John O’Brien: 'Being an artist is hard. Nobody is in it for the money'
John O’Brien curates the three 'Music of…' concerts at the Everyman in Cork. Picture: Marcin Lewandowski
An upcoming series of concerts at the Everyman, directed by renowned Cork musician John O’Brien, will explore music linked by the different feelings it evokes rather than by era. This sonic voyage of classical, contemporary, pop, traditional and jazz music features mezzo soprano Niamh O’Sullivan singing songs of sadness and comfort. There will also be music of love and heartache performed by Molly Lynch, and Karen Underwood will sing songs of faith and doubt. The Ora Quartet will play at the concerts.
Asked for his favourite sad song, O’Brien says currently, he likes Joni Mitchell’s 'Both Sides Now' and Randy Newman’s 'I Think It’s Going to Rain Today'. But it’s a movable feast, a bit like his career. O’Brien, who has been working as a freelance director, composer and conductor from his native city for over 20 years, says it’s necessary to be an all-rounder in his field.
“One of the difficulties of making work in Ireland — which is also a positive — is that because it’s so small, everything cross-pollinates,” says O’Brien. “The idea of putting together the series of concerts is to try and break down genres and to find good music. There will be bits that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Each song is only for five minutes or so, then there’s something else.”
In all the work that O’Brien has made over the years, his aim is always to communicate to audiences. “It’s about empathy and shared experiences. I’m also attracted to making stuff that’s live. It’s not that everything has to be accessible, whatever that means. You can communicate quite complicated emotions if an audience is open to it.”
O’Brien says his career, which has taken him on tour to Canada, London and Scotland as well as European cities and Japan and China, has been a rollercoaster.
“It goes up and down. At the moment, I’m lucky that I have work for the next while, but there’s no guarantee ever. There have been plenty of times when there has been no work and you’re hanging by the edge. I think it helps to do multiple jobs in music. That makes you more flexible.
"Everything is hard. You’re fighting for ticket sales and funding and audiences. Everybody at the moment is a bit squeezed. But there’s a good sense of community here. A lot of artists from different genres are friends with each other and support each other when times are tough. But being an artist is hard. Nobody is in it for the money.”
O’Brien says he has faith in the arts minister, Catherine Martin. “It’s tricky. It’s a department that other departments don’t necessarily take seriously. But it feels like Catherine Martin is listening a little bit and that she’s on the side of art.”
But he adds: “The amount of money available to artists is so much smaller than in other European countries, even with similar sized populations. So that makes it harder.”
In the summer of 2022, O’Brien’s new opera, Morrigan, which he composed with the libretto by Éadaoin O’Donoghue, was staged to great fanfare at the Cork Opera House. A reworking of the Irish legend of Deirdre and the Sons of Usna, it garnered rave reviews but hasn’t had a life beyond that first run. However, O’Brien is hopeful that the many conversations he’s been having about the opera will result in more performances.
“It was only ever funded to make the show in the Cork Opera House. We’re looking at how it might have a future life in lots of places. It was recorded and broadcast on Lyric FM. One of the things we learned from Morrigan is how to make work of that scale. There were over one hundred people working on it. It was three years work for three nights in Cork. You want to do three years work for ten cities across the world. It’s just that these things are so expensive.”
Was it worth it? “The audience seemed to really enjoy it. The artists involved really enjoyed making it. All of that means it was completely worth it. I don’t think the life of Morrigan is over. It’s like a seed so far and hopefully it will grow. It’s not going anywhere yet but there’s talks about it.”
Ever the versatile artist, O’Brien is also directing The Tragedy of Carmen for Cork Opera House. He will be conducting the opening performance at the Cork International Choral Festival and he is writing a score for a feature film directed by Padraig Trehy. It may not be an easy path, but O'Brien is looking as busy as ever.
- The Everyman presents 'Music of...' on February 4, March 10 and April 28, with multi-show bundles available. See everymancork.com
