MY CULTURAL LIFE
Sharon Carty, opera singer
Mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty, a graduate of the RIAM Dublin, MDW Vienna, and the Oper Frankfurt Young Artists programme, is an artistic partner to the newlyformed Irish National Opera. Recent engagements include Flora in La Traviata with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, and Ariodante in Ariodante with the Irish Baroque Orchestra/ Opera Theatre Company. In 2017 she created the role of Amy in the world premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s and Enda Walsh’s prize-winning opera The Second Violinist. She performs at the National Concert Hall on November 21 in the final concert of the Couperin 350 series, celebrating the 350th anniversary of the birth of French composer Francois Couperin. nch.ie
Film: What Dreams May Come
I’m a huge fan of Robin Williams (below), both as a comedian and a serious actor, and his death was such a loss. I’m so in awe of the talent and range it takes to be able to be so funny but also so intelligent and to be able to pull off deeply affecting emotional performances in movies. One of my favourite films of his is What Dreams May Come. It’s a film I regularly come back to, just because I love the visual aesthetic and the story about the power of the bond of love between two people ultimately overcoming even death. It makes me cry every time.
Artist: Vincent Sheridan
I recently bought my first proper piece of art, a lithographic print by artist Vincent Sheridan. It caught my attention before Christmas last year when I saw it in the window of The Printmakers Gallery on Drury Street. It’s a beautiful print of a murmuration of birds, and the reason it resonated with me is because it reminds me so much of part of the video design (by Jack Phelan) in The Second Violinist (an award-winning Irish National Opera production by Enda Walsh and Donnacha Dennehy). It seemed fitting to buy myself something to remember the production.
Music: Radiohead
My iTunes is almost exclusively full of classical music, but for some reason for the last few weeks I’ve been revisiting a lot of music that I listened to as a teenager, and in particular Radiohead. I love their OK Computer album (right), and I find myself lamenting the fact that there isn’t really anyone writing songs like Karma Police or Paranoid Android any more!
TV: Would I Lie To You
I recently discovered Would I Lie To You and have been binge-watching it the last while. The premise is that the panellists need to convince the other team they’re telling the truth when they have to read out a statement about themselves which they’ve never seen before the show. The statement could be a lie or it could be a truth. It’s just so hilarious, and I find myself setting myself the challenge of seeing if I can spot body language tells and guess who’s lying and who’s telling the truth.
Book: Sapiens
I love popular science by the likes of Stephen Hawking and John Gribbin. At the moment I’m reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (right). It’s a really well-written, fascinating history of our species and how we managed to flourish over the last few millennia because of our ability to believe in things created in our imaginations.