Mary Hickson is in her last month as the chief executive of the Cork Opera House. In the past five years, Hickson has re-energised the venue on Emmet Place, changing it from an organisation in troubled financial waters to one with a bright and sustainable future.
The transformation was enacted by the broadening of the programme that balanced the artistic and commercial aspects, so that the Opera House would offer something for everyone.
These days, the Opera House is more of a “variety house” to include everything from avant-garde opera to child-friendly singalongs. Hickson says the idea was to “give it back to the people of Cork”.
“The energy in the building is different now,” says Hickson. “It feels open and welcoming and it invites you in now which is hugely important as it is essentially a civic space. Artists and audience members feel this when they come into the house either through the stage door or the front door.”
Hickson took on the challenge of turning the Opera House knowing fully how much time it would occupy in her life. As part of the deal, she consciously committed to the contracted five years and no more.
“It needed full-time attention at the beginning – a kind of ICU situation,” says Hickson. “This was not easy on the family, and I hate to say that it wasn’t the healthiest work-life balance – a situation I want to address in the next chapter of my life.”
An ambitious last hurrah
As a last hurrah and a last big challenge for her time as chief executive, Hickson has developed a new city festival in Cork called Sounds From A Safe Harbour, informed by the port of Cork, which is happening in 30 venues around the city this weekend.
Curated by Bryce Dessner of the New York-based indie rock band The National, Sounds From A Safe Harbour will see 450 artists perform in Cork venues over four days, including The Gloaming, Lisa Hannigan, Crash Ensemble, My Brightest Diamond, Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, Valgeir Sigurðsson and more. Film screenings, comedy, pop-up dinners, a music trail, collaborations, talks, screenings and exhibitions are also on the programme.
Hickson first met Dessner three years ago when the musician was in Cork to play a show with his band at the Marquee. They met for a cup of tea in Hayfield Manor Hotel, and two-and-a-half hours later, a vague plan was hatched to collaborate.
When the Cork Opera House was invited to join a commission pool for a new piece by Dessner and Richard Reed Parry along with the MET, Barbican, Sydney Festival, Edinburgh Festival and the St Denis Festival, the opportunity arose to tie the festival into the organisation’s 160th birthday.
Dessner and Parry's piece, entitled Wave Movements will be performed this Saturday at the Opera House with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by a film by the Japanese photographer Sugimoto.
Water runs through the festival
That piece responds directly to ocean wave patterns and was to lead Hickson and Dessner to a festival that makes the port and water central to the programme.
“When Bryce and I were playing around with titles for the festival, we looked to the city,” says Hickson. “In this search, we sat on the coat of arms for a while – the text of which translates as ‘a safe harbour for ships’. We were constantly drawn back to the port and the notion of a safe and intimate place.
"It forced us to really engage with the port itself, and we are thrilled to activate Custom House Quay and in particular the Bonded Warehouses. The Irish Naval Service have confirmed that the LE Ciara will come to Cork on Friday for the weekend where they will conduct public tours and host some receptions."
For Hickson, Sounds From A Safe Harbour is a culmination of the experience and networks cultivated from working with the likes of the Festival of World Cultures, Crash Ensemble and her five busy years at the helm of the Cork Opera House.
“Many of the artists I would have worked with throughout the years are featured in the programme,” says Hickson. “Bryce and I have essentially activated our own separate communities and are bringing them together in this festival.”
Icelandic artists ahoy
The festival draws noticeably from Iceland, artists from which both Hickson and Dessner are familiar with. "There is something about the music of Iceland," says Hickson. "It is very visceral. It always makes me think of landscape and water, which are two themes running through these events."
Composers, musicians and visual artists from the country including Amiina, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Kjartan Sveinsson and Skúli Sverrisson will feature at the festival. Sigurðsson’s Reykjavík-based label Bedroom Community will also be represented in a collaboration between Crash Ensemble and Valgeir Sigurðsson, along with Vermont folk artist Sam Amidon at a late-night show at the Everyman Theatre on Saturday.
The Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson collaborated with The National on A Lot Of Sorrow, which saw the band perform their song Sorrow at New York's MoMA PS1 108 times in a row for a duration of six hours. The resulting film will be shown at the Crawford Art Gallery from Thursday to Saturday during the festival.
Warm-up show
In the lead-up to Sounds From A Safe Harbour, a number of participating festival artists – including Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Lisa Hannigan, Crash Ensemble and Canadian violinist Yuki Numata Resnick – spent the past week in residency at Lismore Castle, Co Waterford, collaborating on music. Their time there culminated in a live performance last Saturday night.
It was like a fairy-tale,” recounts Hickson. “ We had the most magical week, where both planned and unplanned collaboration happened. There was a trust and willingness to share within the community we have created for the festival. We had three designated rehearsal spaces, but by the weekend you could hear music coming from everywhere – we literally filled the castle with music.”
Hickson will be hoping that that magic carries forward into this weekend when the festival docks in the city.
“With 70 events taking place in more than 30 venues over four days what we have done is create a scenario where the city is deeply invested in the festival. I believe there will be a real sense of community felt throughout the city at the weekend. We made it together and will present it together. I couldn’t imagine it happening anywhere else.”
