“THE BATON IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD”

The fearless journey of a young Irish conductor on a global musical adventure.

By: Dearbhail McDonald forThe Irish Independent, January, 2006

THE Marriage of Figaro doesn’t usually spark jailhouse riots, but it almost did when Eimear Noone decided to conduct an open rehearsal at Mountjoy Prison.

At age 22, Ireland’s youngest professional female conductor hauled the Dublin City Concert Orchestra (DCCO) to rehearse in Mountjoy – home to some of Ireland’s most notorious criminals – hours before a critical performance by the orchestra at the National Concert Hall. Prison officials had anticipated that the 65-strong orchestra and full philharmonic chorus would be heckled by the inmates, but when an outbreak of riotous behavior loomed, it was Noone who took charge. Descending into the ranks of the prison audience, she handed her baton to the ringleader and challenged the burly prisoner to conduct the orchestra. “It was a spur of the moment decision, the orchestra didn’t know where to look,” laughs Noone, 28, a film composer and conductor who is now living in Burbank, California.

Noone, who now lectures on the film-scoring program at UCLA and teaches composition at singer Macy Gray’s M Gray Music Academy in North Hollywood, said she was unsure if the gamble would pay off. “The prisoner was absolutely terrified, but he had no choice, he had to get up there and do it,” she said. “The other prisoners went wild, cheering him on as I told the orchestra to take out the overture to The Marriage of Figaro. As I led the orchestra from a distance, the prisoner conducted the musicians, flailing his arms around like a proper maestro. At the end of the piece the whole room erupted in applause. As the prisoners were whooping and shouting at him, he reached out to me and whispered ‘thank you so much’. I’ll never forget that moment.”

Reaching out is Noone’s Raison d’etre. Although classically trained – she is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama – the concert flautist and pianist has spent much of her career trying to bring classical music to a wide range of audiences, especially the uninitiated. It is not only prisoners that have been exposed to her art. Noone has also dedicated much of her time hosting workshops and giving lectures – on a pro bono basis – to an eclectic mix of audiences. Fellow musicians, school children, the elderly and Dublin city’s infamous young Goths and skate-boarding enthusiasts have all flourished under her directorial flair.

Noone’s public initiatives have even been the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary by RTE, Ireland’s national, state broadcaster. “I am proud of the fact that we brought people to the National Concert Hall who never knew that it existed,” said Noone, whose orchestrations have been recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and studio orchestras in LA and Seattle conducted by the legendary Van Dyke Parks of Pet Sounds Fame. “I believe in bringing music to the masses and it is important to engage as many people as possible without compromising the music itself.  As inane as it may seem, people can sometimes feel threatened by classical music. It seems wrongfully shrouded in a false perception of elitism.  This isn’t the case and it thrills me when you can touch the lives of people who might never a chance to enjoy classical music.”

Music is in Noone’s genes. Raised in Kilconnell, County Galway, her grandfather Joseph Shea was a celebrated Irish traditional musician. Introduced to traditional Irish fayre at the age of three, Noone was began her classical training at the age of five. After winning a scholarship to the Dublin conservatory, Noone spent her teenage years travelling a 200 mile round trip from Galway to Dublin each week to study flute and musicianship. It was the first of many accolades.

At 21 Noone first broke ranks with Ireland’s established classical music fraternity when she founded the DCCO. Drawing musicians from Trinity, her alma mater, and from a host of conservatories and orchestras throughout Ireland, the orchestra’s debut at St Stephen’s church in Dublin brought her to the attention of Stephen Parker, the British composer, and Irish filmmaker Ronan O’Leary. O’Leary invited Noone’s fledgling ensemble to record the music score for Hold the Passion, a feature film starring Gabriel Byrne. Within weeks, Noone found herself at RTE’s studios, recording her first film score.

The DCOO also played a sell-out concert -celebrating the art of film music at the 1,200 capacity National Concert Hall venue. Hundreds were turned away, but one mother brought her six-year-old daughter to the back stage door to meet the young composer-conductor who has since scored several films for the Irish Film Board and is a past recipient of a study award from Screen Trading Ireland. “She said that she wanted her daughter to know that as a woman, there is nothing in life that you cannot do if you set your mind to it,” said Noone. “That blew me away.”  The Irish press was also blown away, with one reviewer comparing Noone’s standing ovation to that meted out by the inaugural audience that watched Riverdance, the global Irish phenomenon. “”It was magic,” said Katherine Powell of the Irish Independent. “The response of the audience…people left exhilarated and in tears. This was the culmination of the vision and unflinching belief of a gifted Irish woman.”

After graduating, Eimear continued her studies with a number of leading Irish and international composers including Christopher Young (Swordfish, The Shipping News, Spiderman III and Bless the Child); orchestrator Steven Scott Smalley (Batman, Ali, The Insider and Conan the Barbarian) and Gerhard Markson, the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
Thus began the regular long-haul jaunts to California, where Noone now lives. Last year Noone was one of the composers chosen to participate in Robert Redford’s Moonstone International Filmmakers Lab, and Noone claims that it is not only the Californian sunshine that endears her to the bright lights of Hollywood.
“I have the utmost of respect and affection for the musicians in LA,” said Noone, who was the orchestrator and conductor for Blizzard Games “World of Warcraft”. The score was later chosen for performance at the sell-out Video Games Live concert featuring members of the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. “There is wonderful support and solidarity from the music community here. The professional mainstream includes some of the most generous, helpful and supportive musicians that I have ever encountered. Everyone wants to see you do well and that matters a lot.”
Far away fields look green, but it is to the screen and the international concert stage that this Irish musician has her sights set. Keep an eye on the credits, as Noone may be coming to a concert hall near you……

Dearbhail McDonald is an award winning journalist from Northern Ireland. McDonald, 29, who lives in Dublin, Ireland, has recently joined The Irish Independent Newspaper as a senior news correspondent. Previously McDonald, 29, held the position of legal affairs and health correspondent for The Sunday Times Newspaper and began her writing career in New York. A classically trained violinist, McDonald is a member of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra and founder-director of the Serafina String Ensemble, Dublin.