I beg your garden?

A troop of renowned musicians who have been roaming the country playing concerts in the gardens of hospitals and nursing homes is on its way to Cork this month.

Covid Care Concerts was launched last June by leading Irish cellist Gerald Peregrine and the project has since played close to 470 classical concerts in 14 counties.

Each concert sees a core group of some of the country’s finest classical musician joined by well-known names from the Irish music industry.

The live shows feature music ranging from classical to ‘70s pop, as well as traditional Irish music, usually finishing with ‘We’ll Meet Again’ by Vera Lynn.

Speaking to the Cork Independent, founder Gerald Peregrine said the HSE-funded project has been hugely successful and that he plans to continue it post-pandemic.

“It's expanded very rapidly. We're going to be busy right up to the end of the year and we're very confident that the project will continue into next year,” he said.

By the end of the year the group plans to have performed over 800 concerts leading to the employment of 80 musicians with plans to nationalise the programme in 2022.

Mr Peregrine, who is based in Dublin, said the original idea was born through a small request from a neighbour during the early stages of lockdown last year.

“I was unemployed like the rest of the music fraternity. I had just come back from touring America and all my work disappeared overnight. I didn't play my instrument for two months. Then a neighbour asked me if I would do a garden concert for them,” he said.

On the success of that first garden concert, Mr Peregrine gathered some of his musician friends together to play a larger concert in the garden of a nearby hospital in May of last year.

From there the project grew rapidly with support from the HSE as well as Age Friendly Ireland and Healthy Ireland as part of the Irish Government’s Keep Well campaign.

“It's been about a quality of access and letting people know that they haven't been forgotten or left behind. It's incredible when you go somewhere and they haven't had any music or visitors in a long time. The difference you can see in their body posture, you could tell people had been really inside themselves,” he said.

Covid Care Concerts will be in Cork from 24-28 May and will feature Cork singer Iarla Ó Lionáird as well as Australian-born, Kerry-based musician Steve Cooney.

The group will play ten concerts in five days in county Cork with live performances in Mallow, Youghal, Churchtown, East Ferry and Midleton.