Q & A: Soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh On Her Rising Profile & Her Role As Cora In The World Premiere Of The Curing Line At The Kilkenny Arts Festival

Q & A: Soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh On Her Rising Profile & Her Role As Cora In The World Premiere Of The Curing Line At The Kilkenny Arts Festival By Alan Neilson(Photo: Roberto Santos-Luy) Having just watched the splendid Irish soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh, one of Ireland’s rising stars, in her role debut as Donna Anna in Blackwater Valley Opera Festival’s production of “Don Giovanni” as well as being scheduled to review her next role as Cora in the world premiere of Michael Gallen’s award-winning new opera “The Curing Line” at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, OperaWire thought it would be an ideal time to get to know a little more about her. Not only is Ní Fhearraigh an up-and-coming singer, seemingly destined for starring roles, but she is also a very busy one! If you are a regular opera-goer in Ireland, then you must have seen her sing in numerous productions. It feels that she is never off the stage. In the past few years, she has appeared in a range of productions, including Irish National Opera’s presentations of Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda;” Brian Irvine’s contemporary opera about the life of Rose Kennedy, “Least like the Others;” Rossini’s “Guillaume Tell;” and most recently Marenka in Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride,” to name but a few of the many in which she has appeared. She has also played roles for the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, including Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and another Britten opera, “Owen Wingrave,” for Opera Collective, Ireland. This ignores her many concert performances and recitals. Fortunately, she was able to make time for a speak about her career to date and her commitment to the Irish language, in which she also performs. OperaWire: Recently you played the role of Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni” at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. Normally, she is portrayed as a passive victim who is often overshadowed by Donna Elvira. Yet, in this production, your interpretation was very different. Your Donna Anna was far more aggressive and active. What was your thinking behind this? Amy Fhearraigh: I always try to put a bit of myself into the character I am playing, as I think this is how I get the best from my performance, although, obviously, I am always prepared to play the role in the way the director wants me to. I remember when I was studying for the role that I could see a lot of myself in Donna Anna. It quickly became clear that it was a woman with whom I could identify, which initially surprised me as I had expected to be dragging my heals as I shuffled around the stage. But what I could see was an example of female rage from a scorned woman. She is a woman who has suffered so much horror in such a short period of time on the night before her wedding: she has been raped and then watched her father murdered. It does not feel right that she should be portrayed as weak, and her music has so much strength. I actually think she has some of the strongest music in the opera. There is so much drama in her recitatives. For me, she is the catalyst that drives the opera forward, and I wanted the audience to recognize it by portraying her with plenty of energy and rage. Otherwise, she is just playing out her role as a victim of a man who behaves badly. True, there is a lot of comedy in “Don Giovanni,” but there is also a huge amount of drama too and you can hear it in Donna Anna’s music. She is also conflicted with her status and what she represents. She cannot misbehave too much; she can’t be too angry, as there are expectations to live up to. Actually, the main problem that I found in playing Donna Anna arose because of the comedy. She is not a comic character, whereas all the others do have a comic side to them. It was therefore sometimes difficult for me to find a convincing way to portray her in the bigger scenes. I needed to stay true to my character in the comicsphere. It would be absurd to portray her as a comic character given what has just happened to her. It was important that I remained true to her experience. OW: The opera was played as a simple comedy, situated in a hotel in 2026. What was your view of the production? AF: I thought modernizing it and making it more relatable was a valid interpretation. We are always discussing ways in which we can encourage more young people to attend opera, and this production would definitely have appealed to that age group, although I don’t think that was the agenda. I also think it is always worthwhile and interesting to make opera topical. It is an opera that is easy to transport into the modern era without losing anything. The main problem we experienced was that the staging resources were quite limited. The space, for example, is fairly small. But I liked it; I thought it was very good. The concept was smart, and it threw up much for the audiences could ponder on after the show. OW: Each time I have seen you sing, it has always been in Ireland. Do you have any ambition to sing abroad? AF: During my training I stayed in Ireland, so I didn’t go through the system in Germany like many Irish singers. So my opportunities came from Ireland, as nobody knew me outside the country. But that has started to change. I spent a season in the ensemble in Magdeburg and recently sang Mimi in Biel, Switzerland, thanks to the company’s general director Dieter Kaegi, who also is the artistic director of the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. Also I sang and Rose Kennedy in “Least like the Other” at the Linbury thastre in London. Next year, I will be singing with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, which I am very excited about! It will be a huge step for my career. So things are moving forward and in the right direction. OW: You will be singing in a new opera by Michael Gallen and Annemarie Ní Churreáin called “The Curing Line” at this summer’s Kilkenny Arts’ Festival. What is the gist of the story? AF: The opera is centered around a character called Cora, who lives in an Irish border town in the early 1990s. Originally, she had grown up in institutionalized care before being fostered, in which Eileen becomes her stepsister and Crow becomes her stepfather. She inherits what is known as “the cure,” a long-standing Irish folk tradition of natural medicine and faith healing, which is bestowed upon ordinary people. It is a pagan and ritualistic role that is now fast dying out in Ireland. It predates catholicism. However, when the church arrived, the old pagan beliefs adapted and developed alongside it. The cure was used to heal specific ailments like warts, shingles and ringworm and even back pain. Secret prayers, rituals and remedies were passed from healer to healer. It tends to be inherited by people who have never met their birth parents, and Cora inherits the cure from Crow. This is why it is passed to Cora and not Eileen, who is his natural daughter. The gift allows her to find herself and connect with her culture in deeper ways than she ever expected. Ultimately, however, it tears her life and her relationship with Eileen apart as she loses the power to use it. The cure is like any gift, such as singing; there are many things that stand in the way of being able to use it. She can not force it to happen once she has lost it no matter how hard she tries. OW: What is the work trying to say to us? AF: “The Curing Line” is an opera founded on the traditions of the Irish culture. I believe Michael is attempting to draw people’s attention to their disappearing traditions and culture. His background is in traditional music, and he lived in a border town and has experienced healers; he was taken by his parents and went himself to be cured by them. He is looking to breathe new life into traditional Irish culture by presenting it through the lens of modern opera. Opera is able to do this because it is such a massive, versatile vehicle that can hold it. It is such an adaptable art form. It is sung mainly in English, but it does include some Gaelic when Cora chants the secret prayers. Fortunately, I speak Gaelic, so it won’t be a problem for me. It is an opera that connects us to the old Ireland. Even today, elements of the old Irish culture run deep within our society. It is wild, pagan and ritualistic. Ireland is loved around the world but few understand how unique and deep the culture actually runs. Maybe Michael is attempting to bridge this gap, which also exists for many Irish people as our traditions are quickly eroding. While writing the opera, Michael interviewed people around Ireland who have the cure, and they feel as if they are the last of the line, a line that stretches back maybe thousands of years. Maybe the piece is supposed to be a warning to Ireland of what we are about to lose. OW: What are your thoughts about playing Cora? AF: I am really looking forward to exploring the character of Cora. There is a lot for me to delve into. She is a deep, layered character. Although in many ways, she just wants to belong to something and to find her place in the world. When she is fostered into the family, she feels part of something, but by inheriting the cure she feels the pressure as Crow was renowned in the area for his ability to heal, which is made worse because her biological daughter didn’t receive it, and the tensions between them rise. She never, however, fully settles, and eventually her world falls apart when she starts to lose the ability. Everything that she had thought she had found is now threatened. OW: You are fluent in Gaelic. Have you ever sung art songs in Irish? AF: The first time I got to sing art songs in Gaelic was at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, where I did a recital of songs by Aloys Fleischman. He was brought up in Cork but had German parents. He composed these beautiful art songs using Gaelic poetry. When I sang them, it was one of those rare moments when you feel as if you have moved into transcendent state. I felt as if I were calling to my ancestors; I have never felt that way before. It was a special and powerful moment being able to sing in my own language. It felt so natural. It also made me realize the importance of the text in a way that I had never really considered before. It is so important to understand the subtleties and nuances of the language in which you are singing to be able to convey its deepest meanings. Amazingly, I also got to sing some new pieces written in Gaelic on French radio. Yet, I cannot do this in Ireland. It was when Michael heard me singing these songs that he wanted me for the role of Cora.