Joyce’s guitar to be played as NUI Galway holds pre-Bloomsday recital
John Feeley and Professor Fran O'Rourke with James Joyce's restored guitar.
By Declan Varley
NUI Galway alumni and friends will celebrate the connection between James Joyce and Galway city with a pre-Bloomsday recital in Newman House, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin on Thursday next 14 June at 7.30pm. The recital is part of a series of Bloomsweek recitals featuring Ireland’s leading classical guitarist, John Feeley, accompanied by NUI Galway graduate and James Joyce enthusiast, Professor Fran O’Rourke of UCD, who will also be providing background information on Joyce.
During the recital, Galway native John Feeley will be using James Joyce’s own guitar, which had been on display at the Joyce Tower Museum for the past 45 years. However, in the last year it has been carefully restored and it is now ready to be played again. The fact that Joyce studied in Newman House should also add extra resonance to the occasion.
Professor O’Rourke said: “The guitar first features in Weiss’s iconic photograph of Joyce, taken in Zurich in 1915, and has been in the Joyce Tower Museum in Sandycove since 1967. Having heard a similar vintage guitar, it occurred to me that the Joyce guitar might be restored. I put the suggestion to Robert Nicholson, curator of the Museum and, with the expert work of Gary Southwell, it is now ready to be heard again.”
Joyce was both an excellent singer and an accomplished musician, and music played a large part in his life and he incorporated it into almost all his works. Joyce’s major connection with Galway was through his wife Nora Barnacle from Bowling Green, just down from St Nicholas’ Cathedral. Nora provided the inspiration in Joyce’s work for characters such as Molly Bloom, Greta Conroy and Anna Livia Plurabelle. Joyce visited Galway and Nora’s family on several occasions and developed a deep interest and affection for the city and Joyce country which he maintained all his life.
The recital is open to graduates and friends of NUI Galway. Tickets are €10 and are available online from NUI Galway Alumni Office, www.nuigalway.ie/alumni For further information contact the Alumni Office at 091 492721.
