High-flying Ray keeps worshippers fine tuned

City Lives – Cathedral organist and hobby pilot, Ray O’Donnell talks to Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

There aren’t many full-time jobs for organists in Ireland which makes Ray O’Donnell, the resident organist at Galway Cathedral, part of a very small circle. And of course, parishioners of Galway Cathedral are very privileged to have a full-time organist to provide beautiful music for Masses and all other occasions, happy and sad.

The Cathedral organ itself was made by a Liverpool company and inaugurated in 1966 though it was radically rebuilt about seven years ago to the tune of €400,000. That involved dismantling it, giving it a thorough cleaning and extending it dramatically.

Ray explains that they added 15 extra stops to it. There are 16 pipes per stop, which indicates it was indeed a significant addition. Its majestic sound is amplified all the more thanks to the excellent acoustics in the Cathedral.

As Ray sits at the organ right under the eaves of the building, he is able to admire the stained glass windows at a closer angle – and he genuinely appreciates the artwork and even conducts guided tours of visitors when required.

Later walking me to the door, he couldn’t help but point out interesting facts about two particular windows – admittedly ones I didn’t know and they were made all the more fascinating because of Ray’s own interest in them.

A Dubliner, one of his music teachers was Gerard Gillen from the Pro-Cathedral who travelled to Galway for the organ’s re-inauguration.

Ray studied the piano as a child but got interested in the organ as a teenager through his own church. He started learning how to play the instrument under Mr Gillen at the age of 16. Once he had a go at the organ in the Pro-Cathedral, he was hooked. At the time it was a pipe organ but most of them are controlled electrically nowadays.

As he gave a little demonstration of the one in Galway Cathedral, visitors down below stopped and stared and waited hopefully for a recital. The sound of an organ in the vastness of a cathedral building anywhere is quite impressive and from time to time Ray does give a little taste of that music when he gets a chance during the day, especially during the summer season where busloads of tourists pass through on a daily basis.

But Ray’s role, of course is not to entertain the tourists but to provide musical solace during church services and parishioners are giving very good feedback on his performances.

Ray served as an organ scholar in the Pro Cathedral for three years and went on to do a BA in music in Maynooth.

“You don’t know what you could end up doing, job wise, when you finish doing that. You study the principles, styles and teachings of music and hope you can make a living from it. I taught music in Clongowes for a while and then 20 years ago, the job came up here in Galway.  Their organist, Mary Dale, who had been here for 30 years retired, so I applied and was successful,” he says.

Ray never looked back as he embraced the opportunity to play an instrument he loved almost every day and exclusively for one church.

As well as providing the organ music for Masses, weddings and funerals, he also runs the church choir, something he is very proud of, adding that the members are very dedicated and full of talent.

There are 35 in the choir and on any day, at least 20 are needed to provide the full choral sound. The members are men and women of all ages and Ray says they are “very capable”. They rehearse every Tuesday and they sing a lot of Gregorian chant and a bit of Renaissance music from the 16th century. But Rays says they are always learning new music to add to their repertoire.

As well as the choral singing, they have a cantor and congregational singing at their 12.30pm Sunday Mass. And in fact the choir is so capable that they have already released two CDs, one in 1999 and a Christmas one in 2004.

Ray is putting the finishing touches to another CD of his own organ music that will be released soon. This will include some French monastic music and Bach. All CDs are or will be available in the Cathedral shop.

He takes Saturdays off and looks forward to that free time, as his days in the Cathedral are full on since he also helps out in the Parish Office.

He plays the organ every day but when he is practising a new piece, he plays as quietly as possible, especially if it’s a piece he plays repeatedly.

“I don’t want to bore the visitors, especially with a practice piece!” he laughs.

Up to the day he went for the job, he had never been to Galway Cathedral and had only once been West of the Shannon!

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.