A lifetime of music for Birr's John Molloy

When John Molloy stepped on stage in his beloved home town of Birr alongside acclaimed international soprano, Celine Byrne, on August 9 last for a very special evening of music and song, it was the culmination of an extraordinary career in music which has seen him perform on five continents!

Recognised as Ireland’s leading bass singer, John Molloy’s journey into the world of opera happened almost by accident, and he admits that he still finds it hard to comprehend quite how he went from singing a few songs at family gatherings to performing in some of the most famous concert halls in the world.

“I was the middle child in a family of seven – never a great start – and I grew up in a house where the girls played music and the boys played hurling” he laughs “so there was very little room for anyone to have fancy notions of being an opera singer.”

In his remarkably candid and witty manner John adds “in fact, when was the last time you ever heard somebody saying ‘I’m going to be an opera singer’……………..said nobody ever! It certainly never entered my head when I was growing up.”

As the son of one of Offaly’s most skilful hurlers of all time, Paddy Molloy from Coolderry, who is now in his mid-‘80's, the young John Molloy spent more time outdoors with a hurley in his hand than indoors practising his arias, while his two sisters, Ann and Jackie, went to music lessons.

However, one of the most cherished memories that John Molloy has of his childhood is the “big sing-songs~ that used to take place when his extended family came together for occasions like anniversary Masses and other family events.

“My late uncle Timmy Carey, who was my mother, Bernie’s brother, was a marvellous tenor and I can still recall the brilliant get-togethers we used to have in Coolderry when all the family would gather around and everyone

would sing, and I suppose that sowed the seed for me, even though I didn’t fully realise it at the time.”

Having taught himself how to play guitar and piano in his teens, John Molloy started doing gigs in the pubs around Birr, and when Deirdre Hanniffy started a singing studio in the town he went along to see what it was all about, only to discover that it was “full of women and had no men.”

Deirdre managed to persuade the reluctant young singer to accept the lead role in a melodramatic opera called ‘Frankenstein’ which she was staging during Birr Arts Week, and her son, Colin, who happened to be John Molloy’s friend, took on the role of Frankenstein’s Monster!

“I suppose Deirde heard something promising in my voice, and she was very encouraging so after school I was working in Dublin for a few years and I decided to go to one-hour singing lessons in DIT, and a visiting lecturer from Manchester heard me singing one day and asked if I’d like to audition for the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, which is one of the leading music conservatoires in the world.”

The lecturer was so impressed with John Molloy’s wonderful voice that he had already filled out an application form for him, which resulted in his getting an audition, and winning a prestigious music scholarship from the Sir Peter Moores Foundation, which financed his entire music education in the Royal Northern College of Music for three years and a further year in the National Opera Studio in London which he describes as being “a sort of finishing school for opera singers.”

While in Manchester, John won the College’s highest accolade for music performance, the PPRNCMdip, and he has graced the stage of some of the world’s leading opera houses in the world ever since, and has played major roles in some of the most renowed operas ever written, including ‘The Barber of Seville’; ‘Madame Butterfly’; ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’; ‘The Tales of Hoffman’ to name but a few.

John laughs heartily when he recalls how little he knew about the world of opera when he was growing up. “I was never exposed to opera as a as a child and the idea of singing in a foreign language was just nuts to me, but here I am now singing in Italian, French and German, so anything is possible” he says.

While many people categorise opera and classical music as being in “the elitist genre” according to John Molloy, he is very firmly of the view that “music is music” and he says there is “music for absolutely every occasion and for every reason” and it is should be enjoyed, not categorised or given an elitist tag.”

“Nothing makes me more mad than to hear people saying ‘oh, I haven’t got a note in my head’ because if that were true then they would never be able to hear birdsong, the telephone, the wind blowing, a doorbell ringing” says John “absolutely everybody has a voice but it’s up to them as to how they use it and I always wonder why some many of us are unwilling to show that side of ourselves by singing, maybe it’s that vulnerability” he says.

Having grown up in Burke’s Hill in Birr along with his siblings, Jackie, Enda, Ann, Paul, Padraic and Darragh and lived in London for many years, John Molloy says he arrived back in his home town six years ago and “forgot to leave.”

Although he performs all over the world, he says he is “absolutely delighted” to have made his home in Birr which he describes as “a rare gem” and he says there is “nothing quite like having a sense of community around you.”

He admits that he has “an incredibly rewarding job” but says that being away from home is “very tough” and there is nothing glamorous or enviable about living in hotel rooms or apartments for weeks on end while performing in an opera or a concert tour abroad. He is incredibly excited about the fact that Ireland now has its own National Opera Company which should enable bass singers like him to perform more roles in Ireland.

“Of course I go where the work takes me, but there is something so special about coming home, and I just love the peace and the calm of being in Birr and taking my little French bulldog, Kevin, for a walk around the town or in Birr Castle.”