
www.loughcrew.com Tucked away in the Wicklow Mountains, Calary Church of Ireland, a couple of miles south of the Great Sugar Loaf, is a most imaginative venue for light classical music and full houses.
On July 19 there was an excellent recital given by Irish violinist Anna Cashell and South Korean pianist Inju Oh.
Foregrounded by more familiar music – G major sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven – their programme also featured a broad church of compositions by Bach, Kreisler, Bloch and Korngold.
On the previous evening, a touring trio comprising Carol McGonnell clarinet, Elizabeth Cooney violin and Finghin Collins piano played a more esoteric but no less well appreciated programme of music, dominated by Russian composers Stravinsky and Khachaturian, and interwoven with a familiar piece by Ravel and an unfamiliar piece by contemporary American composer Paul Schoenfield.
Such recitals, in well attended but unexpected settings, help define summer music in rural Ireland; they create an appetite for more, and there is plenty happening: www.classicallinks.ie and www.culturefox.ie are just two sites where we can begin to explore what is on offer.
Earlier, four lunchtime recitals which I had produced in Down Arts Centre Downpatrick during June are a case in point.
Sopranos Mary McCabe and Catherine Harper, mezzo Debra Stuart and pianists Gail Evans, Emma Gibbins and Nadene Fiorentini entertained capacity audiences with varied programmes of arias, duets and art songs, all rounded off by Jayne Trimble and Band, a singer who writes and performs her own songs in the wider folk music genre.
The third Lismore Music Festival took place over the first weekend of June at the Co. Waterford venue.
On offer on the final day (June 03) were two contrasting pieces by Rossini: his Petite Messe Solennelle, in the Cathedral, and his opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Barber of Seville).
The much later, liturgical work is Rossini at his most mature: elegant writing including a wonderful preludio religioso and a version of O salutaris hostia (so well sung, on the day, by Sandra Oman) which, while not strictly part of the Mass, is the most dramatic part of the work.
The opera, in a production that was dramatically and musically reduced, was given in the yard of Lismore Castle, where atrocious weather did nothing to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the performances.
Again Irish singers had a chance to sing and shine and while the whole thing was played as slapstick, the musical genius of Rossini remained bullet proof, and the physical layout of the castle yard (a horse trough, lofts and loading bays, half doored barns) was deftly exploited.
Next year Lismore is planning a production of Mozart’s Magic Flute. www.lismoremusicfestival.com
George Fleeton is an independent writer on arts and culture.
