Sep/090
The SMS Interview: Michael Murphy’s view
We are delighted to welcome Michael Murphy, Director of University Concert Hall (UCH), which is on the campus of University of Limerick (UL).
This is 2nd in a series of interviews we plan to publish about SMS around the theme of “SMS : Significance & Future” - showcasing views of key people in and connected with SMS.
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Michael Murphy’s CV :
- responsible for management, growth and development of UCH
- opened & launched UCH in September 1993
- finance director of Irish based high-tech electronics company with marketing, sales and distribution subsidiaries in the UK, Europe and USA
- chartered accountant @PricewaterhouseCoopers Limerick & London
- Educated @ Blackrock College Dublin & Crescent College Limerick
- born Limerick City
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Favorite sport: Rugby. I was @ Crescent College Limerick & Blackrock College Dublin. Support & follow Munster (& Old Crescent).
Favorite music: Eagles, Eric Clapton & Opera, particularly Verdi
Favorite performance ever: Maria Callas & Eric Clapton
Favorite food: I’m a Francophile. Love the weather, love the country, like most of the people – they can be a bit obnoxious at times. There’s a particular restaurant where you get seafood & fillet steak (served out in the open) followed by Crepe Suzette – truly lovely.
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What was your first contact with SMS?
We opened the Concert Hall (UCH) in 1993…. In 1996 it was brought to my attention that Clare Music Makers Association were inquiring about hiring the Hall for a concert in July. I thought “great stuff, this is our quiet period.” Said “keep dealing away with them”. Weeks later, I noticed we had an evening of classical music, Beethoven, Mozart and all that sort of stuff… “Where did all that come out of?“ I was told that was Clare Music Makers Association.
The joke here is that when I heard Clare Music Makers Association originally, I automatically, incorrectly, assumed they were a trad Irish group. And I’m going “CMMA play Mozart! What the hell is going on?”
Shortly after, I met Bob & Nancy Creech, and whoever they had at that time. I began to realise and understand what they were about.
CMMA is still there. They’re a separate organisation from Bob. He was involved with them; his daughter I think was teaching over there, and they used to have a summer festival, “Summer Music on the Shannon”.
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Where did you first meet Bob Creech?
It was here in Allegro Cafe in UCH. It was just before their performance. They were in: all of a sudden they were all over the place; rehearsing. I was introduced to him, probably by Henri (Box Office Manager) who’d been dealing with their concert arrangements & requirements.
Talking to Bob Creech, I discovered he’d been General Manager of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for 10 years. A Canadian, wonderful horn player, a man with a huge CV, played with so many orchestras. We were able to talk about Vancouver.
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What’s the connection between Vancouver, Bob Creech and you?
Suzanne Murphy, my sister, was singing in Vancouver. I was working as accountant for an international business. I had to go to Silicone Valley, San Francisco. I timed the trip so that I could travel up to Vancouver afterwards. Suzanne was performing Lucia de Lammermore. I thought I could hop up there, not realising how far it was. Suzanne sang with Dennis O’Neill. It was a stunning, brilliant performance. It’s one of my favourite operas. A magnificent evening. I was absolutely proud in that packed Vancouver hall: here was this girl from Limerick singing in on an international stage.
Next morning in Vancouver Airport, I went to find a newspaper, to see if there was a review. There were big headlines “Nothing Like This For 10 Years“. Vancouver Opera was the second home of Joan Sutherland [hear her sing here]. It was 10 years since she’s sung there. Talking to Bob Creech years later: he was the leader of the orchestra that night!
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What was your first impression of Bob Creech?
Small in stature, well able to listen. I found him an exceptionally interesting character. As you get to know him more and more, you realise he’s had an amazing musical career. He’s built up a wonderful network of contacts with whom he’s kept in touch. People like Carl Davis & Jose Louis Garcia (who’s come to UCH to give tutorials in the Concert Hall).
It’s the legacy he’s created, as musician & arts administrator, including the founding of a Summer School in Vancouver. Bob is forceful…. He’s worked with Paul McCartney, even had the idea of getting Paul to come to Limerick. I’ll believe that when I see it.
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What attracted you to the idea of giving SMS a home in UCH?
It fell into our lap. If you were to prepare a job spec for artistic director, Bob Creech would fit it ideally. What really attracted him was the acoustic of the Hall. At the beginning, I was simply renting a hall to Clare Music Makers. Year after year, Bob Creech came back. SMS were hiring school rooms in Ennis & Limerick. But it was splintered. That doesn’t make for a good festival
Bob was bringing staff in. It grew from one performance. Bob was pressing me for space for tutorials, and then residential student accommodation. It grew and moved in, to the point where there is almost nothing in Ennis. You could say SMS migrated in.
Clare Music Makers is run by a committee. The SMS summer school grew out of it. CMMA found SMS was becoming too big; they were exhausted by it, and wanted to discontinue the relationship. This had financial implications for SMS.
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What were the implications of SMS moving from Clare Music Makers to UCH?
SMS was in receipt of funding from various agencies, including the Arts Council, in the name of CMMA. SMS is not a limited company, limited by guarantee. Bob came to me. We discussed what to do. The obvious thing to do was for UCH to assume SMS as a project of ours, run by Bob Creech.
I was happy, having observed the growth of SMS over many years.
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What’s become the relationship of UCH to SMS?
There was no perceived change. Bob Creech ran SMS. We’d discuss it. Bob Creech would tell me about, say, John Perry. I’d say “I don’t mind what you do artistically, you’re in charge of that area. But I need SMS to break even.”
Then there was the development of the Youth Opera Theatre Programme. Bob Creech’s contacts again. With the production of Noah’s Flood, SMS developed an Arts Programme for two weeks. I was excited by it: kids making the art for the opera staging, rehearsing and learning alongside professional musicians. It’s the discipline of the process, including individual solo performance.
But opera is very expensive to put on… Bob Creech is an artistic entrepreneur.
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Has the expansion of SMS created any challenges for you?
SMS has grown because of the number of students, needing more and more rooms. Bob says “get rooms for me”. I’ve had to go to university departments to acquire rooms for rehearsal, and try to keep up with the expansion. SMS is now a 4 week event. That excites me… but has brought its own challenge.
The campus, in the ’90s, was like a desert all summer, all idle. SMS fitted in neatly with my ambitions to have activity here on the campus. In recent years, the UL campus in summer has become a destination for all sorts of students, many here for language study. Now it’s become difficult to find accommodation on campus. SMS doesn’t have the same freedom as before.
Aug/092
The SMS Interview : David Collopy’s view of SMS
We are delighted to welcome David Collopy, General Manager of University Concert Hall (UCH), located on the campus of University of Limerick (UL).
This is the first of a series of interviews we hope to publish around the theme of “SMS : Significance & Future” - showcasing views of key people in and connected with SMS.
David brings a wonderful CV to SMS.
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Director Glór – Irish Music Centre in Ennis, Co Clare
October 2007 — October 2008
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Chief Executive Opera Ireland
November 1985 — December 2006
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General Administrator Wexford Festival Opera
February 1980 — September 1985
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Some personal favorites…
Favorite Sport: I’m not really interested in any sport. If offered tickets for Heineken Cup final (Munster playing), I’d probably say “tickets should go to someone who’s passionate about the game.”
Favorite Food: My favourite food experience is the seafood platter in Linnane’s New Quay, County Clare. This is a pub-restaurant, on southern shore of Galway Bay, near Ballyvaughan (known as “the flaggy shore“). There was a boat disaster there; I saw a documentary on it. I’m a seafood person; I’d live on it if I could.
Favorite music: If I could take only one piece to a desert island, it would have to be opera: overture to Verdi’s La Forza del destino [listen here] - a common enough overture, but I love it
Favorite performer, musician or singer: Maria Callas
Favorite country: Switzerland. Been many times. love it – so many contrasts
Country you’d love to go to: Bali. Wanted to get married there. Or Goa
Favorite city: Paris, culturally
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How did you first hear about “Summer Music on the Shannon”?
Seven years ago, when I was chief executive of Opera Ireland, Michael Murphy, director UCH, told me about this “summer camp”. Michael introduced me to Bob Creech. SMS opera project had just started. It was something I wanted to explore, because Opera Ireland was very keen to nurture young talent. SMS opera programme was a programme with which we wanted to build a partnership. We wanted to support it.
Opera Ireland became partner/sponsor of SMS opera programme. It was great for SMS to link with the only national opera organisation in Ireland.
When I left Opera Ireland, I wrote a report for Michael Murphy on how to take this link forward. I also looked at organisational structure & management, began to work closely with Bob Creech. UCH wanted to help SMS achieve its ‘raison d’etre’.
Any highlights in relation to SMS?
As general manager UCH from November 2008, I began to “look after” SMS from a UCH perspective. We’ve tried to make a bit more sense of the relationship.
SMS is actually a “project” of UCH. SMS isn’t a legal entity in its own right. In terms of liabilities, financial and otherwise, SMS comes under UCH. When making grant applications, applications go forward from UCH. My job is to add more resource to SMS for management & administration. We want to continuously improve SMS business organisation, so that the artistic, learning & performance side of SMS can continue to flourish.
When SMS is on UL campus, the two organisations are nearly one and the same.
Who else in UCH plays an important role in SMS?
Marie Healy is Registrar: looks after applicants signing-up for courses; deals with queries & all things on campus - even doctors & dentists.
Paul Boland is Technical Manager. We have 22 public performances.
Anything that must move for performances@St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilrush, Bruff, Kilmallock – like projectors & sound equipment - is provided by UCH technical department.
Paul Boland also acts as Production Manager: sets up & provides equipment, schedules, deals with the technical side of Concert Hall, lights the hall, works with Set Designer to help realise the overall design concept.
Emma Foote, Marketing Manager: prepares printed material, brochures, press releases, radio ads, helps local, regional & national newspapers. For example, Carl Davis [composer of "The Mermaid"] was on Pat Kenny Show with Myles Dungan – she arranges that.
Box Office Manager, Henri Murphy, with our box office staff, sell tickets. There’s no box office@St Mary’s Cathedral, so we have to provide that with house staff.
How does SMS Summer School fit into the annual cycle of Concert Hall?
Fits very well. Summer is every concert hall’s down time for audience. With SMS, we’ve a programme that fills the gap brilliantly.
Remember, SMS occupies more than the Concert Hall. Expands into 3-4 university faculties. Uses space from Languages, Engineering, Irish World Academy of Music & Dance. (Great co-operation there.) Also Jean Monnet Theatre & Jonathan Swift Theatre : SMS pervades the physical fabric of the University Of Limerick.
The downside is that SMS runs during summer holiday season. Local concert-going audience is down, off on holidays. SMS can’t have the same packed houses for concerts as we get during the rest of the year. So it’s a trade off.
What connections exist between SMS & the wider artistic community in Ireland?
Musicians come from their musical communities. After SMS they go back to work in September, on their day jobs. They take the spirit & experience of SMS with them, to Cork, Dublin and beyond.
It’s like ‘viral’ marketing. The word gets out & on to others who may well join SMS. Music education all over Ireland benefits. For example, Artane Band [see them play] with whom SMS has close links, comes to Limerick for a week of their own Concert performances.
The impact of SMS radiates out a fair bit. The musical connections also connect with educational networks. School teachers come to supervise & support students.
There is an essential & strong connection with the international music community as well. SMS began with Bob Creech & friends from Canada & UK. Recently, the Norwegian connection has grown. For example, David Stewart is Canadian. He’s known Bob in Canada. He also has connections with Norway. He was leader of the Norwegian Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. There are so many countries involved in SMS, that these international influences are developing all the time.
Bob Creech is the centre, with his amazing experience and network. If you look at his CV, you’ll see how he’s brought people together from many countries. It’s a bit like Facebook in action – the living embodiment of Facebook [there is an SMS Facebook Group] in terms of networking.
What connections exist with the wider community in Limerick, Clare, Ireland & beyond?
SMS is predominantly a Summer School. A certain school regime is present. As for all children going to school, students share a common interest. But when the child leaves school, it’s over. After SMS, the connection is broken. Contrast this with the world of work: there are people I’ve known, & stayed in touch with, for 30 years.
The student association with the organisation is relatively short. Absence of structures & backup means that, for SMS, the long term connection is not so strong. We have plans to address that.
Do you deliberately plan for children from deprived areas like Moyross to come?
Look at the mission statement for SMS (on website). It’s a very global mission statement. It’s really to make music for everyone, irrespective of age, financial background, or ability. Students have access to SMS music programmes, with bursaries for those who can’t afford the fees. SMS lives out its mission statement.
The SMS experience gives students a bit of a ‘crutch’, if they need it. Young kids come to the programme from Moyross. They develop a talent they didn’t know they had. This a key aspect of what we do. The bursary programme should be the last thing to go if we’re in difficulties. The joy this experience gives kids is of immense value to everyone.
Any particular challenges in 2009?
As I see it, SMS is at a cross roads. SMS has outgrown its success It came to UCH with a 2-week programme. Now it’s over 4 weeks. There are masterclasses now. The programme has expanded out of all recognition. And yet it’s still being run with it’s original approach.
Now we need a serious reassessment. How is SMS going to build and keep bringing in other elements?
We need to develop long term plans. Branding. Governance structures. Strategic marketing. SMS has now become too big to continue as it has been.
It is also struggling financially - like every arts organisation.
Change must be done in a measured and achievable way. You cannot run an organisation which grown so much bigger in size and diversity, on the same resources or mechanisms. This is what Bob Creech has been trying to bring to all our attention. We have to consider how best to move forward for the next phase of SMS – so as to ensure the spirit of SMS for the future.
Looking ahead 5 years, where would you see SMS?
Assuming present demand & growth rate remains constant, we shall concentrate on tuition, but also with performance.
A key aspect for students is that they play alongside professional players from the Philharmonic. What is unique is that they interact as equals in performance of the music. You may have the leader of the Norwegian orchestra playing alongside a student, with the student leading the orchestra. The roles are reversed. It is a great way for kids to learn that this is what its like when you’re a player.
SMS goes to Kilrush, Bruff & Kilmallock. Do you see SMS going to other places, expanded its outreach service?
We need to define outreach. SMS spends 4 weeks working very hard here. Going out from Limerick gives students more performances. Going on tour shows opera students what it’s like to tour an opera. This means it’s not just one performance. They get to perform at home and tour.
We need balance. It’s a matter of showing communities what is available. Letting them find out what an SMS performance could mean to them locally. It’s not a matter of SMS pushing itself into communities. We need local communities to want SMS.
We need to show the very high standard of SMS performance. This is audience development. Growing the appreciation of the value there is in a young student reaching out to young musicians and teachers, on an equal basis. This is an area for policy development.
[to be continued]