East Cork Early Music Festival

This year the East Cork Early Music Festival (http://eastcorkearlymusic.ie/) was held between the 5th and 9th October in various venues - the Cork School of Music, the Grain Store in Ballymaloe, the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, and Fota House. Having volunteered my services I was asked to document the festival and as this was something outside the photographic mainstream for me I was eager for the challenge.

Photographing classical music concerts can be problematic. One doesn't have the same freedom of manoeuvre as in a rock concert for example. Moving about looking for the right shot can distract the musicians and the audience and while this was not a major issue in a large venue like the Curtis Auditorium of the Cork School of Music it most certainly was in all the other much smaller locations. It would have been great to experiment with different angles and so forth but it was not possible. Even in the Curtis Auditorium I had to be very careful to change my shooting location only at the end of a particular piece of music and never during it. Shutter noise was another consideration - the shutter on my Canon 5D Mark 11 is not silent so I had to avoid firing it during quiet passages.

Dame Emma Kirkby performing at the Curtis Auditorium, Cork School of Music 

Rachel Brown of the London Handel Players

Lighting was also an issue. While there was an excellent lighting set-up in the Stack Theatre the same did not apply in the other locations. The Grain Store in Ballymaloe is a great venue but for the recital by the Irish Baroque Orchestra the stage lighting was kept to a minimum in order to preserve the tuning of the period instruments - bright lights, apparently, can affect them. The lights around the theatre were brighter than those on stage and it was a struggle to get any usable images of the musicians.

The Irish Baroque Orchestra at the Grain Store, Ballymaloe 

Likewise with Malcolm Proud's harpischord recital of Bach Partitas at Fota House on Saturday night. The only lighting was a pair of household light-stands and the light from one of those was just to the left of the musician and facing the audience (and me).

Malcolm Proud at Fota House 

Flash, of course, was not an option. Instead, I was using high ISOs - typically, 1600 to 3200 - and my camera was supported on a monopod. The lenses I used were the Canon 17-40L, the Canon 24-105L, the Sigma 70-200, and the Canon 400 f/5.6. The fastest of these was the Sigma (f/2.8) but the lack of other fast glass wasn't a problem. Typical exposures were in the 1/60th to 1/100th sec range at apertures between f/2.8 to f/5.6 but the lighting in the Curtis Auditorium permitted much faster speeds.  

Emma Kirkby conducting a masterclass with young sopranos at the Cork School of Music

Overall, I was happy with the images. More importantly, the music was magnificent and the committee of the ECEMF deserve great praise for making it happen. The highlight for me was the masterclass conducted by Emma Kirkby at the Cork School of Music on Friday morning. I was astonished at the amazing talent of the individual students who participated in the class. Each girl who stood up and sang had a wonderful voice and it was fascinating to hear Emma give pointers on how improvements could be made.

Soprano Róisín O'Grady at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh

Next year will be the 10th year of the Festival and I have no doubt that the calendar will be one to savour. Anyone who loves music - any music - should make a point of attending a few of the events. Sitting in silence while listening to accomplished musicians and singers bring music of another era to life transports the listener to another realm. It is magical experience.