Obituary: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, musician, composer and academic

Died: November 7, 2018

MÍCHEÁL Ó Súilleabháin, who has died aged 67 following a long illness, was a musical visionary who put the piano at the heart of Irish traditional music and who, having elevated traditional music to equal status with other art forms at University College Cork, created the now internationally renowned Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. He was also a prolific composer, broadcaster, record producer, editor and an inspiration to everyone who came into contact with him.

Ó Súilleabháin was born in Clonmel, Tipperary where his parents owned a grocery story. His father sang and played the mouth organ and when Mícheál showed an interest in music his parents arranged for him to have piano lessons with one of their customers. In his teens he played rock guitar as well as Chopin but when he went to study music at Cork with the influential composer and traditional music revivalist, Seán Ó Riada, such was his professor’s all-involving passion for the tradition that Ó Súilleabháin found he was either playing the wrong instrument or the wrong music.

He toyed with the idea of giving up classical music and learning a more tradition-oriented instrument, such as the uilleann pipes or fiddle, but decided that, since the piano was the instrument he could communicate with most intimately, he would develop what he called the cultural software that enabled him to play traditional music on the piano.

His first, eponymous album, released in 1976, featured his experimentations with Irish music and piano improvisations. He then recorded a series of albums with his first wife, Irish chant singer Nóirín Ní Riain and Benedictine Monks of Glenstal Abbey. By the time he signed with Virgin Records in 1987 he was a master with a completely individual style that brought him favourable comparisons to jazz pianists Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, although he hadn’t previously heard either of those musicians.

At this point Ó Súilleabháin had been developing the traditional music course at Cork that produced musicians including the now internationally recognised singer-songwriter John Spillane, fiddler Liz Doherty and concertinist Niall Vallely. With his second Virgin album, Oilean/Island, Ó Súilleabháin announced his strength as a composer and orchestrator, fashioning his piano playing, a small traditional music ensemble and the Irish Chamber Orchestra into a wonderfully pliable and beautifully expressive traditional musical instrument.

Further albums followed, including Casadh/Turning and Gaiseadh/Flowing, and Ó Súilleabháin even found time to appear on Van Morrison’s Enlightenment album between commitments in international academia and his own teaching, composing and performing schedule. He subsequently brought the Irish Chamber Orchestra to Glasgow City Halls for a memorable Mayfest concert and took part in concerts honouring the Gaelic college Sabhal Mòr Ostaig at Celtic Connections and on Islay.

Having been recruited as the University of Limerick’s inaugural Chair of Music in 1994, Ó Súilleabháin worked tirelessly to establish and gain sponsorship for its Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, attracting students from over 50 countries. He went on to receive honorary doctorates of music from University College Cork and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, among other honours. He retired from the University of Limerick in 2016, handing over to one of his former Cork students, Mel Mercier, a percussionist who also appeared on recordings and concerts with Ó Súilleabháin.

Ó Súilleabháin leaves a rich legacy, including his pioneering television series, A River of Sound and his Eurovision commission, Lumen, as well as generations of students and musicians who responded to his energy and enthusiasm. He is survived by his second wife, Helen, and his sons, Luke, Eoin and Mícheál.

ROB ADAMS