Louth Contemporary Music Society has put county on the music map
In normal times, London-based pianist Michael McHale would be looking forward to travelling to Dundalk to take part in Louth Contemporary Music Society’s latest festival We Sing for the Future.
Michael was a regular visitor to Dundalk when his parents Noel and Carmel lived in Blackrock and has many friends in town.
Like everything else in these pandemic times, however, the festival, which takes place from has gone online, so Michael’s performance has already been filmed in London.
This isn’t his first time taking part in an event organised by LCMS director Eamonn Quinn as he recalls the ‘amazing experience’ of performing for composer Arvo Pärt back in 2008.
‘I was just a year or two out of college and it was a huge opportunity for me.’
The two performances in St Patrick’s Dundalk and St Peter’s Drogheda, were sold out and he recalls it as being ‘ a very memorable experience’ as he got to perform for the world famous composer at both the rehearsals and concerts.
‘It was very memorable.’ He also premiered a new composition by John Tavener for another LCMS event.
Michael grew up in Belfast and as a teenager travelled to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin for piano lessons with John O’Connor and Réamonn Keary.
‘When I was 18, I moved to England and studied for three years in Cambridge and then two years with the Royal Academy of Music in London.’
At the time his parents were living in Blackrock, as his dad, who had been a professor in Queen’s University Belfast, moved with his department to DkIT, where he worked until his retirement, upon which he returned to Belfast.
‘ They had a house in Blackrock so I spent a lot of time there and anytime I was doing a concert in Dublin or Belfast I would make sure to visit. I have a lot of good friends from the Dundalk area who played in the Ulster Youth Orchestra, including Karl Sweeney from Ravensdale who was groomsman when I got married, the Manning sisters and the Murphy sisters.’’
Michael’s cousin Sile Boylan is married to fiddle player Gerry O’Connor. ‘We had many family parties in Blackrock where they would both play fiddle and I would sometimes try my best to keep up with them on the piano.’
Dundalk, he says, is now firmly on the contemporary music map thanks to the dedication and vision of Eamonn Quinn, who with LCMS, has been bringing world renowned composers and musicians to town for over a decade.
‘What I love about Eamonn is how he programmes music. Every single project is a real passion project for him and he wants to that with the audiences.’
Acknowledging that it can be difficult to get audiences for contemporary music, especially if someone’s only exposure to the genre was hearing something they didn’t like, Michael says Eamonn has managed to built up a great level of trust with local audiences here in Louth.
‘He’s telling them ‘ here is a piece of music that I love and you’re going to love it too’.’
Not only has Eamonn managed to entice audiences out of their comfort zone to discover some of the best contemporary music available, he has also persuaded top international composers and musicians, the mega stars of the modern classical world, to come to Dundalk. The legendary American composer Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet, John Zorn, David Lang, and many more have happily lent their support to LCMS by performing and sometimes composing new works. There have also been recordings which have been favourable reviewed in the international press.
‘He has put Louth on the global map for contemporary classical music,’ says Michael. ‘People in Europe and the United States know about it and some have come specifically for his concerts. To have done that from scratch is amazing and it comes back to his own love of music.’
‘I remember after the Arvo Part project he did a song cycle with John Tavener. Eamonn loved Patricia Rosario singing Tavener so he just asked if she would do the recording and she did.’
‘He has a passion and a power of persuasion which makes it happen.’
This year’s LCMS event ‘ We Sing for the Future’ is taking place virtually from tomorrow Wednesday April 14 to Sunday April 18.
Michael has already recorded his contribution in the Henry Wood Hall London.‘It was filmed with high definition video and top quality audio and the sound quality is fantastic,’ he says.
He performs pieces by composers Cornelius Cardew, including a version of The Croppy Boy and We Sing for the Future, and by Laurence Crane, and the concert will be available to view on Saturday at 8pm.
Michael is delighted to be involved with the virtual festival, which comes at a time when there are few opportunities for musicians to perform. Like other professional musicians, he saw his calendar wiped clean, with trips to the United States cancelled. He considers himself fortunate that he has been able to do some on-line concerts and radio performances as well as continuing teaching for Cork School of Music over Zoom.
Other highlights of the programme the world premiere of a new work, ‘Lenguas de Fuego’ by Irish composer Kevin Volans, Drogheda guitarist Alec O’Leary and his guitar quartet presenting the world premiere of Leo Brouwer’s ‘Irish Landscape with Rain’, a piece initially written for last year’s cancelled festival, and ‘Six Moving Guitars’ by Fredrik Rasten and his ensemble on acoustic guitars, a filmed by Jenny Berger Myhre especially for LCMS.
For full programme details go to www.louthcms.org.
Louth Contemporary Music Society’s We Sing for the Future is funded by the Arts Council, financially supported by Create Louth and the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.