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Lissummon musician Daire Downey is still in celebratory mode after winning The Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year 2024 Award. Daire, a pupil of St Colman’s College, Newry has entered the competition several times in the past, so to win this year for his piano playing was a major cause for celebration. Daire's siblings, talented singers Aoife and Méabh have also been finalists in the competition in the past.
Hosted by Comber Rotary Club the event ran over several weeks with thirty-six competitors in the heats while the final was held in the Great Hall of Campbell College, Belfast in March where twelve of Northern Ireland’s most talented young musicians battled it out.
On his award Daire said "I'm very happy with the award I got and it was great getting to compete against people all around the country who have worked really hard at their craft, and it's great seeing the variety of music out there as well." Most often in competitions he is competing just against other pianists but in this one he was competing against flautists, harpists, guitarists etc.
Daire's interest in music started when his parents Judith and Niall decided to send him to piano lessons at the age of 7. He didn't fall in love with it immediately instead taking a while to enjoy it. Daire said "It took a few years for me to realise that there's more to playing piano than just getting through the grades and learning all your scales and exercises. But I soon realised that I can actually start learning pieces that I enjoy playing and once I realised that I can really enjoy it, I started practising more and then I can play harder pieces which I enjoyed more and then it all went from there"
The talented pianist also took up cello, organ and singing along the way and loves them too. He is currently studying piano under Professor Patricia Kavanagh in the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin which he attends on Saturday afternoons after his orchestra rehearsals in Portadown and recently attained his LTCL Diploma.
Daire cites local teachers Fiona Flynn and Sinead Frame as two people that have played a major part in his musical development. "My influences in music would largely be my singing teacher Fiona Flynn, mostly because of how much she gives to music around the area. I think that's mainly what I want to do’.
"It's great having the talent of playing music, but it's no use if you never share it anywhere and what she does is she shares her talent of music with everyone, all around Newry and the whole country. That's where I mainly take my inspiration from and share my music like she does and teaching it and singing and playing everywhere I can. Also my music teacher in school, Sinead Frame. It's the same story, she promotes music and tries to teach as much as she can to all the students in St Colman's which is what I really want to do, just share the music as much as I can."
Daire has been competing for years both at Newry Feis and Warrenpoint Feis. He said "I don't usually do too many outside of that. I've occasionally gone to Feis Ceoil in Dublin, which is very different from Newry Feis because you're up against people from all around the whole of Ireland so it's a really different experience because everyone is absolutely incredible. It gives you a sense of the sort of talent that's out there.
"I actually competed with my sister in an accompaniment competition, where I was playing piano and she was singing with me. That was down at Feis Ceoil and we won that which I was very happy with."
Love Making Music
He is looking forward to Newry Feis this year. "I find that Newry Feis is great because no one's really there just because they want to win, everyones just there because they love making music and that's my favourite part about it. There's no rivalry between anyone, everyone's just there because they want to be there."
Practising his skill he compares to homework "I don't hate it but it's largely just like doing homework. It's a bit more enjoyable than that but it's mostly getting into the fine details of the music, taking out sections and doing it over and over and over again. It's not the most enjoyable thing, but it's a necessary thing and then it all pays off when you get to perform something, say it's just a concert that I'm at or a competition, once you're actually getting to perform the piece, that's when most of the enjoyment comes and that's where all the hard work pays off."
Daire has taken part in many events and competitions over the the past few years but two stand out - playing with the South Ulster Youth Orchestra and getting a chance to play the organ in Armagh Cathedral.
"I'm part of the South Ulster Youth Orchestra, I'm the lead cellist in it under tutor, Nuala Curran. It's probably the favourite thing that I do, It's the highlight of my week going to the rehearsals every Saturday because I get to meet so many people.
"Usually when I'm playing piano or organ, it's a very individual thing, I'm not really working with many other people, it's just me, whereas when I'm at orchestra you're just one part of something big and it's great having that pay-off of getting to be with other people and making music with other people. I think that's where I really get the sense of why I'm doing music. Because you get to just be happy with other people and they're all happy doing it too."
He continues "Apart from that my favourite bit has been playing organ in Armagh Cathedral. My organ teacher, Colm Murphy is the Director of Music there and sometimes I get the lucky opportunity to go down and play something there, which is one of my favourite things to do because it's such a powerful instrument. It's very different from all the other things I do."
There certainly is a bright future for Daire Downey and he is determined to make the most of it and share his music with the world.
Daire concludes "I hope in future to focus more on accompanying on piano and organ. I think that's what I'd really like to do. Playing solo is great but I think sharing my music would be the best thing I can do.
"With accompanying you get to share your music with other people and help other people out. I know the likes of Danny O'Neill does a lot of that in Newry at the minute and that's what I'd really like to do. Just to help others out and maybe teach as well, to just get my music out there and not let it go to waste just playing music in my living room all day."
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