The Irish arts world was in shock yesterday at news of the sudden death of Jerome Hynes, the chief executive of Wexford Festival Opera and vice-chairman of the Arts Council.
Mr Hynes, one of the most respected arts administrators in the country, would have celebrated his 46th birthday on September 30th.
He was addressing staff, casts and crews in the foyer of the Theatre Royal in Wexford on Sunday night and was introducing incoming artistic director David Agler, when he collapsed suddenly. He died shortly afterwards.
Mr Hynes was making the address as preparations were about to begin for this year's Wexford Festival Opera, which opens on October 20th.
He and his wife Alma Quinn were in London on Friday night for the English National Opera premiere of Gerald Barry's new opera, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. He was by all accounts his ebullient and genial self.
Mr Hynes had planned to drive to Dublin from Wexford late on Sunday to attend an Arts Council plenary session yesterday. Arts Council chairwoman Olive Braiden said Mr Hynes was "full of enthusiasm, energy and generosity for the arts". She added: "His whole work ethic and thinking on his life was devoted to the betterment of life for artists and culture in Ireland."
Yesterday his seat on her left-hand side was empty, and the shocked council observed a minute's silence.
"On a personal level, he was an enormous brick and support and a guide to me. I depended on him, he was my right-hand man. In that old-fashioned term, he was a decent, decent man," she said.
Mr Hynes was from Galway, where his mother Carmel still lives, and attended UCG. While still at college, he started to work with his sister Garry Hynes in the fledgling Druid Theatre Company, joining the company in 1981 as administrator. He was later general manager and steered the theatre through the key years when its reputation was established.
In 1988 he became managing director (later CEO) at Wexford Festival Opera, where he has been a driving force behind its development.
Festival chairman Paul Hennessy said yesterday that Mr Hynes was unique. "His commitment to Wexford was absolute and total. He provided the organisation with exemplary leadership during the past 18 years . . . we have lost a friend, a colleague and a champion."
Fergal McGrath, managing director at Druid, said Mr Hynes had "unbelievable energy".
"Personally, he was an extraordinary man, and he wrote the book for a whole generation of arts managers. It's quite incredible the number of organisations he was involved with, and the number of people he was supportive of."
He said people were phoning all day yesterday, devastated at the news. "He was an icon in Irish arts, he was unreal."
Mr Hynes was a member of the executive of the International Festivals Association, a judge in The Irish Times Theatre Awards, a director and vice president of Wexford Chamber of Industry and Commerce, a member of the Arts from Ireland advisory board at the Kennedy Centre, Washington, and a board member of the National Concert Hall and Business 2 Arts.
Until recently he was on the boards of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the Druid Theatre Company and the Dunamaise Theatre in Portlaoise.
Two years ago the Minister for Arts, John O'Donoghue, appointed him as vice-chairman of the Arts Council, where his clarity of thinking and fairness came to the fore.
Mr O'Donoghue yesterday said his loss would be felt deeply by the arts community nationally and internationally.
"Having worked closely with Jerome for many years, I deeply regret his loss. I was proud to know him."
Mr Hynes chaired the council's special committee on the traditional arts, which also included Philip King.
"I found him an inspirational character, and in the world of the arts, which in the end of the day is all about the work and creating the context for new work, he was a hugely significant player," Mr King said yesterday.
"He was full of life and enthusiasm and drive and wanting to do things right. I was just so mad about him."
Jerome Hynes is survived by his wife Alma, his three young sons, Conor, Feargal and Robbie, his mother Carmel, sisters Garry and Aedhmar, and brother Donal.
