John O'Brien
Conductor - Director - Composer
John has worked on over eighty different productions of opera and music theatre in Ireland, UK and Canada, and has toured across Europe, Japan and China.
He composed and directed the operas Morrígan – at Cork Opera House in 2022; and The Nightingale and the Rose – which premiered with an Irish tour in 2018. John directed and co-composed music for the play Heart of a Dog at The Everyman and Dublin Theatre Festival. He is acclaimed for directing & conducting the operas Faust, Der Vampyr, Orpheus, and Pagliacci (winner of the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Opera) at the Everyman.
Other compositions include Ecclesiastes – premiered by the Carducci String Quartet and Derbhle Crotty; Lullaby for the City (In a Time of Pandemic) for chamber orchestra – premiered at Cork Midsummer Festival; Easter 1916 – premiered by Fiona Shaw and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra; scores for the feature films Tree Keeper and Shem the Penman Sings Again – premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh; as well as music for plays, short films, choral works, piano pieces and numerous operatic, choral and orchestral arrangements.
Other projects include conducting the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra – most recently in a double bill of two Beethoven Symphonies (III and V), as well as concert performances of 15 different operas since 2016, and numerous other concerts. He directed the dance film Inner Landscapes, and has been guest conductor with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
John is represented by Sovran Carey: https://sovrancarey.com/
With the support of the Arts Council, The Everyman, Cork Opera House and Northern Ireland Opera, John and Éadaoin O'Donoghue are creating an epic new Operatic Trilogy.
The opera Cú Chulainn will premiere with a concert performance at The Everyman and with the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra on August 13. The cast includes Niamh O’Sullivan, Rory Dunne, Gavan Ring, Ronald Samm, Rachel Croash, Brendan Collins, Gráinne Gillis, and Viktor Priebe. John will conduct. Tickets available here: https://everymancork.com/events/cu-chulainn/
Thanks to an Arts Council Music Project grant, John's new piece for chamber orchestra, Dances of the City (In a Time of Angst) will premiere at the Cork Midsummer Festival on June 20, along with a performance of Lullaby for the City (In Time of Pandemic) and a new chamber orchestra version of 'towards a new enlightenment…'
Tickets available here: https://www.corkmidsummer.com/whats-on/dance-for-the-city-in-a-time-of-angst
John will guest conduct the Cork Concert Orchestra in a concert of film music classics from John Williams to Hans Zimmer at Cork City Hall on June 13.
Tickets available here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-music-of-john-williams-vs-hans-zimmer-other-favourites-tickets-1988624854472?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
John's score for Padraig Trehy's new feature film, Stupid August, funded by the Arts Council, premiered with a live cineconcert performance at Cork Film Festival, and is currently playing at film festivals around the world.
He has also recently recorded his score for Bob Jackson's new documentary with the MTU CSM Symphony Orchestra.
La bohème, with the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, Gavan Ring and Rachel Croash, conducted by John, and recorded live in Cahersiveen was recently broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM. Listen back here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/lyricfm/opera-night/2025/0719/1524352-opera-night-saturday-19-july-2025/