We came up with idea for Cork music fest when we were studying abroad and homesick

TELL us about yourself;

We are Norah O’Leary and Caitríona O’Mahony, co-directors of East Cork Early Music Festival which runs this year from October 13-15. We met in 2014 and have been the firmest of friends ever since. Norah says ‘we weirdly bonded over my pronunciation of the word ‘escape’ whilst driving to Caitríona’s final year exam in Cork School of Music. It was one of those ‘you had to be there’ moments, but whilst driving down Union Quay, I murmured “Escap-ay” to myself, a la dory in Finding Nemo, and that was it, ice was broken.

We both randomly bumped into each other, quite homesick, when we were studying abroad and came up with the idea to found our own ensemble, Ensemble Dagda and also took on running ECEM. 

It’s a solid friendship built mostly on hilarity found through tiredness, late-night trips to Tesco after concerts, and long, late-night drives home, singing loudly to keep ourselves awake.

Where were you born?

Caitriona was born in Cork, Norah in Wexford.

Where do you live?

Norah: “My heart lives in Cork but currently the rest of me resides in Wexford.”

Caitriona: “I live in Cork, happily with my two best sidekicks - Jack Russells Lucy and Honey, and a couple of humans”

Best friend?

Both answer simultaneously “my dog(s)”

Caitriona: “There are definitely a group of friends I would be lost without, but I couldn’t single out one individual - the dogs are a firm go-to, without them sure I’d be lost.”

Earliest childhood memory?

Caitriona: “It’s always the odd things, isn’t it - I have a memory of the wallpaper and carpet when sitting on a spiral-y stair case in my babysitter’s house when I must have been about two, with two of my daycare friends - Richard and Daisy. The perspective of a small child is so much lower to the ground!”

Where was your most memorable holiday?

Caitriona: “We had a really great time in Helsinki a few years back when I came over to play for Norah’s final Masters recital - there were traditional Finnish saunas, a lot of snow, browsing in bookshops, some mulled wine, and (because nothing can ever be entirely normal with us) an evening getting very confused trying to take apart an Ikea bed.”

Favourite TV programme?

You have to love a bit of GBBO don’t you! We both definitely are big fans of the show - when Norah was still living in Cork, twas something we would often watch together, years go past and both of us might be watching it on catch-up or the Channel 4 player, but it’s still something we both watch!

Favourite radio show?

Norah: “Rising Time on RTÉ one is such a lovely programme. I find it really relaxing, I was very grateful for both Shay and Lilian in the run up to Covid. I was living in London at the time and felt very disconnected from home, but Rising Time in the morning provided massive reassurance. And that continued throughout the pandemic.”

Caitriona: “I love The Arts House with Elmarie Mawe on 96FM - she’s so wonderful at getting the best out of Cork’s arts scene. Also for us early music nerds, Vlad Smishkewych’s Vox Nostra on Lyric is a great successor to the old favourite of Tim Thurston’s Gloria.”

Your signature dish if cooking?

Caitriona: “We are a bit hippy with the food in that I love making some kale chips and a butternut squash tart, while Norah is great with an Indian dal. We balance it out with a rake of good cheese and chocolate though!”

Favourite restaurant?

We have gotten most of the musicians who come to the festival hooked on the wonderful food at Miyazaki while they’re in Cork! The Good Day Deli in Nano Nagle Place is also reliably wonderful and we’ve had some great times there while running concerts in Nano Nagle Place’s lovely Goldie Chapel.

Last book you read?

Caitriona: “I recently got through Manchán Magan’s beautiful Thirty-Two Words for Field, and it’s the type of thing I love - lots of little insights that make you go ‘Of course!’”

Best book you read?

Caitriona: “Such a difficult question! I really liked Raynor Winn’s memory The Salt Path and its follow-ons in the last few years. Norah knows that I also tend to return over and over to Anne Of Green Gables - a favourite when I was a kid that has become my adult stress read!”

Favourite song?

Caitriona: “There’s a type of song, or what might be considered a Baroque ‘standard’, called a chaconne, which we both love to play, and exists in a lot of different versions by different composers, so that would be a big one! For an actual ‘song’, Norah’s partner Mark is an incredible singer (and also director of Sestina Music who perform this year), and his version of Bach’s Erbarme dich from the Matthew Passion would bring anyone to tears.”

One person you would like to see in concert?

From the present or the past? 

If we had a chance, it would definitely be something to hear Handel when he visited Dublin in the 1740s to perform the first Messiah!

Do you have a pet?

Yes! We couldn’t live without them! Caitriona has two little Jack Russells called Lucy and Bunny, Norah has a collie called Óengus.

Morning person or night owl?

Norah: “Caitríona is weird, she’s capable of being both. Me, I’m a morning person through and through, ask me to get up at 4am and it’s no problem at all, late nights and I’m chugging back the coffee like it’s going out of fashion.”

Your proudest moment?

I think probably our first festival in 2018 would have been a big one. We had the fantastic Sestina Music with Cork’s own Madrigal ’75 performing a full St John Passion at St Mary’s Collegiate Church in Youghal. Some of our regular audience members were actually in tears at the end of it, so it made a lot of the stress and hard work getting there worth it.

Spendthrift or saver?

Ha! We run a music festival that functions on a tight budget! Spendsavers 100%!!!

What makes you happy?

There’s really nothing like playing music with nice people - one of the wonderful things about this festival is getting to bring our favourite musicians together and making music.

Aside from that, we both have a bit of a thing for weird hobbies outside of our musical lives - Caitriona does aerial acrobatics at the Circus Factory and is very happy dangling upside down from a trapeze, Norah’s a devotee of yoga and working to get back to pole after an injury.

How would you like to be remembered?

For having given people some moments of being really moved by music.

What else are you up to at the moment?

Caitriona: “In the arts world there’s always lots of other things going on! I’m also working for a jazz organisation which can get really busy, and Norah’s balancing freelance performing and admin with a bit of sheep-farming on the side just to keep it real!”

For a full programme see eastcorkearlymusic.ie