On Saturday 11 May, the John McCormack Society’s guest speaker in Buswell’s Hotel at 11.00 a.m. is Jeremy Meehan from Cork. Jeremy, in collaboration with the legendary Ward Marston, was instrumental in delivering the digital restoration and resissuing of John McCormack’s Odeon, Electrical and radio broadcast recordings.
“I’m delighted to be asked to present a programme for the Society. I’ve called my talk ‘A Miscellany of Curiosities’. I’ve tried to pick a wide range of pieces that each have some quirky aspect to them, and I hope there will be something for everyone.”
One piece, that will be familiar to any lover of opera, is the aria “Pour mon âme, quel destin!” from Donizetti’s La Figlia del Reggimento, with its spectacular High Cs, sung here by the tenor Juan Diego Florez.
Our next in-person talk will be held in Buswells Hotel, Dublin, on the 13th of April. It will start at 11am and all are welcome. This talk was planned for November 2023 but had to be postponed so we’re delighted that we’ve been able to reschedule it. It will offer a unique perspective on McCormack and his recording legacy.
David Kelly’s talk ‘John McCormack – Connections and Associations’ will explore the recordings the Irish tenor made of material from Tin Pan Alley and their later associations with some of the biggest crooners that followed, such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. It promises to be a fascinating look at this popular song form.
Here’s John McCormack’s recording of Irving Berlin’s ‘All Alone’. The song would go on to be recorded by many artists.
Frank Sinatra recorded ‘All Alone’ in 1962. It is a very different interpretation to the recording made by John McCormack.
Yesterday’s talk, Singers of a Bygone Era, at Buswells Hotel was a delight. One stand out recording, among many, was the glorious performance of the Italian baritone Apollo Granforte. Check out his Largo al factotum from Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia. Thrilling!
Our next talk takes place on Saturday the 9th of March in Buswells Hotel, Dublin. It commences at 11am and all are welcome.
David Clarke will take us on a journey that will span a diverse range of singers from the 1910’s to the 1930’s. A total of 16 recordings will be played that will feature artists such as Rosa Ponselle, Emmy Destinn, Claudia Muzio, Enrico Caruso, Feodor Chaliapin, Giovanni Martinelli, and Tito Schipa. Three of the recordings will also be by our own John McCormack. But you won’t be hearing his version of Macushla. The honour on the day will be bestowed on Heddle Nash. A prominent English tenor, he happened to share a birthday with John McCormack, though ten years younger than the Irish tenor.
One of the McCormack recordings to be played on the day is his interpretation of Tu Che a Dio Spiegasti L’ali (You who spread your wings to God) from Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Here’s the recording to give you a taster of what to expect.
The Society’s next talk – Shared Memories and Recollections – will be presented by John O’Carroll, and will take place in Buswells Hotel, Dublin on the 10th February at 11am. All are welcome.
The talk will explore the theme of shared memories of John MacCormack, revealing our childhood & family experiences of the singer. What do people remember? What stories do they have to share?
This will be a forum for collective audience participation and will be accompanied by a presentation that is illustrated with some favourite images, clips & songs.
With Christmas upon us, we have to share John McCormack’s 1926 recording of Adeste Fideles. In the choir is a young Richard Crooks who went on to have a distinguished career as a lead tenor at the Metropolitan Opera. This is the second recording of the song that John recorded. An earlier version was made in 1915 during the acoustic era.
John McCormack recorded Silent Night in October 1940 at Abbey Road Studios. Although his voice is far from its peak, there is no diminution in John’s ability to communicate the words of a song. Arguably, this aspect of his art grew as he aged.
Happy Christmas to all our members and to all who love the music of John McCormack. We look forward to sharing a lot more stories and recordings in 2024.
Our next talk takes place this coming Saturday 9th of December at 11am in Buswells Hotel. It’s not really a talk, as we will be screening John McCormack’s film ‘Song O’ My Heart’ which he made for Fox Pictures in 1930. There will be a brief introduction before the screening.
John was paid the princely sum of €500,000 for his starring role, underling the global fame and popularity of the Irish tenor. The film features the only recorded footage of McCormack performing on the concert stage.
The following clip is of McCormack performing the 18th century French love, Plaisir d’amour.
John McCormack and his accompanist, Teddy Schneider
Our next in-person talk will be held in Buswells Hotel, Dublin, on the 11th of November. It will start at 11am and all are welcome.
David Kelly will deliver his talk ‘John McCormack – Connections and Associations’ that will explore the recordings the Irish tenor made of material from Tin Pan Alley and their later associations with some of the biggest crooners that followed, such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. It promises to be a fascinating look at this popular song form.
Here’s John McCormack’s recording of Irving Berlin’s ‘All Alone’. The song would go on to be recorded by many artists.
Frank Sinatra recorded ‘All Alone’ in 1962. It is a very different interpretation of the song to that of McCormack’s.
Ruby Boland is from Clane in Co. Kildare. The 19 year old is a student at Newbridge Vocal Academy where she studies classical singing, repertoire and performance under the tutelage of Owen C. Lynch.
Recent successes for Ruby include 1st place in the Senior Soprano Solo, and 1st place in the Margaret Burke Sheridan award at Dublin Feis Ceoil 2023. She also came 1st in the U14, U16, U18 and the Junior Recital at the Dublin Feis Ceoil over the years. Recent solo engagements include a concert in the National Concert Hall’s John Field Room, performances with the Owen C. Lynch Vocal Ensemble and Orchestra, The Baldonnel Singers and the St. Cecilia Singers, Dublin.
Ruby Boland performing in the Oak Room, Mansion House, Dublin. She’s accompanied by Dearbhla Brosnan
Boyu Liu performs Mozart’s Non più andrai from The Marriage of Figaro
Boyu Liu from Heilongjiang (China) developed a love of classical music at an early age and started singing lessons when he was sixteen years old. He won many prizes at high school and at Harbin University. Boyu won the Vincent O’Brien Cup during the 2023 Feis Ceoil.
Join us on Saturday the 14th of October in Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street. Talk commences at 11am. All are welcome.
David Clarke returns to deliver another one of his superb talks. On this occasion he’s going to look at the careers of the tenor, Joseph Schmidt, and the soprano, Margaret Burke Sheridan. Through film and recordings he will share some insights into the lives these two exceptional singers and their music legacies.
Aimee Kearney performs Schubert’s ‘Ganymed’ with accompaniment by Dearbhla Brosnan
Aimee Kearney is a light operatic soprano currently studying vocal performance on the professional mentorship scheme with Virginia Kerr and Andrew Synnott at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. In addition to her performances as a classical soloist, she sings chamber music, opera and choral music.
Aimee has starred as ‘Dominic the prince’ in the Irish premiere of Elisabeth Maconchy’s opera The Sofa. She performed as ‘Suor Genovieffa’ in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with Berlin Opera Academy in summer 2022. Aimee looks forward to making her Lyric Opera debut as ‘Sandman’ in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel in October 2023.
Aimee is a frequent competition winner and finalist. Aimee was awarded the Irish Prize in the international Charles Wood Song Competition final in March 2023. She was awarded the Audience Prize in the Dean and Chadlington song competition, 2023. She was the winner of the Irene Sandford Award for singers 2021 and winner of the aria prize in the same competition. She was a finalist in the Ashburnham Song Competition and the Maura Dowdall Concerto Competition this year. She is a multiple prize winner in Dublin’s prestigious Feis Ceoil, including the Plunkett Greene, The German Government Cup and the Young Cup.
Aimee has performed in many concerts and recitals including multiple solo recitals in the Charles Wood Festival of Music. Aimee performed a solo recital in the Killaloe Chamber Music Festival in June as the chosen Young Artist performer. She has been guest soloist with The Army Band, Nas na Rí Singers, The Plurabelle Singers and The Revenue Choir, and has performed in venues such as the National Concert Hall, Mansion House, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patricks Cathedral and The RDS.
Aimee has won many prestigious bursaries and grants, including The South Dublin County Council Individual Artist Award and, most recently, The John McCormack Society Vocal Bursary.
We had a wonderful turnout at the Mansion House, Dublin for our annual Bursary Awards Concert. Held in the Oak Room, we were delighted to hear the recipients, Aimee Kearney, Ruby Boland and Boyu Liu perform a selection of songs from their popular and classical repertoire. A filmed performance by each of the singers will be published over the coming weeks. The singers were accompanied by Dearbhla Brosnan, the well known and highly regarded pianist.
Boyu Liu, Ruth Boland, Aimee Kearney and Patrick Hyland
We had a special guest on the night, a first for the John McCormack Society. Patrick Hyland, the multi-award winning tenor has performed in a wide variety of operatic roles and has given concert recitals extensively at home and abroad. Patrick delivered a tour de force, performing some of McCormack’s signature songs. He also delivered a thrilling ‘Ah, mes amis’ from Donizetti’s ‘La fille de régiment’, tackling the 9 high Cs with great aplomb.
We had a wonderful turnout for Keith Kurtzer’s talk, with people traveling from Cork and Tipperary to be with us at Buswell’s Hotel. Keith delivered a tour de force presentation which contained a lot of unseen and unpublished material. For those who were unable to attend Keith very kindly provided us with a copy of his presentation. Although we don’t have Keith’s guiding narrative we hope it will provide Society members and McCormack enthusiasts with an enjoyable trip down memory lane.
Peter Dwan, Tish Tinney (John McCormack’s granddaughter), Jeremy Meehan, Keith Kurtzer, Gordon Ledbetter and Elizabeth O’BrienKeith Kurtzer presented with a John McCormack Commemorative Silver Coin by Elizabeth O’Brien
‘Jack Keveny’s John McCormack – Anecdotes of a Concert Monarch’ by Keith Kurtzer
John McCormack Society 