Sleep soundly: John O'Brien to play his Midsummer lullaby at locations around Cork
John O’Brien, Lullaby for the City, Cork Midsummer Festival, Picture Clare Keogh
John O’Brien is used to being busy. The musical multi-hyphenate is a well-known presence on the Cork live performance scene, composing, directing and conducting opera and musical theatre productions in the city and beyond. So when everything stopped dead last year due to lockdown, it was a huge shock to the system.
“It has been a such a crazy time for everybody. For artists, it has been particularly cruel with everything being cancelled. There was a long time of not being able to make anything. Even if you had the resources to create, the headspace wasn’t right for it, it was very difficult. Even people who have kept their jobs, it has been very stressful, spending all day on Zoom, and all the extra issues that brings,” he says.
He felt compelled to do something to bring some comfort and solace to himself, the musical community and audiences. So he wrote a lullaby, to soothe not just babies and children but an entire city. The result, Lullaby for the City (In a Time of Pandemic) will bring a small ensemble out to perform in communities as part of Cork Midsummer Festival.
“I felt I needed to write something that could be played by a small orchestra, that we could manage outdoors. A friend of mine wrote a poem for me that partly inspired it. I imagined the idea of a parent holding a child — but the lullaby is as much for the parent as for the child,” says O’Brien.
The piece is about 15 to 20 minutes long and features flute, oboe, harp, percussion and strings.
“When I was writing it, I was very aware of the players — it has been so weird to not be making music with these people for such a long time.” Lullabies are present across all cultures and eras but O’Brien says he was particularly influenced by the suantraí, the traditional Irish iteration of the form.
“It is something to calm you down, that says 'everything is okay, you can rest now’. There is a slower slip-jig going on underneath it, in terms of the rhythm, representing the rocking motion,” he says.
The piece was written when the Covid epidemic was at its height in the country, and the middle sections represent the particular anxiety that can often strike in the small hours of the morning.
“The rhythm changes to reflect the building of that existential dread,” says O’Brien. “It was written at the darkest time, when I felt I needed to do something. It brought me comfort in writing it and I’m hoping it brings the musicians comfort to play it and that it brings the audience comfort to listen to it. Just the thought of being able to gather, even in small numbers, and play and listen together is great.”
O’Brien is more hopeful for the future now that we are tentatively emerging from lockdown. He points to increased funding for the arts and a greater awareness of their value in general.
“Before the pandemic, everything was so underfunded and under-supported so it was very difficult anyway. The crisis has pushed decisions to be made. Things are changing, there is a lot of planning for things next year. If the pandemic does actually melt away, I think we can move into more of a renaissance. There is a lot of pent-up artistry and creative energy.”
O’Brien has collaborated on many performances and events in the Cork Opera House and The Everyman and says they have been particularly badly hit by the lockdown. They will need the support of audiences when live performance does return, he says.
“The institutions are under a massive amount of stress and pressure. The Opera House, The Everyman and the places where I work have such a dependence on ticket sales. They are so squeezed. But equally, people are resilient. Artists are gagging to work and make stuff and come up with ideas, that is all exciting. We are ready for it all to open again, in a way that is safe for people. We need audiences to help.”
The locations where Lullaby for the City will be performed won’t be made available until a day or so beforehand, and audiences will be limited in number. However, O’Brien says an audio recording will be made and released online. He is looking forward to just making music again.
“There is a real powerful energy about that, people coming together to play or perform and not in any way to take it for granted. It has changed from being totally bleak with not a thing going on to actually doing things, which is great.”
- Lullaby for the City, Jun 14-15, touring to green and open spaces in Cork, subject to Government guidelines.
