From swerve of shore to bend of bay
THE Irish premiere of Roaratorio: an Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake has been some 30 years in the pipeline. Roaratorio was written in 1979 by one of the 20th century’s seminal artistic figures, the late John Cage, as a sound experience of James Joyce’s book. The work has played in cities worldwide in the last three decades and will be performed in Ireland for the first time on Saturday in Cork Opera House.
Fiddle-player Paddy Glackin became involved in the piece from an early stage. “John had come to Ireland to make the piece and he got in touch with Ciarán MacMathúna at RTÉ, who I think recommended me,” says Glackin, also a sports editor for RTÉ radio. “I got a phone call from John one day and to be honest with you I hadn’t heard of the guy. He wanted me to record some music for this piece he was writing.
