Recognised internationally, the prestigious Irish Freemasons Young Musician Of The Year Competition returns for the tenth year and is one of the most important dates in the calendars of young musicians who will be the future of classical music in Ireland and around the globe.
This year’s Competition will
take place before an International Jury, chaired by Jane Carty, as follows:
· The Semi-Finals – Thurs. 10th October
2019 @ Freemasons’ Hall, 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 @ 1.00pm and
7.00pm
· The Finals – Saturday, 12th October
2019 @ Freemasons’ Hall, 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 @ 7.00pm
The prestige of winning
this competition opens many doors for
these young musicians from high profile engagements to
performing concerts, teaching internationally and holding positions with
professional orchestras around the globe. This competition is
recognised internationally.
How winning the
inaugural competition in 2010 enhanced Macdára Ó Seireadáin’s
career: “Winning the competition was of great
importance to me for a number of reasons – firstly the prestige and engagements
that came with such an award helped a great deal in improving my artistic
profile. In the years following on from the competition, I have gone on to
perform and teach internationally, have performed concertos with a number of
orchestras both in Ireland and Germany, and have gone on to hold my
first position in a professional orchestra in Austria. Winning
the competition helped kick-start the process which has led to all these
things, and as such, I would have to say that its overall contribution to my
professional development was of enormous value”. Macdára
is currently performing in Hanover where he is following his first love with a
chamber music series with his own chamber group. He is also principal clarinet
with the prestigious Tiroler Festspiel Erl Orchestra in Austria. He makes
frequent visits throughout Europe, the United States and China and back to his
homeland, Ireland, to play with the RTE Orchestras. At the invitation of the
Artistic Director of the IFYM, in view of his subsequent international career
Macdara was a member of the Jury for the 2017 Competition. This is the
first time a Winner was asked to do this.
Alex Petcu, who won in
2013, is a brilliant young percussionist from Cork School of
Music. Alex was awarded the ‘Rising Star Award’ from the National Concert
Hall, where he has since given a number of concerts and released a CD.
2014 winner Gary Beecher, a
gifted young pianist, also from Cork, has been continuing his studies
in Europe and playing in concerts both there and in Ireland. As part of
his 2014 Irish Freemasons Young Musician of
the Year prize, he made his debut concerto performance with the RTE
Concert Orchestra, conducted by their principal conductor, John Wilson, at the
NCH in August 2015, playing the Schumann Piano Concerto. His
performance was broadcast live on RTÉ Lyric
FM.
2017’s winner Violinist
Richard Thomas debuted playing the Sibelius Concerto at the National Concert Hall on
his 22nd birthday with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.
Described as the next Nigel Kennedy Richard Thomas has delighted audiences in
Ireland and the UK as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral
player. He has co-led the National
Youth Orchestra of Ireland, lead the RIAM Symphony Orchestra and was also the
inaugural leader of the RIAM Philharmonia, with whom he worked under Maestri
Kenneth Montgomery, Andrew Mogrelia and Gerhard Markson. Richard is also a
regular deputy violinist with the Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony
Orchestra and RTÉ Concert Orchestra, with whom he recently joined for a
five-concert tour of China. Richard currently plays on a
beautiful 1732 Nicolaus Gagliano violin, kindly on loan to him from Florian
Leonhard Fine Violins, made possible by
the Irish Freemason’s Young Musician of
the Year Award.
AMY GILLEN (23) (pictured), Winner of the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2018, performed with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra at the NCH in June. This performance was part of her prize for winning the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year Competition.
Amy, from Donegal, is a
graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, and is
currently studying for a Masters in Music Performance at the Royal College
of Music in London.
Since becoming the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year in October 2018 she has performed extensively as Principal Flute with the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. In 2019 she has also won the McCullough Cup at the Feis Ceoil, the RTE Lyric FM bursary and the RDS Jago Award.
It is important to
The Irish Freemasons, as part of their community outreach, to
recognise the longstanding association that Freemasonry has had with
music. Music has always played an important part of masonic
life. Many performers and composers have been members of the craft,
including Haydn and even John Walter Bratton (who wrote the music to The
Teddy Bear’s Picnic!) Many people will know about Mozart as a Freemason.
Mozart wrote many pieces of music for use in Masonic Lodges.
Members of the International Jury for 2019
are: Jane Carty (Chairperson of the
Jury), Eric Kushner (USA) Maighréad
McCrann (Ireland),Andrew
Mogrelia (U.K.), Michael
Pugh (U.K.), and Seamus Crimmins (Ireland),
Fifteen competitors will
perform at the Semi Finals and four of these will then be chosen by the
Jury to go on to the Final. The Semi Finals on 10th October
and the Final on Saturday, 12th October 2019 are open to the
public. Tickets are on sale at Freemasons Hall, 17 Molesworth
Street, Dublin 2 from September 1st. The Final particularly sells out very
quickly.
The Irish Freemasons Young Musician of
the Year Competition Prizes to be awarded by The Grand Lodge
of Freemasons of Ireland are:
· 1st Prize:
€5,000
· 2nd Prize:
€3,000
· 3rd Prize:
€1,500
· 4th Prize:
€1,250
There are two extra prizes
in addition:
· ‘The John Vallery Memorial
Prize’ (sponsored by Mary Beattie in memory of her husband, the viola player,
John Vallery). This prize is €1,000 and will be awarded to the competitor (in
either the semi-finals or the final) who, in the opinion of the Jury has given
the best performance by a String player in the 2019 competition.
· ‘The Conrad O’Sullivan
Memorial Prize (sponsored by Mrs. Geraldine O’Sullivan in memory of her son,
Conrad). This prize is also €1,000 and will be awarded to the
competitor (in either the semi-finals or the final) who, in the opinion of the
Jury has given the best performance by a Wind or Brass player in the
2019 competition.
The following will also be
offered to the Winner of
The Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2019 Competition:
· A solo engagement during
2020 with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra
· Submission of the recording
(at RTE LYRIC FM’s discretion) of the Winner’s performance to the European
Broadcasting Union New Talent Competition, as RTE Lyric FM’s entry for
2019.
· A Recital engagement at the
National Concert Hall during 2020
· An engagement at the ‘Music
in Monkstown Festival’ in 2020
The patrons of
the competition are: Jane Carty, Dearbhla Collins, Eamonn Lawlor and
John Rowden. Full Biographies of the Patrons are available on
the competition website which is www.freemasonmusic.ie
The semi-finalists at
The Irish Freemasons Young Musician of
the Year 2019 Competition are selected by the Music
Colleges themselves from the cream of their students. Competitors must be
full time students for the college year 2018 – 2019, pursuing a
Degree in Music Performance at Undergraduate, Post Graduate or
Doctoral Level, or a Post Graduate Diploma in Music Performance at the
following Music Institutions in Ireland who offer Performance
Degrees:
· The
Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin
· The Technological
University, Dublin
· The DIT Conservatory of
Music, Dundalk
· The CIT Cork School of
Music, Cork
· The Irish World
Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick (MA in Classical String
Performance).
· Queen’s University Belfast
Music has always played an
important part of masonic life. Here is an interesting list
of Masonic Musicians:
Classical: Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Josef Haydn, Emile Schikenader (Librettist of The Magic Flute),
Jan Sibelius, Thomas Arne, Johnann Christian Bach (Son of J S
Bach), Michael Balfe, Luigi Cherubini, Charles Francis Gounod, Franz
Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Claude Joseph Rouget
de Lisle (‘The Marseillaise’), Sigmund Romberg, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Samuel
Wesley.
Popular: John Philip Sousa, Louis
Armstrong, William ‘Count’ Basie, Irving Berlin, George M Cohan, Nat
‘King’ Cole, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Paul Whiteman
And finally, John Walter
Bratton (who wrote the music to The Teddy Bear’s Picnic!)
Jury Members 2019
Full Biographies and
pictures of the jury are available on the competition website which
is www.freemasonmusic.ie
JANE CARTY – Patron &
Artistic Director and Chairperson of the Jury:
In June 2010 Jane
Carty was awarded the highest honour the Royal Irish Academy
of Music can give – The Fellowship Honoris Causa (FRIAM). She
was born in Dublin. Having studied in Paris, Strasbourg and Perugia,
Italy, she started her career as a teacher of Piano, Theory and Composition at
what is now the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. A singer, pianist and
cellist herself, she presented and produced documentary music
programmes for Radio from the major European Music Festivals during her
subsequent career as Executive Producer for RTE. She organised and
directed national competitions for choirs, singers, instrumentalists and
composers, and was the Founder/ Director of the RTE Musician of the
Future Festival. See website for her biog: http://www.freemasonmusic.ie/Jury/Jury_Carty.html
Eric Kushner (USA) – Juror:
Eric
Kushner was born in Louisiana, USA and began his horn studies with 12
years of age. At 15 he performed as a soloist with the New Orleans Philharmonic
Orchestra. From 1979 until 1982 he studied at the New England Conservatory with
Prof. Thomas Newel and continued in Detmold, Germany with Prof. Michael
Höltzel. 1984 he became solo hornist of the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler
Orchestra in Vienna. In 1986 he was appointed solo hornist with the Vienna
Symphony Orchestra and held that position for over 30 years. In 2018 he moved
down the section and is working in the Vienna Symphony as a low horn
player. In recognition of his many years of service in the Vienna
Symphony he was given an honorary Professor title by the city of Vienna. He
has performed for many years with Concentus Musicus under Nikolaus Harnoncourt
on natural horn and performs regularly in festivals throughout Europe, the USA
and Japan. As a soloist he has appeared with the Vienna Symphony, the
Tonkünstlerorchester, the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg the Wiener Kammerorchester
under the conductors Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Fedosejev, Vaclav Neumann, Georges
Prêtre, Hans Graf und Frans Brüggen and has recorded extensively for CD and
radio productions world-wide.
Maighréad McCrann (Ireland) –
Juror: Maighréad McCrann has been
Concertmaster of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1993. In 1997
she was appointed Professor of Violin at the University of Performing Arts in
Graz. During this time she has also enjoyed a versatile career as a soloist
chamber musician and directing chamber orchestras from the violin.
Her passion for teaching has resulted in many masterclasses and intense
coaching with youth orchestras of Spain, Cataluña, Columbia, the Viennese
Jeunesse Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute in Washington. Born in
Dublin where she studied music with Brian McNamara, she graduated from Trinity
College of Music in 1984 and commenced studying in Vienna with Ernst Kovacic,
and further violin lessons with Sandor Vegh and David Takeno. She was a member
of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and played baroque violin with Nikolaus
Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus.
Andrew Mogrelia (U.K.) – Juror:
British
conductor Andrew Mogrelia has had an exceptionally versatile career as a
prolific recording artist and conductor of both symphonic and ballet
repertoire. He has conducted many of Europe’s leading orchestras including the
Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony in the
UK, the RTÉ NSO in Ireland, Residentie Orchestra and Dutch Radio Symphony in
the Netherlands and the Slovak Radio Symphony and Slovak Philharmonic in the
Czech and Slovak Republics, among others. Andrew has worked with
ballet companies including English National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet,
Nederlands Dans Theater, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Finnish National Ballet,
Norwegian National Ballet, both Australian and West Australian Ballet, Hong
Kong Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre in venues such as London’s Royal
Festival Hall and Barbican, Metropolitan Opera House (New York), and Sydney
Opera House. He was Music Director and Principal Conductor of San Francisco
Ballet from 2003-2005 and in 2009 was named Principal Guest Conductor of
Queensland Ballet and returned each season before becoming Music Director from
2013-2015.
In 2016 he
conducted the Australian Ballet’s performances of Swan Lake in Sydney, Adelaide
and Melbourne, returned to the RTE National Symphony (Dublin) for an Opera Gala
with Celine Byrne and conducted concerts at Queensland Conservatorium and Hong
Kong Academy of Performing Arts (both included Stravinsky’s 1919 Firebird
suite) and Nutcracker for Hong Kong Ballet with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
He was Conductor-in-Residence at the Birmingham Conservatoire (UK) from
1992-2002 and has worked with the National Youth Orchestra (UK & Ireland)
and the New Perspectives Ensemble at the Royal College of Music in London. From
2005-2012 he was Music Director of the Orchestra at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music, establishing a major programme of orchestral concerts,
workshops with distinguished guest conductors and a week- long Residence for
composer/conductor John Adams. He conducted Adams’ Harmonielehre and Wound
Dresser in the presence of the composer. He has an extensive
discography of some 30 recordings on the Naxos label and his recording of the
complete Sleeping Beauty was Gramophone magazine’s “first choice among all available
recordings”. Contemporary music projects include Birmingham
Contemporary Music Group (Maxwell Davies’ Vesalii Icones), performances of
works by Colin Matthews, Ross Edwards, Brett Dean, Steve Reich and John Adams
and working with renowned bassist Edgar Meyer in Australia, conducting his 3rd
double-bass concerto with the composer as soloist.
2017
engagements included concerts for the Royal Irish Academy of Music in
Dublin, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and a performance of John Adams’
“The Nixon Tapes I” with Opera Australia Orchestra, Chorus and soloists in the
concert hall of Sydney Opera House in celebration of the composers’ 70th birthday year.
Works by Bryce Dessner and Jonny Greenwood were also featured. 2018
engagements included the Final of the Dublin International
Piano Competition with the RTE National SO, a return to HKAPA and
Giselle for HK Ballet. In 2019 he will return to the Dutch National Ballet for
Swan Lake.
Michael Pugh
(U.K.) – Juror: After studying at the Royal
Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Michael came to
international prominence by being the only British pianist in its history to be
awarded the Prix d’Or at the Aarau International Piano Competition in
Switzerland. As a soloist his performances have captivated
audiences both in the UK and abroad, from London to Osaka, collaborating with
conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop and Alexander Briger.
As a
collaborative artist he has appeared in the QEH in London’s Southbank Centre,
Salzburg’s Festspielhaus, Zurich’s Tonhalle and the Lund Art Gallery, Sweden,
and performed in Metz, Paris, Berlin and Florence (with Amici di Toscana) as
well as at festivals in Pienza, Montalcino and Rome, at both Aldeburgh and
Cheltenham Festivals, and with Graham Johnson’s Song Makers
Almanac. Media activities have included live broadcasts for
the BBC and LWT, NKH Japan, Funen TV Denmark, Rai 3 Italy and ARVO Dutch
TV. His discography includes work for Miramax Films , Sony
and EMI. In September 2012, Michael was invited to join the
staff of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Séamus Crimmins (Ireland) – Juror: Séamus
Crimmins was appointed Executive Director, RTÉ Performing Groups, in 2007, a
position he held until his retirement this year. RTÉ’s performing
groups include RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ
Vanbrugh Quartet, RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and RTÉ Cór na nÓg – over 350
performers in all. His twin passions for music and broadcasting have resulted
in him holding several other key positions in RTÉ: he has served as Senior
Music Producer, commissioning Editor and, most notably, as the first Head of
RTÉ lyric fm.
For more on Seamus see: http://www.freemasonmusic.ie/seamus-crimmins-2/
The Patrons
Dearbhla Collins –
Patron is one of Ireland’s finest and most versatile musicians. As
well as being an accomplished and prize-winning solo pianist with a
distinguished performing career nationally and internationally, she is
respected equally as chamber musician and vocal coach and musical
administrator. She is the Executive Artistic Director ofthe
prestigious triennial Veronica Dunne International
Singing Competition in Dublin. She is a Patron of
the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of
the Year Competition.
Dearbhla was a member
of the Board of the National Concert Hall, Dublin from 2010 – 2015
having previously served two terms as a Director of Culture Ireland.
She is also a piano teacher and Vocal Coach at the
Royal Irish Academy of Music. She often teams up with her
brother Finghin Collins for 4-hand recitals and 2 piano
performances. Dearbhla has travelled regularly to China, where she
has given performances with bass John Molloy, mezzo soprano Aylish Kerrigan and
soprano Lynda Lee, including a recital of Irish music in the
prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Dearbhla
regularly plays for classes and masterclasses with Dame Ann Murray and
has also played for lessons with Sir Thomas Allen, Sergei Lieferkus and
Brigitte Fassbender. Performances include concerts with
sopranos Sarah-Jane Brandon, Anna
Devin and Pumeza Matshikiza; mezzo-sopranos Tara
Erraught, Rachel Kelly, Dame Ann Murray and the late Bernadette
Greevy; tenors Paul Austin Kelly, Paul McNamara, Mark Padmore and Robin
Tritschler; baritones Gavan Ring and Detlef Roth. These performances include
engagements nationwide in Ireland, in the US, Germany, Tunisia, Paris and
the Wigmore Hall, London. She has also toured the US with Tara
Erraught and given masterclasses and recitals in Beijing, Shanghai and
Wuhan in China. She has worked with the NSOI,
Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company and Welsh National Opera. In
2006 she coordinated, in association with the Austrian Embassy, all major
events taking place in Ireland to celebrate the 250th anniversary of
the birth of Mozart. Dearbhla was the moving force
behind the 2003 Dublin Hugo Wolf Festival, when under her artistic
direction the complete songs of the Austrian composer were performed for the
first time in Ireland. She curates Dublin Song Series with her
brother Finghin in
partnership with the National Concert Hall and the Hugh Lane Gallery.
Other projects included concerts at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin with Angela
Brower, mezzo soprano and BBC 3 recordings with Egyptian soprano, Fatma Said.
Eamonn Lawlor – Patron: Before joining RTÉ
lyric FM when the station opened in 1999, Eamonn was one of Ireland’s
leading news and current affairs broadcasters. He was RTÉ’s European
Correspondent for ten years and presented the ‘Six One’ news and ‘Prime Time’
on RTÉ One. More recently he was the ‘voice of music’ on RTÉ
lyric FM, presenting The Lyric Concert (Mon-Thurs, 8.30pm-11pm) as well as the
regular Friday night RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra concerts live from the
National Concert Hall. He holds an MA in Modern English and
American Literature from University College Dublin. Since his schooldays he has
been passionately interested in the Arts, particularly music and
literature.
Since his retirement from
broadcasting he has been actively pursuing his interests in Buddhism,
languages, literature and music, and has appeared on stage as reader/narrator
in Michael Murphy’s Stories, Poetry and Dreams and
Simon Morgan’s Keep the Home Fires Burning.
John N Rowden –
Patron: started playing piano at the age of eight, realising his ambition by
transferring to organ at the age of 16. He studied under W S Grieg at St
Patricks Cathedral, Dublin, and then later became a protege of Ralph
Vaughan Williams. He has played at the National Concert Hall Dublin, The
Ulster Hall Belfast, The Guildhall in Derry, Notre Dame, Paris and Liverpool
Cathedral, England; not to speak of most of the Churches in and around
Dublin. He was accompanist to many Choral Societies including the Seafield
Singers, and has been Grand Organist of the Grand Lodge
of Ireland for over 20 years.
SEMI-FINALISTS 2019
Full Biographies and
pictures of the 2019 Semi-finalists are available on
the competition website which is www.freemasonmusic.ie
Claire Austen Piano RIAM
Murrough Connolly Classical Guitar Cork School of Music
Robert Finegan Saxophone TU Dublin
Ben Gannon Oboe RIAM
Oran Halligan Piano RIAM
David McElroy Violin Cork School of Music
J.J. McNamara Piano RIAM
Connor McQuillan Piano Queen’s University Belfast
David Mitchell Flute Queen’s University Belfast
Molly O’Shea Violin Cork School of Music
Kieran Sharkey Trombone TU Dublin
Louise Sullivan French Horn Cork School of Music