Tuning up for Irish World Academy opening

John Rainsford speaks with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin about the opening of the new €21 million purpose-built Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, on Friday, September 24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOCATED on 5,000 square metres of land, on the Clare side of the UL campus, the new Irish World Academy of Music and Dance will house theatres, dance studios – for both traditional and contemporary dance – and research space for 40 PhD students. It is a remarkable success story for a man who started out on the project with little more than a dream over a decade ago.
“When we started we had no students, no programmes of study, no books and no staff,” said Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, professor of music at UL. “It was what you might call a ‘zero-start-up’. I was the only advisor for 21 PhD students back then, so you can imagine the work involved. Originally, I was very influenced by the monastic architecture of the Skelligs with its beehive huts and also by the work of architect Renzo Piano with the Kanak tribe of New Caledonia.
“In 2006, however, we decided to launch an international architecture competition, together with the Royal Irish Association of Architects (RIAA). There were 94 entries in all and a committee, of which I was a member, drew up a shortlist.
“Five designs were chosen for further funding and appraisement. Out of 92 entries in all, Daniel Cordier, a French architect living in London, was chosen as the winner. Now we plan to move across the bridge and occupy his creation.”
Funding for artists has been cut back of late but financial help for its construction has come from Irish American philanthropist Charles (Chuck) Feeney. Somewhat of a legend in his own right, Mr Feeney has donated over €548 million to worthy causes in Ireland through his ‘Atlantic Philanthropies’ organisation.
His creed of ‘giving while living’ has been vital to the successful development of the nascent campus. Visiting staff include the likes of dancer Jean Butler and musician Paul Brady, after whom a series of bursaries have recently been named.
“At first, we were only interested in getting the performing arts centre opened. There was no thought given to crossing the river, although UL’s first president, Dr Edward Walsh, did appear to have envisaged such an eventuality as early as 1970. UL has always been noted for this sort of innovation and forward planning. They were thinking of building this music centre very far in advance. That is what I love about the place.
“We started off with a suite of just nine taught programmes and a one-year MA and introduced three MAs per year for the following three years. Our staff rose from just one to seven in that period. In 2000, we consolidated these programmes and began thinking about the future.
“This was firmed up in 2003-2004 when formal plans were drawn up for the Irish World Academy. We now have the highest ratio of international to Irish students on campus (one out of every three comes from outside the EU). There are over 150 undergraduates and 30 PhD students in all.”
Mícheál was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary and studied for a B Mus at University College Cork (UCC) in 1972 and subsequently for an MA in 1973. He lectured in music at UCC from 1975 before completing a PhD at Queens University Belfast in 1987. In 1994, he was appointed the first chair of music at UL, successfully founding the Irish World Music Centre – later the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. In 1990, he was appointed a visiting professor of music at Boston University.
His greatest musical influences while at UCC were Professor Aloys Fleischmann and Séan Ó Riada. His own style stems from a mix of Irish classical and traditional themes with some 10 CDs of compositions in his back-catalogue to date. These include Dolphin’s way (1987), Óilean (1989) and Between Worlds (1995). His debut album was Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (1975) on the Gael Linn label.
He is seen as the single most important figure involved in the integration of Irish traditional music and dance into the higher education system in Ireland over the past three decades. Indeed, his work continues to influence educators globally.
He has developed BA and MA courses while professor of music at UL and in his first decade hired 16 faculty staff and over 200 students. In November 2004, UL celebrated the 10th anniversary of the founding of his Irish World Music Centre by developing a 3-D model for a new building.
Despite his heavy workload, he still believes passionately in music and in the goals of the centre, even in these recessionary times.
“I am not aware of a single student of ours currently out of a job. That is an amazing statistic. I mean, people do not stop going to concerts because of the recession. In fact the opposite is the case. People need things of the spirit even more today than ever,” he said.
He has established numerous Irish traditional musical and dance archives, including the Traditional Music Archive at UCC (1975) and (1990), the Archive of Irish Traditional Music in America at Boston College and in 1994, the Toyota Performing Arts Archive at UL. He also served for 12 years on the board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin, including six years as its chair.
In 1993, he designed and established Maoin Cheoil an Chlair, an independent music school in Ennis, as a model for similar developments in the EU. He has made many TV documentaries for RTÉ and the BBC, makes occasional appearances on Lyric FM’s Grace Notes and most recently performed with Donal Lunny on TG4. Yet, amazingly, his musical ability has been largely self-taught.
“There were no musical instruments in my home growing up. I got into piano when I was eight and started a rock group in my teens. I wanted to create music out of myself, not for a particular market. Finding my own voice has been my goal from the outset. I only discovered music six months before doing my Leaving Cert. Sr Ita, a nun from the local Presentation convent, gave me tuition and was my music teacher for the exams. I went on then to do a classical music degree at UCC.
“That creative force is still present in me but perhaps not as insistent as it was in my 20s. Today, you might say, that I engage in the poetic as well as the practical. Take Seamus Heaney’s example, he can write poetry as well as prose, when it suits him. I teach as well as doing administrative work and still find time for musical scores when it suits me. These things are not in conflict.
“For example, recently I worked on a new piece of composition, called Fidelio Unsung commissioned by Limerick’s Lyric FM. I still do around 12 concerts a year and write occasional film scores like the recently re-released DVD Irish Destiny – a 1925 silent film about love and war.
“I am not a bit reclusive. It is human interaction, such as that experienced working in teams overseeing the new building, which I crave. I do not see any great difference between musical, academic or administrative pursuits. For me, it is all creative work, involving different parts of my being. I am lucky to live in a 19th century house with thick walls where I can do some recording.
“I have written commercial pieces but commerce does not drive me. Music is all about finding your own voice. I want, all the time, to create music out of myself and not for a particular market. Now if I was not an educator and needed to put a crust on the table that might be different.”
He admires the Beatles but acknowledges that people have different musical tastes. He says it is all about how the brain perceives and processes sound.
Music influences our very thought processes, he believes, but humans are the only species that can appreciate it.
He describes himself as having a wide musical palate that includes jazz and his own two sons, Eoin and Moley, are currently touring with their band, Size2Shoes.
“Music today is very much market led. There is a clear linkage between music companies, the music they produce and sponsor and the stores that sell it. It is a supermarket model driven by capitalist culture.
“It is hard to have visionary people emerge from all this. Music is essential to our humanity and to our sense of identity. Visionary people must find their own voice. That is the most important thing any human can do,” he said.