Music to the ears of Bere Island park run participants

Established only three years ago, the Bere Island Park Run has quickly become one of the most popular Park Runs in the world — and now it’s to be set to music.

Music to the ears of Bere Island park run participants

Up to eight melodies, inspired by the stories of Park Run participants, will be composed, performed, recorded and made available for future Park Run participants to download, as part of a project supported by the Arts Council. Composer Ian Wilson is to interview participants of the hugely popular 9.30am Saturday morning Park Run on the West Cork island, which attracts runners and walkers from around the globe.

Then, in close collaboration with the Bere Island Choir, he will compose up to eight melodies around their personal stories.

“There are so many reasons to why people do the Bere Island Park Run. There are lots of inspirational stories about it,” explained Bere Island development officer John Walsh.

Islanders had decided the Ballincollig-based composer, who had himself participated in the run, would interview other participants, get their stories and, with the support of the island’s choir, set it all to music.

Mr Wilson, who works in the area of contemporary classical music, plans to visit the island early next month to begin interviewing Park Run participants in the first phase of the project which will run until early summer of next year, and has received €10,000 in funding from the Arts Council.

“I’ve been looking to do something on Bere Island for a number of years,” he said. The fact that the island had its own choir, was a significant factor in the project.

“The idea is to talk to some of the participants and find out why they do it.

“There are the obvious reasons and then there are also very personal reasons,” he said adding that he believed the music project would deepen ties and “engender a stronger sense of community, not only in the permanent inhabitants but also in those who visit the island for varying periods of time.”

In the first phase of the music initiative, which begins on Saturday, October 7, Mr Wilson will interview participants as a basis for the lyrics. Then in collaboration with the local choir, the lyrics will be composed to form the basis of between six and eight melodies:

“The songs will be a distillation of the stories I gather from participants, and then set to music,” he explained, adding that once the songs are completed, they will be performed by the local choir in May or June of next year against the backdrop of what he said would be a specially composed track of “atmospheric soundtrack of island sounds”.

Finally, the songs will be recorded and made available to download so that participants in future Bere Island Park Runs can listen to them.

“We are very excited about it — I think it will be a great project,” said Mr Walsh.

“The Bere Island Park Run has earned a huge international reputation as one of the most popular in the world — in the past two weeks alone we have had runenrs from China, Cuba, Australia and the UK.”

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