Cork Choral festival: Norah Walsh pays tribute to Seán Ó Riada as event moves online
Norah Walsh.
May Bank Holiday weekend looming usually heralds the annual migration of thousands of singers from all over the world into Cork for the city’s International Choral Festival. Sadly, almost all the city’s churches and halls will again remain silent and no flocks of cheerful choristers in matching ensembles will converge on the city’s venues.
Song will not be totally muted on Leeside, however. The festival team has rallied under director Peter Stobart and this year there will be a varied programme of performances on virtual display. Thirty choirs perform via online platforms from their home bases and key events will be streamed live online from Cork.
One of the most keenly anticipated festival premieres is that of the prize-winning piece of the prestigious Seán Ó Riada competition. Norah Walsh’s setting of a poem by Waterford native Peter Sirr ‘On A Quiet Day In The Future’ will air at a gala concert at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral performed by the 16-voice professional ensemble, Chamber Choir Ireland, 50 years after the death of the composer at just 40 years of age.
Speaking by phone from her home in Dublin, there is a sense of zestful enthusiasm in Walsh’s musings on her festival accolade as she expands on the inspiration for her prize-winning entry.
“It’s the text that drives me. I came across the poem ‘On A Quite Day In The Future’ on Olivia O’Leary’s poetry programme on RTÉ radio, Poems in a Pandemic. Peter Sirr’s text was a bit of a break and a distraction from the constant heavy discourse on human tragedy and loss.
"I liked the witty and entertaining way he poses the curious opening question. ‘How will it live without us, this house we fill to the brim’. The poet attributes human sensibilities to a home - The house is ‘oppressed by quiet’ a door is ‘affronted’. He peppers the text with poignant details of lockdown that made me smile- ‘the maths and French homework- the wine drunk – the clicking of laptops’. I wanted to capture in music the sentiments that it evoked for me.”
Walsh left a career in corporate banking to return to college to pursue her passion for music studying with Jane O’Leary and Dave Flynn at DIT. She chuckles as she recalls her first forays into composition as a teenage writer of pop songs. Familiar from her TV appearances as choral director of community-based projects, Walsh directs the Forget Me Nots- a choir dedicated to families affected by dementia and memory loss featured in a tribute to the late Brendan Grace.
The group has adapted remarkably well to new ways of staying connected. “We started a weekly rehearsal on zoom. We had 80 people at the first session. It was total mayhem and great fun. We discovered that there was a need for more and we started a music appreciation session. We had people like, Mike Hanrahan, Mike Denver, Sandy Kelly and Liz Hilliard do guest spots. It has been a lifeline for members especially during the cocooning months.”
Although not confined to voices, a glance at Walsh’s back catalogue confirms that choral composition is very much the focal point of her work.
“I love the expression of a human-interest story - the conveying of thoughts and emotions of a human narrative - I find that hugely inspiring. To be able to that with voices of the calibre of Chamber Choir Ireland is an exciting prospect.”
Fifty years after his death, Ó Riada’s popularity endures in works that mine a rich seam of traditional Irish music. It’s an element that resonates with Walsh playing in traditional ensembles in Leixlip in tandem with classical studies in her youth.
“The Choral Festival is a national treasure. The potential for networking and learning and being exposed to other works over four days is huge- to have one’s own work heard and to be part of all that with the Seán Ó Riada Prize is thrilling.”
- Wednesday: ‘A Singing City’ Poem by Billy Ramsell; featuring archive footage.
- Thursday: Documentary on Anúna by Michael McGlynn
- Friday: Chamber Choir Ireland from St. Fin Barre’s: Cathedral Contemporary music; Amanda Feery Norah Walsh, Peter Leavy
- Saturday: Resurgam Choir at St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral; Early choral music
- Sunday: ONAIR Acapella Ensemble from Berlin Free online workshops include The Big Sing, led by Ciarán Kelly of Ardú. Competitions include the inaugural IBEC Workplace Choir of the Year. The Irish Examiner/Irish Times staff choir is a contestant.
- www.corkchoral.ie
