From Portmagee to the Pope for Dr John

Fergus Dennehy chats to Portmagee native Dr John O’Keeffe about his upcoming role as conductor of the choir and orchestra at the papal mass in Phoenix Park, how he is preparing for and feeling about the day, how he first got involved in music and his neve

I FIRST heard of Dr John O’Keeffe through one of his former students from Maynooth who spoke in glowing terms of the hard work, dedication and love of the craft that he brings to his role.

Then, once I heard that he had been chosen to conduct the choir and the orchestra at the upcoming Papal Mass in Phoenix Park on Sunday August 26, I knew that I had to get talking to him.

Seconds into our chat on last Thursday however, we hit our first snag as the phone line suddenly went dead, and after a quick mishap where we both tried to ring each other back at the same time, we were soon chatting away as John filled me in on what this son of Portmagee has achieved thus far.

Praising his upbringing in the South Kerry village as being instrumental in fostering his love of both church and traditional music, John told how his love of music was first fostered in his own local church in Portmagee.

“Well, in all fairness, it all started in Portmagee in St Patrick’s Church. Our local school teacher Bridie O’Connell, like so many teachers around the country, she took charge of providing music for the Sunday Mass. The encouragement that she gave us as singers and to me as an organist, this was crucial. I look back on this beginning and it was such an important time for me,” said John, speaking to The Kerryman on Thursday.

He went on tell me how he has risen up the ranks to become the Director of Choral Groups at Maynooth University and Director of Sacred Music at the National Seminary of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Here his duties include lecturing, training of cantors, choir and organists, and the preparation of music for college liturgies.

Active as a composer (his Mass of Saint Mel was commissioned in 2015 to mark the restoration of Longford Cathedral), he directs postgraduate and diploma courses in liturgical music and chant at both St. Patrick’s College and Maynooth University Most recently them, his book, entitled, ‘The Masses of Seán and Peadar Ó Riada: Explorations in Vernacular Chant’ has been published by Cork University Press.

“There are certainly much better composers out there than me but I suppose, I’m around so long now that people know what I can do and they have confidence that I can do a good job,” said John, speaking on how he got asked to do the role.

A humble man, as much as he might try to downplay his role in the upcoming visit of Pope Francis, he does admit that he was excited and honoured to be asked.

“I’m excited, honoured and a little bit nervous. At another level though, it’s familiar territory, it’s still Sunday Mass at the end of the day. I mean, if we weren’t doing it in Phoenix Park, we’d be doing it somewhere else,” he laughed.

“I’m certainly enjoying the process. The musical menu is definitely a bit richer than you would have for a normal mass and obviously, the forces we have with us for the day definitely brings a bit more colour to the festivities and proceedings,” he continued.

“There’s been a lot of liaising with composers to help commission new pieces and new arrangements which will enhance the whole concert and make it a

rich experience for the listeners.” said John.

“The organ would now be my main instrument of late. I started out in traditional music and the roots of this are certainly coming out in the repertoire for the Papal Mass. There is a good lot of Irish language music on the menu for the mass,” he continued.

The day itself will be a massive operation for John and his fellow musicians with over 3,000 members of the mass and core choir coming together on the day.

“On the day, as it’s currently arranged anyway, we’ll be gathering at around 10:30 for rehearsals with core choir of 54 people and 3,000 people of a mass choir; there will be two co-conductors who will be feeding off of me and the core choir.

“One of the conductors is Amy Ryan and she’s actually a Killarney girl and she and the other co-conductor will conduct blocks of 1,500 people. We still won’t realise until the day how all this is going to work,” he said.

Preparations for the concert have been ongoing for the past few weeks and John said that he and his charges have certainly been put through their paces to get ready for the day.

Speaking about his love of church music, John said that some of his fondest memories from his long and distinguished career have come through his passion for this type of music.

“I’ve done a lot of performing both in terms of recitals, concerts and liturgies. I think that the most satisfying experience for me is to see a piece of music doing its work well in a liturgical context. This is a wonderful ongoing experience that I get to have, it keeps me going,” he finished.

The music chosen for the Papal Mass will place an emphasis on congregational singing so many of the pieces will be familiar to those in the Phoenix Park congregation of 500,000.

Irish music and composers feature will prominently throughout the Mass.

The Opening Hymn is ‘A Joy For All The Earth’ which is the official hymn for WMOF2018 written by Ephrem Feeley.

Well-known liturgical composer Father Liam Lawton has composed a new Psalm for the Mass which is called ‘The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor.’

Two pieces by Ireland’s most renowned liturgical composer, Seán Ó Riada, feature as the Penitential Rite/Kyrie (A Thiarna Déan Trócaire), and at the Lord’s Prayer (Ár nAthair). Fintan O’Carroll’s Celtic Alleluia with an enhanced verse by Ronan McDonagh will be sung as the Gospel acclamation.

‘The Apostles’ Creed’ will be John O’Keeffe’s own composition on the day.

I’m excited, honoured and a little bit nervous. At another level though, it’s familiar territory. It’s still Sunday Mass at the end of the day.