Sinéad Nà Mhurchú is a Cork soprano who has performed in opera and concerts in her country and abroad. As part of Magic Nights by the Lee, she will perform a selection of opera arias at Glen River Park on Saturday, September 4, in a lineup that includes Keith Pascoe of the Vanbrugh String Quartet and singer-songwriter Jack O ‘Rourke. Sinéad is married with two daughters and teaches at Cork City Music College.
Half of a yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A brilliant story weave and vibrant characters let you feel the true emotional impact of the horrors of war. A work of fiction based on real facts and first-hand accounts.
The films of the Covid era were very family-oriented (suffice to say, I know ALL Marvel characters by name!). That said, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems stands out in recent memory as something thrilling in terms of pace and intensity – up there with Whiplash for dry mouth and adrenaline discomfort.
The streaming concerts left me a little sad and eager, and very grateful for the reality, as a live performance is an experience that I don’t think I can properly portray on screen. Before confinement, I could hear Anita Rachsvelishvilli sing Amneris (Verdi’s Aïda) in Verona. It was a visceral experience – totally unforgettable.
Blood on the rails. I’m a latecomer to Dylan, among others, having long been obsessed with opera and classical. As my tooth grows, I understand better the urgency of his message. On the other hand, I fell in love with Cesaria Evora again. Its ambiance was the perfect backdrop for our recent heat wave – evoking sunsets, holiday cocktails, the smells and sounds of hot summer nights.
I distinctly remember a performance of Peter and the Wolf at Town Hall when I was a child and I was delighted by the characters having their own instrument or motif. However, it was through the Dead Poets’ Society with Robin Williams that I discovered the Adagio of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.5. I was captivated by its breathtaking beauty and simplicity.
John O’Brien’s treatment of I Pagliacci in The Everyman. I mean, talking about overturning opera and recalibrating the art form to be a completely immersive experience for the audience. His innovation brought the wow factor to Cork Opera House.
Unorthodox on Netflix sparked a fascination (in Yiddish) for similar stories of religious oppression and rebellion within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Also, Call My Agent was such a great idea for a series – a real who’s who of French cinema, that made me laugh.
In the car, I listen to Lyric FM unless it’s John Creedon. It educates my ear and soothes my soul in equal measure. For the school run, I cried listening to heartbreaking stories about Joe Duffy, but mostly I cried laughing – Joe pisses me off fiercely!
I dive into podcasts that try to figure out what it’s all about: Pat Divilly, Russell Brand, How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, and a bit of Motherfoclóir with Darach Ó Séaghadha.
Lise Davidsen, Anita Rachsvelishvilli, Piotr Beczala – I would listen to any of them sing just about anything but I would settle for all three in Verdi’s Il Trovatore.
I spent a summer aupairing in Paris at the time. As it turned out they were celebrities and their friend was Omar Sharif, hence the afternoons spent in a swimming pool in Deauville feasting on his Hollywood adventures and what it was like to play in front of Barbra Streisand! There were pictures; my mother was delighted.
Paris in the 1920s – to experience the raw energy of the Roaring Twenties, the birth of European jazz, the culture of cafes in “the navel of the world”.
May the arts be treated as a source of air for the human soul and not just as an afterthought as we are seeing with this pandemic. Let music be a core curriculum from the early years with tuition, instrument and support for each child. This is after having overhauled the entire system to ensure a minimum living wage for creatives, at least equal to the European average.
After all, what got people through the dark days of Covid? Now where’s my magic wand …