Generations stay in tune
Opera starlet Tara and her parents have always been happy to give each other support, says Andrea Smith, on first-name terms
WHEN she looks back on her parents' marriage, the acclaimed young mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught always felt that there were three people in it. Namely, her mother Brianain, her father Joe and herself.
"I always felt that we were the adults, and my brother, Cian, and sister, Aoife, were the children," she says, laughing, despite Cian being a mere two years younger than herself. "I never called them mum and dad, as they were always Bri and Joe to me, and my grandparents were Mary and Mickey." Brianain remembers Tara being a very grown-up little girl, who loved singing and playing the violin and piano. "She has always been a very good friend to me, even from when she was very small," she says. "You could take her for a coffee and have a chat, and it wasn't like bringing a child out."
Then again, Brianain is used to interacting with young people, as head of the department of hospitality at Dundalk Institute of Technology. She trained as a chef in the old College of Catering in Cathal Brugha Street, and found college great fun. This remark leaves her open to a bit of teasing from the bondings department when we discover that she met her husband Joe while at college. And he was one of her lecturers!
They were married in 1985 and Tara was born a year later, while the family was living in Portmarnock, Co Dublin. Tara, however, enjoyed spending time at her grandparents' house in Ravensdale, outside Dundalk. This was because Brianain had lots of younger siblings still living at home, the youngest of whom was only seven when Tara was born.
"They had her ruined," says Brianain. "There was always great fun at the house, and as we drove away from the house back to Dublin, Tara would be looking forlornly out the back window."
When she was nine, Tara got her wish as the family moved back to Ravensdale. Having completed a degree in education, Brianain began teaching at the culinary arts department at Dundalk IT, and became head of its newly opened hospitality department in 1998. She loves her job, she says, and hates saying goodbye to the graduating classes at the end of each academic year.
As a child, Tara kept her mother busy ferrying her around to various singing and music classes. Aged nine, she started singing lessons with Geraldine McGee, whom she says is an amazing teacher. She soon began entering feises, and at the age of 11 won her first trophy at the Feis Ceoil.
After that, she became so successful that Brianain considered withdrawing her halfway through one feis, embarrassed at the fact that her daughter was winning every single competition. When she was in sixth year, she entered a Feis Ceoil competition usually aimed at adult contestants and won a prize for her dramatic interpretation of Desdemona's aria, The Willow Song, from Othello.
It was here that she met the legendary singing teacher Dr Veronica (Ronnie) Dunne, who greeted her enthusiastically. "Your Italian is s**te, but you can sing, lovie," she said. "Come and see me in the Academy [of Music] on Friday."
That September, Tara began a BA in Performance at the Academy. She loved studying under Ronnie, who has now been adopted as a much-loved member of the Erraught family. She's been very lucky, admits Tara, having two amazing teachers in Ronnie and Geraldine guiding her career.
In her second year, Ronnie mentioned the possibility of Tara entering her own Veronica Dunne international singing competition. She would only sing in the first round, said Ronnie firmly, because she was too young and would be competing against international singers and judged by international judges.
In the run-up to the competition, Tara was training three to four hours a day with Ronnie, and was forbidden from working and socialising. So when she sneaked off one night to her job as a part-time usher at the National Concert Hall, the indefatigable Dr Dunne took immediate action.
"She burst in all guns blazing and pulled me out," laughs Tara. "She brought me home and made me pack my bag and moved me into her house. She fed me like a racehorse for the next two weeks and wouldn't let me talk to anyone, as I'm really chatty and she was afraid of me straining my voice."
To everyone's surprise, Tara progressed easily through the rounds and ultimately came second in the hotly contested competition. She then won several prestigious international competitions and, at this point, things began to take off for her.
Last year, she was offered a position as a soloist with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Now 23, she is at its Opera Studio, which means that she sings professionally, but still gets coaching and sees a singing teacher.
She's still in shock at the speed at which it all happened, and it is, as her younger sister Aoife says, like something out of a fairytale.
It was around that time that Brianain was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer called phyllodes carcinoma. It was treatable only by surgery, and in May 2008 she had a mastectomy and breast reconstruction. Now thankfully cancer-free, she says it was great to have Tara on hand to encourage her and help with tasks like hair washing. The support works both ways, as Tara found moving to Munich in September 2008 to be a culture shock, as she didn't speak German.
"Bri had to do a few mercy calls, because I found it really hard at first," she says. "There are 800 staff there, and all they expect from you is to sing. You can't even put on your own costumes, so someone comes in and dresses you, tights and all."
Tara's next role is in Madame Butterfly and she will also be coming home to perform at the National Concert Hall on March 1, as she is its Rising Star recitalist for 2010. And presumably a very proud Dr Dunne won't be bursting in to drag her home that night.
The Sixth Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition runs from January 20 to 26, with the Grand Finale on Tuesday, January 26, at the National Concert Hall. Bookings: 01 417 0000
www.nch.ie
- Andrea Smith
Originally published in
