The sky’s the limit for talented Megan
Fergus Dennehy talks to Killarneys very own classical singer, Megan O’Neill’ about forgoing traditional music and falling in love with classical singing, a world tour to America and China, performing at her grandmothers funeral and why singing in Milan is her ultimate life goal.
IT’S HARD not to immediately warm to Megan O’Neill when you meet her, such is her bright and bubbly personality.
I’ve known Megan for a number of years now and to have watched her grow in confidence and ability as a singer over the years has been amazing to watch.
She was Rotary Ireland’s ‘Young Musician of the Year’ in 2015 and she is currently working as the pianist and vocalist in the Aghadoe Heights.
Still only 21 years old, she is a college graduate in Maynooth and now a Masters student in the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, it’s fair to say that Megan already has an impressive number of notches on her belt.
From being a regular performer in St Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney to being invited to perform on a world tour in both America (New York, Boston and Arizona) and China (Shanghai), it’s been a whirlwind time for the young Killarney woman ever since she decided to forgo traditional music in favour of her love of classical.
“I’ve been playing music since I was about four years old. I kind of picked it up in school and I liked it,” said Megan, speaking to The
Kerryman on Wednesday.
“It’s strange because my family aren’t overly musical but I started off playing the tin whistle, the accordion and the fiddle; that was my background but I quickly realised that this type of music wasn’t for me. I just felt like my voice wasn’t suited for that style. I wasn’t doing too well in those competitions and I knew something was up,” she laughed.
After being introduced to Mary Culloty O’Sullivan and classical music at the age of 12, Megan said that she immediately fell in love with it and wanted to learn more about this “intriguing and different” style of music.
A three year degree in Music in Maynooth which Megan described as the “best three years of her life” followed alongside a part time course with vocal coach Mary Brennan at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
“In Maynooth, I got to work with Dr John O’Keeffe who’s also from Kerry and he’s just an incredible composer and organist and he gave me so many opportunities to sing at prestigious events over the years,” she said.
One of the most prestigious events she has done in her short career is that World Tour we mentioned and for Megan, some days, it still feels a little surreal that it happened.
“They only picked about 20 people from the college for the choir and I was a soloist as well on the tour so I had the best of both worlds.”
“We were literally just gigging in these fabulous, fabulous venues. In churches, at corporate functions. It was just amazing. If you had told me the summer before I’d entered college that I’d have been singing in America and China with everything paid for, I just wouldn’t even have dreamed. It was a brilliant experience,” she continued.
For all these good experiences singing though, there are of course sad times for Megan throughout her life. Most notably, when she sang at the funeral of her beloved grandmother in March.
“That was a really special moment for me because I didn’t think that I had it in me. I’m quite an emotional person but I knew
that she had always wanted me to sing at it so I was really, really proud of myself that day. I was able to honour her memory and she would be very proud of the route I’m taking,” she said.
As a non-singer, this writers own curiosity gets the better of me and I ask her whether you have to be born with the gift of singing or whether it is something that anybody can learn with the help of training.
“You have to have a voice there to begin with. Training can do so much for you but at the end of the day, you do have to have a good voice and you have to be smart with it. You have to practice and train. If you can’t sing in tune, there’s not much that can be done with that,” she laughed.
With so much already achieved, you’d forgive Megan for maybe resting on her laurels on bit, but no, this determined young woman is already looking to the future goals as motivation to keep going.
And her ultimate goal? Well, I’ll let her tell you that herself.
“I love opera. That is the dream for me, to sing opera for a living. I know that it’ll take a while to get there but that’s what I’d love to do. To be playing in La Scala in Milan, that’s my ultimate dream. It’s something that I’ve dreamt about since I was really young”
So, how does one go about becoming an opera singer?
“Obviously, technique is the biggest area that I have to work on to become an opera singer. You have to do scales every day, you have to work toward your range and above all, you need a good teacher.”
“My teacher, Mary Brennan, is one of the best teachers in the country. She will never push the voice, but she will always challenge you to become a better singer.”
Already a brilliant singer, the future looks very bright for Megan and her opera dreams and it’d be a very foolish person to bet against seeing her name up in lights sooner rather than later.
A wedding and funeral singer, anybody looking to contact Megan for performances can do so through her ‘Megan O’Neill Soprano’ Facebook page.
You can check out videos of her performances on our ‘The Kerryman’ Facebook page from Thursday morning onwards.
That was a really special moment for me because I didn’t think I had it in me. I knew that she always wanted me to sing at it so I was really, really proud of myself that day. I was able to honour her memory.
FOR AN INTERVIEW, CONTACT FERGUS AT FDENNEHY@KERRYMAN.