Although he would probably not put it so starkly, founding Le Foyer des Artistes in Derry, Northern Ireland, is all about coming home for Darren Hargan. The organisation, now in its third season, is based in St. Columb's Hall. “I sang there as a boy and saw my first opera there. I was going to launch Foyer in Switzerland, but during COVID, I saw the hall was being renovated, and wanted to be part of its new life.”

The city itself is one where names mean a lot, rather as they do in the Balkans. If you are on the all-Ireland-as-one (and mainly Catholic) side of the constitutional arguments, it is Derry. If you are on the Unionist (mainly Protestant) side, favouring union with Britain, the city is called Londonderry. Despite the local, at times very bitter, disputes, the city is increasingly cosmopolitan, taking advantage of being the largest on the north-western corner of the island and having fluid access to both countries and the European Union. It sees itself these days not as an outpost but as a European city of culture.

St. Columb (in Scotland, St. Columba, Latin for "dove") was himself an example of the to-and-fro across the sea between the two islands. When he moved to Scotland in the middle of the sixth century, he was still within the realm of Ulster because the western third of northern Britain and its multitude of small islands had been annexed a couple of hundred years before and formed into the tributary kingdom of Dalriada, speaking Gaelic, as opposed to the Brythonic (the ancestor of modern Welsh) of the rest of the country. St Columb's move was described as a pilgrimage when he settled on the tiny island of Iona, off Mull, but at the time, it may have felt like a natural extension of Irish monastic expansion.

“Every ensemble needs a story. Ours is ancient culture, and we have that sense of pilgrimage,” says Darren. He sees the contemporary musical touring as a sort of modern legacy of that tradition. “It's about bringing together all the people I've met.”

Darren embodies that sense of travel and return, as well as being across the community divide. After being a pupil at St. Columb’s College (which is Catholic in persuasion) and organist in Derry's St. Eugene’s Anglican Cathedral, he went to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. There, in a joint course with the music department at the University of Manchester across the road, he studied “every sort of keyboard” but widened his outlook to working with singers as an accompanist and coach, as well as conducting. His interest in early music was heightened when he assisted the musicologist (and founder of the Parley of Instruments), Peter Holman. Another huge influence was the double-bass virtuoso and Head of Strings at the RNCM, Rodney Slatford, who “had me conducting at his festival in Norfolk when I was nineteen.”

From Manchester, Darren went to London in 2005 to work with Anthony Legge, the Director of Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, as his assistant, learning how to coach singers. “Then I realised I needed to gain experience outside the UK and was accepted by the International Opera Studio in Zurich. After only a couple of months, I was taken on full time by the Opera House – coaching great singers and young singers just starting out. I learned a great breadth of repertoire there.” In Switzerland, he also connected with another Ulsterman, the influential conductor Kenneth Montgomery. In Geneva, they worked together on Don Giovanni. “He was so imaginative. He decided to have the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande playing sideways with the conductor at the left of the pit. I learned so much every day, not just in the rehearsals but in the lunches and just walking with him.”

“People have wandered into my life at the right moments, but becoming a conductor is a slow burn.” That brings us back to Darren's motivation in starting Le Foyer des Artistes and its French name in Irish Derry. “I have an entrepreneurial spirit. I want to make things happen.” The name Le Foyer has nothing to do with the entrance vestibule of a theatre but refers to its meaning in French of a hearth; the place in front of the fire where the artists can draw from its warmth. “In developing our story, there's a tinge of Irishness, but it's a celebration of connections. We have no delusions of nationhood: it's like all the restaurants opening in Derry with foreign names. I wanted a name which has its own inclusive poetry. After all, Switzerland has four national languages.” He feels strongly that the contemporary politics of NI are pushing towards more openness than in the past.

Le Foyer has four concerts in St. Columb's Hall in 2025. The Midwinter Concert takes place on 28 January with Brandenburg Concertos 2, 4 & 5, featuring the veteran harpsichordist Malcolm Proud. “So many great early music players come from NI,” Darren enthuses. He is keen for Le Foyer des Artistes to grow organically alongside his own international career. When we spoke, he was in Budapest, developing ideas with the Liszt Academy before heading to Madrid to work with young singers at the Escuela Superior de Canto.

The whole initiative is an expression of his wish to develop a strong relationship with the local community. “I’m a working-class boy from Derry who has been fortunate to have had amazing opportunities at every stage of my career. I’ve also worked with incredible musicians from all over the world and this series is about bringing all that together.

Music is such an important part of identity, especially for children across Northern Ireland. They are passionate about music and there is an excellent tradition of music-making in schools and in local bands and orchestras. In fact, some of the greatest period instrument players in the world come from Northern Ireland. Musicians like Philip Turbett, Jonathan Byers, Robert Kendall and Michael Harrison play with the most prestigious orchestras across the world and they come from that tradition. Today, they are an inspiration to generations of young musicians and I’m delighted that they’ve been part of the Le Foyer des Artistes story from the very beginning.

It’s an exciting moment in the history of Northern Ireland and the perfect time to make my hometown part of this story. As we get set to announce a whole series of collaborations with our partners in Spain, Italy, Hungary and Switzerland, I look forward to connecting with our friends across the world and celebrating the rich local cultural heritage of Derry city through the European cultural legacy of St Columba and his contemporaries."

▶

^{Le Foyer des Artistes’ Midwinter Gala 2022 at St. Columb's Hall.}

This season, Le Foyer des Artistes’ Midwinter Gala will take place on 28 January 2025 at St Columb's Hall, supported by a grant from Continuo Foundation.

Author: Simon Mundy