0:00:38 > 0:00:41Armagh City, with its cobbled streets
0:00:41 > 0:00:43and Georgian architecture,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45has almost got a time-capsule feel to it.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48You can imagine Jonathan Swift dreaming up Lilliput
0:00:48 > 0:00:50between its twin spires,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53or poet Paul Muldoon coming into the big smoke to hang out.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Near the ancient capital of Ulster, it's a place where culture
0:00:57 > 0:01:00and history collide, a worthy place for The Arts Show.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02Here's what's coming up.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Citizen O'Kane - was Orson Welles inspired by Ireland?
0:01:07 > 0:01:10National treasure Simon Callow investigates.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Creator of that Che Guevara poster,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Jim Fitzpatrick on the making of a global icon.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19We mark the welcome return of pianist Ruth McGinley,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23and poet Paul Muldoon reads a classic.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26I'm on Twitter now.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Well, as debuts go, Citizen Kane, by Orson Welles,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33released 75 years ago this year, was a pretty decent start.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36He's still regarded as one of the greatest cultural
0:01:36 > 0:01:38figures of the 20th century,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41but did you know that his illustrious stage career
0:01:41 > 0:01:44was book-ended by Ireland?
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Actor and Welles scholar Simon Callow investigates.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52'Rosebud...'
0:01:54 > 0:01:58One of the most recognisable props in the history of the cinema,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00the snow globe that contains
0:02:00 > 0:02:04the secrets of Charles Foster Kane's mysterious life.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Citizen Kane, 1941.
0:02:07 > 0:02:1020 years later, in 1960, as Orson Welles stood on the stage
0:02:10 > 0:02:12of Belfast Grand Opera House,
0:02:12 > 0:02:16he must've felt that it was a lifetime ago.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20We have heard the chimes at midnight...
0:02:20 > 0:02:23A plague on all cowards, still say I!
0:02:23 > 0:02:25A vengeance too!
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32My King! My Jove!
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Speak to me, my heart.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41The voice of Orson Welles in what is
0:02:41 > 0:02:45certainly his most personal and perhaps his greatest work,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Chimes At Midnight,
0:02:47 > 0:02:54which had its world premiere here on stage in Belfast in 1960.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58He played Shakespeare's great character, Sir John Falstaff.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02The broadcaster and actor Denis Tuohy appeared alongside
0:03:02 > 0:03:04Welles in the production.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06It was an extraordinary experience,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10and it came about simply because I was an out-of-work actor,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12and a friend of mine rang up and said,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15"You've heard Orson Welles is coming to Belfast?" I said, "Of course,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18"and the cast are English or some from Dublin."
0:03:18 > 0:03:20"Ah, yes, but they need extras."
0:03:20 > 0:03:23And with one or two friends, we came along and we were
0:03:23 > 0:03:29chosen as spear-carriers, ruffians in the bar room scenes, and so on.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32I was going to be paid £10, I was told, for the week,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and I would somehow have rustled up £10 and paid THEM
0:03:35 > 0:03:39in order to be that close to the great man.
0:03:41 > 0:03:47In the silence where we are now, I can hear that extraordinary voice,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50that deep, booming voice.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54The humour that was in it, occasionally the aggression,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56some of the aggression came out during the rehearsal
0:03:56 > 0:03:58and was directed towards the director.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02He would, literally, say, "I think we need a different costume
0:04:02 > 0:04:05"for that servant over there," and things would stop
0:04:05 > 0:04:09while wardrobe attempted to see if there was a different costume.
0:04:09 > 0:04:16The dress rehearsal lasted for about 12 hours, from 6pm till about 6am.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Did you get a chance to actually get a sense of Welles's
0:04:20 > 0:04:22own performance as Falstaff?
0:04:22 > 0:04:26I thought it was very fine indeed,
0:04:26 > 0:04:31and it was a part that you would say the man was born to play.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36But Chimes At Midnight wasn't the first time Welles had trodden
0:04:36 > 0:04:37the boards in Ireland.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42In fact, he made his professional stage debut in Dublin in 1931
0:04:42 > 0:04:44at the age of 16.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47I'd come to Ireland not to act but to be a painter.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49I'd always wanted to be a painter
0:04:49 > 0:04:51and in the spring of that year, I'd arrived,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54bought the donkey and cart, travelled about Connemara.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Welles said that he made quite an impact on chaste, Catholic,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00early-20th-century Ireland.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04"Poor virgin ladies," as he put it, "waiting to get married."
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Later, he claimed that the local priest,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12after one too many confessions, had drawn him to one side
0:05:12 > 0:05:16and asked him if he was thinking of leaving any time soon.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19I found myself in Dublin in the autumn of that year
0:05:19 > 0:05:23without what are technically referred to as financial resources.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26I had a few shillings, but I blew those on a good dinner
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and a ticket to the theatre. The theatre was the Gate,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31and on the stage I recognised, in a minor part,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34a young fellow that I had known in the west of Ireland,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36and he introduced me to the directors,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Edwards and MacLiammoir, and I heard myself introducing
0:05:39 > 0:05:43myself to them as a noted actor from the Broadway stage.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45A bold lie indeed.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50For some reason, they gave me the job. It was a very good part.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53I'd intimated that I was willing to stay on in Ireland
0:05:53 > 0:05:56if sufficiently interesting roles could be found.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00The interesting role was the Archduke Karl Auguste
0:06:00 > 0:06:03in the play Jew Suss, but, for Welles,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06this was his first encounter with the notorious Dublin
0:06:06 > 0:06:09first-night audience, always ready to speak their mind.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12As the Archduke, he had to say lecherously,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17"A bride fit for Solomon, he had 1,000 wives, did he not?"
0:06:17 > 0:06:19At which he was interrupted
0:06:19 > 0:06:22by a voice from the fifth row of the stalls saying...
0:06:22 > 0:06:25"That's a dirty, black Protestant lie."
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Despite the interruption, or perhaps because of it,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Welles's performance was a triumph.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Dublin adored the young pretender,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36but the novelty soon wore off.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39The parts got smaller and less interesting.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43So, he attempted to go to England, for its higher-profile stages,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47but he was refused a work permit, so he trailed back to America,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49disappointed. Before long, however,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52he had embarked on one of the most thrilling
0:06:52 > 0:06:54creative journeys of the 20th century.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57'People in the streets see it now.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00'They're running towards the East River, thousands of them.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05'The smoke's spreading faster. It's reached Times Square...'
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Welles's cheekily brilliant adaptation of HG Wells's
0:07:08 > 0:07:11War Of The Worlds brought him Hollywood's attention,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14a path which led to the making of his masterpiece,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Citizen Kane, his first film, a revolutionary
0:07:16 > 0:07:19achievement in the history of the cinema.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21"There is no war in Cuba," signed Wheeler. Any answer?
0:07:21 > 0:07:22Yes. Dear Wheeler,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24you provide the prose poems,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26I'll provide the war.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28- That's fine, Mr Kane. - Yes, I rather like it myself.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Send it right away.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34For me, it is still one of the most important films ever made,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38not only Gregg Toland's fantastic deep-focus photography,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42not only decades before Robert Altman and people like that,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44he was using overlapping dialogue,
0:07:44 > 0:07:50not only in the use of scenes that contained ceilings -
0:07:50 > 0:07:55these are all part of a vision, a view,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59that I think summed up the way in which the man
0:07:59 > 0:08:03took on throughout his life a series of tasks
0:08:03 > 0:08:07that were monumental, they weren't always successful,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09but in Kane, it was successful.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14Of course, Charles Foster Kane himself starts as a radical
0:08:14 > 0:08:17so, in a sense, it charts the decline
0:08:17 > 0:08:21and decay of radicalism in one individual.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25I think that this runs through a lot of his work
0:08:25 > 0:08:27and in Chimes At Midnight,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31we get the whole panoply of English history fed through
0:08:31 > 0:08:35five pieces of Shakespeare but, at the same time, it's an intensely
0:08:35 > 0:08:42human thing about getting old, about your dreams being a bubble.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46Throw that junk.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:09:08 > 0:09:1175 years after the release of his towering masterpiece,
0:09:11 > 0:09:17one can still glimpse the seeds sown on the stages of Ireland,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19putting him on a path that would lead to
0:09:19 > 0:09:22the heights of artistic achievement.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24'Rosebud...'
0:09:46 > 0:09:50I'm at the Market Place Theatre in Armagh for an exhibition
0:09:50 > 0:09:53of art by UK and Irish artists.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54The Art of Craft,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58in association with the Craft and Design Collective,
0:09:58 > 0:10:03runs until 25th June, and talking of art, in 1968,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06a young Dublin artist created an image of revolutionary
0:10:06 > 0:10:11hero Che Guevara which, way before the internet, went viral.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Jim Fitzpatrick didn't stop there,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16going on to redefine rock imagery and Celtic mythology.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21The Arts Show met him at his home on the shores of North Dublin.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42So, this is the desk on which
0:10:42 > 0:10:46so much of Jim Fitzpatrick's work has been created.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Che Guevara has to be THE most iconic image,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and in here you've got the original.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57The original is there. Do you want to have a look at it?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00It's not as impressive as you think. It's quite small.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02But it's the real thing.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07There we are. Now, that is what is called an overlay.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09There was no Photoshop back then.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Everything was done by hand, so that is the original,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15black and white pen and ink,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18and then you gave the printer an overlay
0:11:18 > 0:11:21to show where everything fell, in terms of colour.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23That way, you didn't add colour to the face.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25I always liked the face white.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27You see a lot of rip-offs of it with the face, everything in red.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30I like them standing out more.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32So, this was important here...
0:11:32 > 0:11:34They're my instructions to the printer at the time.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38And the yellow star, that was added by hand. Magic marker.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Because I couldn't afford to print an extra colour.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43And also, you notice my signature here.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45That was my hidden signature, and that's significant,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48because when Andy Warhol did his famous Warhol Che,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50he was kind enough to leave my name on it, my logo,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and the Warhol Institute have re-accredited the Warhol to me,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55so I own the Warhol.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58When you decide you're going to proliferate something,
0:11:58 > 0:11:59it's the opposite of control.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01I wanted everybody to see this image.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04He had been murdered as a prisoner of war. I was outraged,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07and I decided I was going to do something to remember the man
0:12:07 > 0:12:10and, luckily, in London at the time, there was an exhibition,
0:12:10 > 0:12:15Viva Che, in May of 1968, and they asked me to do a poster for that
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and they showed my other Che work, and that's what I did that for.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20So it was a political statement?
0:12:20 > 0:12:22A political statement. Totally.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25And I was very determined that it would be copyright free.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28I announced that I wanted this to go right across the world
0:12:28 > 0:12:30and anybody could use it. It still is.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33You can download all my work free, print it out,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35but you can't resell it.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38But you could have led a very different life.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39I could have been filthy rich.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42That's essentially what I'm trying to say here.
0:12:42 > 0:12:43Instead of being filthy broke.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Well, you're sitting with one of THE most iconic images of all time.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50It is up there with Coke, with the image of Christ,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52with the image of Mona Lisa, you know?
0:12:52 > 0:12:55I'm well aware of that. I'm not as stupid as I look.
0:12:55 > 0:12:56I'm very proud of it.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58I'm very proud that there is a book out that has
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Mona Lisa at number five and Che at number six
0:13:01 > 0:13:03in the greatest images of all time, so...
0:13:03 > 0:13:05You can't take it with you!
0:13:07 > 0:13:10The Che Guevara image is somewhat different in style
0:13:10 > 0:13:13from the other work for which Jim is noted,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15such as such as his album art for legendary Irish rockers
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Thin Lizzy, and his elaborately detailed work
0:13:18 > 0:13:21inspired by the Irish Celtic tradition.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25What I was trying to do was make Irish people aware of
0:13:25 > 0:13:28the extraordinary heritage they had, in terms of mythology.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32A lot of people... Like Philip Lynott of Thin Lizzy was doing it
0:13:32 > 0:13:34with music, Christy Moore I worked with as well.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37I did a cover for him. He was doing it in folk music,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39but I was trying to do it in an artistic way.
0:13:39 > 0:13:40So, can you show me...?
0:13:40 > 0:13:42I mean, this is incredible for me,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44to sit at this desk with this work in progress.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Can you show me what you do?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Well, essentially, it is a black-and-white line drawing.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51I've drawn it already. I've traced everything off first
0:13:51 > 0:13:53to get everything right. That's the way it works.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58And, you know, the only blank space left is this breastplate,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01so what I do normally is I just sketch something in,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05right, in this case maybe the face of one of those Celtic gods
0:14:05 > 0:14:08with the moustache, the big beard and all this kind of stuff.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11I know this looks very simplistic but, with time,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14like in ten minutes, I can turn that into something interesting,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16and then I redraw it in pen and ink.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19So, you basically get it down here and then sketch over it
0:14:19 > 0:14:21whenever you feel happy with it.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Then I have to paint the whole thing.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I don't think anybody has ever let us see an unfinished work before,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Jim. I feel very privileged. Sit yourself down again.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31- Okey doke.- Very privileged that you've allowed us
0:14:31 > 0:14:33this kind of very intimate access to a Jim Fitzpatrick.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37And it's funny, because I am looking at this fella
0:14:37 > 0:14:41and thinking, "Right, Celtic god, rock god," but in fact the work
0:14:41 > 0:14:45that you then did with Thin Lizzy, you made THEM look like rock gods.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47What was it about Thin Lizzy...?
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Philip was like me, he was in love with Celtic mythology.
0:14:49 > 0:14:50He loved mythology.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53MUSIC: Roisin Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend by Thin Lizzy
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Black Rose, we worked on the sleeve loads together,
0:14:56 > 0:15:01about Cu Chulainn, and instead of being like a shining star, you know,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03he wanted to be like Cu Chulainn,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06wanted to be a comet - blaze across the sky
0:15:06 > 0:15:07and have a wonderful ending, you know?
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Philip kind of bought into that big time, too much big time actually.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Do you feel that you're very much a part of the....not so much
0:15:14 > 0:15:19the sound of Thin Lizzy, but that the Thin Lizzy that we see visually?
0:15:19 > 0:15:20Oh, the imagery? Yeah.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23I did a lot of really cool portraits of Philip as well.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25I loved painting Philip. Every now and then I do a new one.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28I love painting Philip. He was such an iconic figure.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31It was a gift to me, as an artist, to be presented with a guy
0:15:31 > 0:15:35who looked like something that you could just draw forever.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38MUSIC: Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Jim's latest work sees him return to the political arena, remembering
0:15:51 > 0:15:56the seven signatories of the Irish Proclamation in this centenary year.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01The trick is to use something that is already almost iconic itself.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02So, that's what I did with Connelly.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Connelly is the one I'm most proud of. I was only going to do Connelly.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09I wanted to do something for 1916, and Connelly is my hero.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12And I'm trying to make it even more iconic than it already is, and I'm
0:16:12 > 0:16:16doing exactly what I did with Che - you can download free -
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and there is Markievicz. There's a good example of what I do.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23In other words, I've taken a very iconic black-and-white photograph
0:16:23 > 0:16:26of Markievicz, I've used this reference from a Polish painter,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28it was the only one I could find of her,
0:16:28 > 0:16:34and I've kind of recreated her to give that kind of iconic look.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37So I have invented a lot of what's there.
0:16:38 > 0:16:44What do you feel has been the most defining image of your career?
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Oh, the Che, obviously. That is the obvious one.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52If I was to look back and say I want one image to define me,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55it would probably be that Celtic goddess in the red dress
0:16:55 > 0:16:57with the wolfhound, Boann,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59because that's probably the finest
0:16:59 > 0:17:01of those kind of quasi-Celtic works I did.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Some of the work on the Book Of Conquests, The Silver Arm,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06I'm proud of all the stuff I did.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Jim Fitzpatrick, it has been an honour to meet you.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11- Thank you so much. - Not at all. My pleasure.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37Now to a County Armagh-born poet who is more used, these days,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40to hanging out on the Upper East side of Manhattan.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Paul Muldoon is our street corner poet this month.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45He was home recently in his role
0:17:45 > 0:17:48as patron of the John O'Connor Writing School.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Why Brownlee Left.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Why Brownlee left and where he went
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Is a mystery even now
0:18:16 > 0:18:19For if a man should have been content
0:18:19 > 0:18:22It was him - two acres of barley
0:18:22 > 0:18:26One of potatoes, four bullocks
0:18:26 > 0:18:30A milker, a slated farmhouse
0:18:30 > 0:18:34He was last seen going out to plough
0:18:34 > 0:18:37On a March morning, bright and early
0:18:47 > 0:18:50By noon Brownlee was famous
0:18:50 > 0:18:54They had found all abandoned, with
0:18:54 > 0:18:58The last rig unbroken, his pair of black
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Horses, like man and wife
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Shifting their weight from foot to
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Foot, and gazing into the future.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Classical pianist Ruth McGinley
0:19:20 > 0:19:22should have been a household name by now.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26After a meteoric start to her career, she all but vanished
0:19:26 > 0:19:30but now returns to the spotlight with her debut album Reconnection.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34I met up with Ruth in our home town of Derry to hear her story.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Did you always know that you were going to play the piano?
0:21:58 > 0:21:59I did. Yeah, for sure.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02I mean, I started playing really young,
0:22:02 > 0:22:04like before I was three years old.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07My mum was a piano teacher, my two sisters were musicians,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10so there was always piano at home.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15I remember you being so small in a competition that you were actually
0:22:15 > 0:22:21lifted onto the stool, and your feet could barely touch the pedals.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24You were... You were a prodigy.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Well, I dislike the word "prodigy".
0:22:26 > 0:22:28- You dislike it?- I do, I do.- OK.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31I do. I loved playing the piano.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34I always go back to, I think I was just a little girl who enjoyed
0:22:34 > 0:22:37playing the piano, and that was it, you know?
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Prodigy or not, yes, I was playing bigger pieces
0:22:40 > 0:22:41when I was younger,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44but when I was nine I got a scholarship to
0:22:44 > 0:22:47go down to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50so I suppose the trips to Dublin every weekend,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53that was pretty much putting myself...that things were going to
0:22:53 > 0:22:57be different, but I remember myself, when I was about 14,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01and I'd entered the BBC Young Musician of the Year, I do remember
0:23:01 > 0:23:05very clearly in my head thinking, "Right, this is for me,"
0:23:05 > 0:23:08and I really started working hard at that stage.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12It is the cordially unanimous opinion of all three of us
0:23:12 > 0:23:15that the winner of the keyboard section,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18who will go forward to the concerto final,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20is Ruth McGinley.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24As well as winning her section of the competition,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Ruth's journey was the subject of a behind-the-scenes documentary.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33So, in five years' time, I'd just like to be travelling the world...
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Travelling the world, giving concerts all over the place.
0:23:37 > 0:23:38That's a dream.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Her star was very much in the ascendancy...
0:23:44 > 0:23:48From Derry/Londonderry, Miss Ruth McGinley!
0:23:54 > 0:23:58But the pressures of performing at this level eventually
0:23:58 > 0:23:59took their toll.
0:23:59 > 0:24:06Everybody expected Ruth McGinley to become the next Barry Douglas.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Then you seemed to disappear. Where did you go?
0:24:09 > 0:24:13It's always good to keep an air of mystery about you!
0:24:13 > 0:24:15I followed the path,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17went to London to the Royal Academy of Music.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Do you know, I found whenever...
0:24:20 > 0:24:23I was in my second year of academy, so about 19, 20,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26that I really started questioning myself.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Maybe it was being in London surrounded by the most
0:24:29 > 0:24:33wonderful pianists in the world. I questioned my ability,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35I questioned whether I wanted to do this any more,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38in terms of the lifestyle, because it had been so intense
0:24:38 > 0:24:42for so, so many years, and I had gone through some personal issues.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44It just didn't feel good for me any more.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47So I had to take a step back for a number of years.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59I came back from London to Derry about 12 years ago,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and I was a single mum when I came back,
0:25:02 > 0:25:07so I started living life as a mum, as somebody who didn't have
0:25:07 > 0:25:12to pour themselves into the piano all the time, and that was really
0:25:12 > 0:25:16important for just my development, I suppose, as a human being.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I did feel for a few years that I had sort of failed
0:25:19 > 0:25:24because I wasn't out there doing what had been planned for me,
0:25:24 > 0:25:25in a way. I would still practise
0:25:25 > 0:25:29because that's what I knew how to do, but I would cry a lot
0:25:29 > 0:25:33at the piano when I was angry with it, and I had to move myself away.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29So, a new album, a debut album no less, at the glorious age of 39.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Why now?
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Why not?!
0:26:33 > 0:26:38Well, you know, I've never actually recorded a solo album before.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42There are recordings from concerts that I've done over the years.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45I suppose, over the last number of years,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48I really started doing a little bit of solo playing again,
0:26:48 > 0:26:53and I think from 2013, the City of Culture was a moment in which
0:26:53 > 0:26:55I was asked to come out and play...
0:26:55 > 0:26:58- It was almost a re-emergence of Ruth McGinley, wasn't it?- It was.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01I did actually, personally, have a moment where I thought,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04"Do you know, there will be opportunities this year.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06"Maybe it'd be nice to play a little bit again,"
0:27:06 > 0:27:09because I had made a conscious decision not to
0:27:09 > 0:27:11perform as a soloist for a number of years,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15apart from...I am the pianist for The Priests,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17the wonderful singing trio,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and I will always play a few numbers during their concerts,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22which is lovely.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25So, this album, with you on the front cover.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28The glorious sort of Kate Bush look.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31- You're looking wonderful.- Thank you.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36There is a sense of re-emergence, Reconnection is the title of it.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40It did come to the stage, when I was playing for myself at home,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42where I started getting a little thought,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45"Maybe it would be nice to share this with people again,"
0:27:45 > 0:27:50so there's a real variety, and it's very personal to me,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and hopefully that comes across.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55I was going to see it feels long overdue,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58but, actually, now is the right time.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02No, I'm really pleased that I've... I have no regrets about timing
0:28:02 > 0:28:06because I didn't want to do anything if I wasn't ready for it.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08We wish you the best of luck with it, Ruth. Thank you so much.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12- And thanks so much for playing for The Arts Show.- It's my pleasure.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46So good to see Ruth back. That's it from The Arts Show.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48We're back next month with a special,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52remembering the Great War and the Battle of the Somme.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54We're on radio, Tuesdays to Fridays,
0:28:54 > 0:28:56and online for extra material.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59Until the next time, good night.