Most Cork people have a grá for The Lough.

But some of us love the city duck pond a little more than others. In fact, one famous Cork singer-songwriter has written an entire folk opera in honour of it.

John Spillane will share his most artistically ambitious work to date: Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough, on Friday, September 13th, 2024. The concept album, to be released on double CD and digital, features John alongside a stellar cast of collaborators including Ríoghnach Connolly, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Niamh Farrell, and Nell Ní Chróinín.

Audiences are invited to experience the world of Fíoruisce at the launch of the site-responsive art exhibition created by artist Megan Clancy at The Lough in Cork City at 4pm on Sunday, September 15th, followed by a listening party at MTU Cork School of Music.

Admission is free but booking is essential.

‘The Lough is a hidden gem and a natural place of healing’

Described by Spillane as his “magnum opus,” Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough is a three-act Gaelic folk opera, an imagined re-Gaelicisation of the Victorian Cork fairytale Fior-usga collected by Thomas Crofton Croker in the 1800s and published in his book Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1828).

The story is a surreal tale culminating in a drowned kingdom, which as lore tells us, becomes The Lough in Cork City as we know it today. They say you can see the tops of the underworld towers on a clear day and hear the music of their big party on Midsummer’s night.

“The Lough is a hidden gem and a natural place of healing. Fíoruisce means springwater.” says John.

“This Gaelic folk opera has been a labour of love over many years.”

Main image: Fionn Hennessey Hayes