City in Ireland. It is the second city of the Republic of Ireland (Eire). Cork has a population of 174,000, and among its musical establishments are Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland cathedrals, an opera house, a university department of music, the Cork School of Music, the regional broadcasting studios of Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), local radio stations, two arts centres, a theatre and, in its city hall, a large concert hall with a seating capacity of 1300.
Records of opera and concert performances in Cork go back to the 18th century. In the latter half of the 19th, three theatres and several small concert halls were in use, and evidence of the intensive cultivation of music is clear from the large-scale concerts held in connection with the Cork exhibitions of 1852, 1883 and 1901–2. Today Cork hosts an International Choral and Folk Dance Festival, held annually at the end of April or beginning of May, with a university seminar on contemporary choral music running concurrently. Cork is an important centre for choral music and Cumann Náisiúnta na gCór (Association of Irish Choirs), which publishes choral music and runs a choral library service, is based in the city. A competitive music festival (Feis Maitiú) is held annually from February to April, and the very popular Guinness Jazz Festival in October. The Cork Orchestral Society is an important concert-giving body, sponsoring an annual series of chamber music concerts. There are six orchestras based in the Cork School of Music, ranging from preparatory level to a senior symphony orchestra. The Cork SO, of which Aloys Fleischmann (professor of music in University College, Cork, from 1934 to 1981), was the long-serving conductor until his death in 1993, performs regularly. The Vanbrugh String Quartet are artists-in-residence in University College, Cork, and an army band (the Band of the Southern Command) is stationed in the city.
Since the 1960s Cork has been a centre for excellence in Irish traditional music. The early innovator, Seán Ó Riada, held the Irish music lectureship in University College, Cork, from 1963 until his death in 1971, and in 1975 Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist, took up the position. The music department has a developed curriculum within which traditional and classical music studies have equal importance. The international traditional music festival, Éigse na Laoi, is organized annually by the Traditional Music Society and the music department. Cork city is also home to a large community of traditional musicians and several traditional groups.
ALOYS FLEISCHMANN/R