Sinead Doyle - Marketing Executive, National Concert Hall
I’VE ALWAYS loved music. I was in Cór na nÓg as a child. Our very first concert was in the NCH and that’s when I got the bug.
One day soon after that, my father came home with a piano he had bought from a pub. I decided I would teach myself to read music and play it. I ended up doing a degree in pure music and still play piano, but the violin has taken over somewhat.
I always wanted to do this job but I knew I’d have to get some business experience first, so I worked in PR for a number of years. I got this job in 2003.
I’m at my desk by 9am each morning but, because I hate nothing more than wasting time in traffic, I get into the city early and read my book in a cafe nearby.
I’m responsible for all sorts of marketing activities, so a morning could be spent organising our own printed publications, such as calendars and posters or booking newspaper advertising, or I might be devising new promotions and campaigns.
As well as our international concert season, we run events such as movie screenings. At the moment I am working on the forthcoming Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields performance with soloists Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis.
I’m a huge classical fan, but I also love traditional music and for St Patrick’s Day we are bringing back the Kilfenora Céilí Band for the third time. They are fantastic players and great fun, and there will be set dancers and solo dancers performing too.
For lunch I’ll have instant porridge – I like to eat healthily – at my desk and then head out for a walk and some fresh air.
We organise a lot of photo calls to publicise events, so I might be out in the afternoon looking after one of those.
I’ll also phone features editors and music and arts writers to tell them what’s coming up. I’m always looking for a different story angle. I think with classical artists it’s important to show the person behind the performance, to make them accessible.
Visiting orchestras all have interesting stories too, maybe about how hard they’ve had to work to raise funds. Some of them play on cruise ships to get the money to keep going. It can be a struggle.
I think performers like to work with us because we look after them very well. We have a great team too, of 50 full-timers and about 100 part-timers.
I’m very lucky in that, while a lot of people dash out the door at 5pm, I leave knowing I’ll be back in a couple of hours for a performance. If I didn’t work here, I’d be coming anyway.
* Sinead Doyle is marketing executive for the National Concert Hall in Dublin
In conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL