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Two of Ireland's most distinguished pianists will share the stage for the first time as the inaugural Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival opens with a landmark concert featuring world premieres of new works by leading Irish composers.
Finghin Collins and David Quigley will perform at Newry Town Hall on Friday 6 February at 7.30pm, with a programme that includes the first ever performances of 'With Clear Eyes' by Co Cork composer Sam Perkins and 'Sionna, spirit of the Shannon' by Dublin pianist and composer Philip Martin.
Further distinguishing this concert as a milestone in contemporary Irish classical music, Collins and Quigley will play on two magnificent Steinway Model D concert grand pianos, kindly on loan from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Ulster Orchestra.
The performance, which Newry Chamber Music patron Sean Rafferty MBE will introduce, begins with Mozart's Larghetto and Allegro in Eb from 1781. Also featured will be work from some of Northern Ireland's most revered composers, including Elaine Agnew's 'Seagull', Philip Hammond's 'Miniatures and Modulations', and Joan Trimble's 'Sonatina for Two Pianos'. The concert concludes with one of the great duo masterpieces, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. Written in 1940 while the composer was living in the USA, it is a sweeping, electrifying work that will bring the first night of the festival to a thrilling conclusion.
Dublin-born Finghin Collins has been described as "a subtle tonal aesthete and a thundering piano lion" by the Ostsee Zeitung and as an "exceptionally fluent, exceptionally intelligent, exceptionally sensitive" pianist by the International Record Review. Winner of numerous awards, he has performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago and Houston, the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, and the BBC Symphony and Philharmonic orchestras, among others. Collins has performed at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Verbier and Zermatt festivals in Switzerland, and the Piano aux Jacobins and Nohant Festival Chopin in France. He is artistic director of Music for Galway, the New Ross Piano Festival and the Dublin International Piano Competition.
Co Armagh's David Quigley has been called "a pianist of amazing maturity and concentration [who] finds markedly different soundworlds for each composer under discussion" by The Birmingham Post, and as a performer who is "strikingly mature, driven by musical insight" by The Irish Times. An award-winning musician, Quigley has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Ulster Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Camerata Ireland, Southern Sinfonia and Cairo Symphony Orchestra. He has played many of the world's greatest concert halls, including the Philharmonie Köln, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Symphony Hall Birmingham and Carnegie Hall, New York.
Joanne Quigley McParland, Artistic Director of Newry Chamber Music, said bringing Finghin Collins and David Quigley together on stage for the first time in Newry is a real joy for her. "Finghin, David and I have known one another since we were children, competing at Dublin's Feis Ceoil, so this concert feels like the culmination of a lifelong musical journey and friendship. We are also absolutely delighted that our new patron, Sean Rafferty, will introduce this concert – his presence adds a special sense of occasion and celebration to what promises to be an unforgettable opening night."
Tickets are £20/£10 and booking is via newrychambermusic.org/piano-fest.
Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival takes place at Newry Town Hall and The Quays Shopping Centre from 6-8 February.
Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Newry Mourne and Down District Council and RTÉ Supporting the Arts.
