UCC School of Music bequeathed €2m by British master builder

€2m gift coincides with the unveiling of UCC's sound studio

A whole new cohort of musicians are to benefit from a €2m gift donated to University College Cork’s music department — the largest donation in 113 years.

The huge sum was donated by the late Sydney V Regan, a British master builder who came to Cork in the 1960s with his wife Hilda.

The music-loving Regans became familiar faces in Cork circles, with Mr Regan becoming a founder of the Cobh Gramophone Society, as well as a member of the Commodore Male Voice Choir in Cobh.

A burgeoning friendship with one of the most famed Irish composers culminated in the €2m gift, which coincides with the unveiling of UCC's sound studio, described as its most significant investment in years.

Mr Regan became firm friends with the legendary Aloys Fleischmann, professor of music at UCC from 1934 to 1980.

Upon his death in 2017, Mr Regan bequeathed almost all of his €2m estate to the music department once led by his great friend, but also donated €200,000 of his estate to four charities that had captured his heart.

Read More

Cork Orchestral Society to host free online concerts

COPE Foundation, Marymount Hospice, the Cork Deaf Association, and the National Council for the Blind were all recipients of Mr Regan’s generosity.

Interim UCC president, Prof John O’Halloran, said the university is hugely grateful to the estate of Sydney V Regan, calling it an “exceptionally generous bequest”.

“This act of unmatched generosity will enrich the lives of current and future students immeasurably," he said.

Head of music, Dr Jeffrey Weeter, said the bequest is the single largest gift to the Music Department in its 113-year history.

“This act of unmatched generosity will enrich the lives of current and future students immeasurably," he said.