Brave singers to serenade Cork concert-goers with Limerick anthem

IT WILL be a tough crowd for Limerick-based singers' first concerts since Covid as it is in Cork on the eve of the All-Ireland final.

Nyle Wolfe, a baritone who resides in Templebraden, said "without question" a Limerick anthem will be sung as well as a Cork anthem.

“We don’t want a riot and be chased out of the county,” laughed Nyle, who along with Limerick soprano Jean Wallace and Welsh tenor Ryan Morgan make up the acclaimed Singers for Hire.

The free outdoor concerts take place at 4.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday at Kilworth Park, near Fermoy.

Combining their comic talents and classically-trained voices, Ryan, Nyle and Jean present a thrilling and fast-moving outdoor Covid safe concert, packed with memories and laughter, featuring well loved songs from opera, Broadway and swing. Tickets can be requested at Kilworthconcert@gmail.com

"This will be a very uplifting concert. There will be plenty of Limerick-Cork banter on the day. We were originally supposed to have a concert on the Sunday night as well but then Cork managed to get through to the final so we lost our Sunday concert. But it suited us because we wanted to see the match anyway,” said Nyle.

But amid all the fun and mischief there is a very serious side to this as it is the first time Nyle will do what he does, and loves, best since March 2019 - sing to a live audience. 

"What we provide is joy but joy can be put on hold if you know what I mean. We provide a very important cultural service but it’s not up there with education and construction in the same urgency to come back.

"It has been very difficult - not to put a poor mouth on it - but for the first of time in my life I had to look at another job because I couldn't survive on the PUP. I have been working professionally as a singer since I was 18 and I’ll be 50 this year,” said Nyle. 

Following the financial crash in 2008 he lost a year and half worth of work in 48 hours but it came back a lot faster than Covid.

"On the whole we are still in limbo. Schools and universities will be the priority to get back before they look at indoor music. We don’t really have a collective voice, we all do work individually and tip away but there is no musicians’ union as such so there is no big voice. It is very hard for singers to stand up and say, ‘We have got to sing to people’, who then could catch Covid,” said Nyle. 

Just like the Limerick hurlers can’t show up and perform in Croke Park on Sunday without training, Nyle has had to keep his voice humming. And he can’t wait until Saturday to get back on stage after the longest enforced break of his career.

"I’m really, really looking forward to it. Singing is a huge pleasure but it is also a huge privilege. You get to make people smile and laugh and possibly cry for the right reasons.

"It is a big part of my life - I have been singing professionally my whole adult life. This has been a very long stretch not to sing live. It is very nice to record things or do concerts on zoom but there is nothing compared to singing for an audience in person," concluded Nyle.

The concerts are part of "Cork Co Co Pops" an expansive programme of events provided by Cork County Council to support performers and bring live events to local communities.