A self-described shy person, it was just as well that Dr Mary G O’Brien put herself forward as the saviour of the Cork Operatic Society about four years ago when it looked like the society was going to fold.
Mary, who is the musical director of the forthcoming production of L’Orfeo at MTU Cork School of Music, realised that without a conductor, the Cork Operatic Society couldn’t keep going.
While the society members knew Mary as a singer, they didn’t realise she is also an internationally trained conductor. The Cork Operatic Society “was one minute from folding when the girl beside me said that I was their last chance. So I went for it.”
The Cork Operatic Society was…