Cork cellist: ‘I was surrounded by music from birth’

Sinéad O’Halloran was born to play cello, and knew from a very early age that this was the instrument she loved and wanted to play more than any other.

“I had just turned five when I started going to musicianship classes at the School of Music in Cork, and it was just after my sixth birthday when I got my very first baby cello.

“There’s a lot of music in my family. My mom Karen is actually a cellist herself and she taught musicianship in the School of Music, as well as cello, but she never taught me, she always kept it very separate, which I think was a good call.

“I was basically surrounded by music from birth, and apparently from the moment I could speak I said ‘I want to play the cello’. I was always drawn to the sound of it. Maybe it was because my mother played it. I associated it from being in the womb, maybe it was a comforting sound, I’m not sure, but for whatever reason, it has remained my ion.”

Her early love and dedication to the cello has seen Sinéad embark on a sparkling career doing what she loves best.

She is currently the cellist with the award-winning Marmen Quartet, as well as being co-founder and artistic director of the Ortús Chamber Music Festival in Cork, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

She has performed at the most prestigious venues and classical music events around the world, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival and Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale.

In 2018, she was the principal cellist of the European Union Youth Orchestra, leading her section at The Armistice Day 100th anniversary ceremony where she performed at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Sinéad is currently based in London, but her sights are firmly set upon her return to Cork, where she is really looking forward to playing at the Ortús festival, which runs from February 26 to March 2.

Music-lovers are in for a treat when she takes to the stage with the Marmen Quartet, along with Johannes Marmén from Sweden, Laia Valentin Braun of Switzerland playing violin, and Byrony Gibson-Cornish from New Zealand on viola.

The Quartet has just released their debut album on the BIS label featuring music from Bartók and Ligeti and it is already receiving five-star reviews.

The festival begins at St Peter’s in Cork, and events will also be held at Blackrock Castle, Dripsey Castle Estate, which is already sold out, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, UCC Aula Maxima, and the Curtis Auditorium at MTU.

The festival has always been committed to bringing music out of the concert hall and into the community, and past performances have taken place in Kent Station, Cork Airport, and the English Market to name but a few venues. This year is no exception.

“We are particularly ionate about nurturing young musicians and I love that by being involved in organising this festival, it gives me the opportunity to give something back,” said Sinéad.

“This year, we have side-by-side collaborations with the students of the MTU School of Music and the Cork ETB School of Music who are our educational partners.”

They will participate in three concerts this year.

The first of these takes place at St Peter’s Cork on February 26 at 1pm and features the prize winners of the Chamber Music Competition from MTU and the Advanced Recital Competition.

There will also be a free concert at Cork City Library from 3.30pm to 5.30pm featuring young student ensembles.

“Then, on Saturday night, in UCC, we will have a small chamber orchestra made up of student musicians, as well as the main performers,” said Sinéad.

Sinéad co-founded the festival with Irish violinist Mairéad Hickey, with the aim of bringing top-notch musicians to play in Cork, and this is reflected in the programme, which features many of the world’s finest classical and traditional musicians.

There will be violin virtuoso duo Lucia Mc Partlin and Maria Ryan, known as ‘Lucia and Maria’, who met while studying in Cork and quickly realised they shared a ion for folk music.

Kseniia Yershova, a violin and viola player from Ukraine who graduated from the Stolyarsky Lyceum in Odesa, will also take to the stage. Kseniia has performed several times as a soloist at the Odesa Regional Philharmonic from 2019 to 2021, and is currently pursuing her BMus Degree at the MTU Cork School of Music.

Be prepared to be captivated by festival co-founder, violinist Mairéad Hickey, who has won acclaim and wowed audiences with her soaring tone and fearless virtuosity.

Sinéad is over the moon to be performing in Cork.

“My mom Karen and Mairéad’s mother Clare Hatcher do so much work behind the scenes setting up the festival along with Adrien Petcu.

“We have an incredible graphic designer, Alice Coleman, who I was in school with, and Mairéad and I are so grateful for all the from them on the ground in Cork, as Mairéad is based in and I’m based in London.

“Although it’s easy enough to hop over to Cork for a weekend, our schedule can be fairly hectic, so it’s a question of getting the time. It varies from season to season.

“We play around 60 to 70 concerts a year with the Quartet, so we spend a lot of time on the road and sometimes it can be tricky enough to fit in visits home.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to set up the Ortús Festival in Cork to keep a strong connection there, and I’m really excited to be coming back to where my musical journey began.”

Sinéad feels very privileged to be able to travel the world and play the cello.

“I ed the Marmen Quartet mid-pandemic in the summer of 2021. They had already been in existence since 2013 and had won several international prizes.

“A vacancy had arisen for a cellist to play with them, which came at the perfect time for me as I was finishing up my studies at the Royal Northern College in Manchester.

“It had always been my dream to play full-time in a string quartet as my job, but there are very few quartets in the world who manage to make a full-time living out of it, so when I got a message from them asking if I would be interested in playing with them full-time, I was so, so excited.”

The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune, and every time she plays, Sinéad is holding a piece of history in her hands.

Her cello was made by David Tecchler in Rome in 1714, and is generously on loan to her from the Royal Society of Musicians.

She also plays a 1780 Benjamin Banks Cello. She gratefully acknowledges from The Arts Council of Ireland.

“We’re very lucky to have worldwide management, but sadly they don’t come on tour with us, so it’s up to us to carry and look after our instruments ourselves. Every time I fly I need to book a cello seat, and if a string breaks, I am responsible for that too, but thankfully that doesn’t happen too often.

“If it does, we are also very lucky to be sponsored by a string company, Pirastro, as strings are extremely expensive, and they generously supply the Marmen Quartet.

“It’s a busy life organising being on the road with instruments and costumes in tow, but I absolutely adore playing and feel so lucky to be able to play cello to audiences all around the world, it’s an absolute pleasure for me.

“It’s my dream job.”

See: www.ortusfestival.ie