The day the music died: Fond farewell to the maestro Ennio Morricone (91)
Sadness: Irish connections are among those left mourning
THE musical director of the Dublin Gospel Choir (DGC) has recalled her time working with the late composer Ennio Morricone in Ireland as an unforgettable moment in her career.
The world of music and movies is in mourning after the Oscar winner (91) passed away in a Rome hospital yesterday morning after complications arose after he broke his leg in a fall.
He had produced more than 500 original scores for films including ‘The Mission’ and Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’, which won him an Academy Award in 2016.
Morricone was last in Ireland in 2019 as he marked 60 years in the industry with an ambitious concert at the 3Arena.
Orla Gargan, DGC musical director, said members of the choir collaborated with him on three different occasions over the past seven years, most notably in 2013 for a performance at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin.
“‘The Mission’ was the soundtrack for me growing up, so getting to work with him was just massive, I couldn’t believe it,” she told the Irish Independent.
“This is a man who gets a standing ovation everywhere he goes before anyone even plays a note – that’s how respected he was in the world of music.”
The DGC brought in 40 extra performers to make it a 100-strong choir for the 2013 event and she said that it was a “real labour of love“to make sure its performance was pitch-perfect. “Ennio came in for the final rehearsals and sat down and just listened to us. Then all he said was ‘grazi’ and nodded and walked out, like he had given us his ultimate seal of approval.
“It was an amazing experience. For our final dress rehearsals of ‘On Earth As it Is In Heaven’, we all had tears pouring down our faces by the end. That was a stand-out moment.
“I think often it’s the most difficult endeavours that are the most rewarding and this was definitely the case here.”
The DGC was fortunate enough to collaborate with him again in 2017 and in 2019 at the 3Arena for his 60 Years of Music world tour which saw the then-90-year-old marking six decades of producing iconic pieces of music.
Ms Gargan said he was a “man of few words” during her encounters with him but that his breadth of work spoke for itself.
“His sheer body of work is mind-blowing. It was a really, really incredible experience and I remember, even last year, he was still a force to be reckoned with. You could see all the respect from the orchestra and the warmth that he’s greeted with. It was something special to be part of,” she said.
Irish conductor Eímear Noone met him in 2016, the year he won his first Academy Award after being nominated six times.
She said her “heart was heavy” with the news of his passing.
“For musicians and composers in particular when we lose one of our own, especially such an iconic member of our community, it’s just a really sad day and it’s resonating and reverberating around the world,” she told RTÉ Radio 1.
“It’s a very poignant day. We all have amazing memories of Maestro Morricone’s work and all experienced it in various ways. My heart is definitely a little bit hurt and a little bit heavy.”