24 September 2022
Concert Programme
Linda Buckley: “Solas na Gealai” for solo piano.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight.”
Jean Francaix: String Trio
Clara and Robert Schumann: Three songs arranged for piano quartet by Michael McHale
Interval
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor Op.25
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight.”
Jean Francaix: String Trio
Clara and Robert Schumann: Three songs arranged for piano quartet by Michael McHale
- Die Gute Nacht
- Der Mond Kommt Still Gegangen
- Mondnacht
Interval
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor Op.25
About Michael McHale
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Belfast-born Michael McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician.
He has performed and recorded as a soloist with the Minnesota and Hallé Orchestras, the Moscow, Bournemouth, Jacksonville, Fort Smith, BBC and London Symphony Orchestras, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and all five of the major Irish orchestras, and performed at the Tanglewood, BBC Proms and Tokyo Spring Festivals, Wigmore Hall, London, Berlin Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center, New York, Symphony Hall, Boston and Pesti Vigadó in Budapest. |
Michael’s début solo album The Irish Piano was released in 2012 by RTÉ lyric fm and selected as ‘CD of the Week’ by the critic Norman Lebrecht. More recent solo releases include Schubert: Four Impromptus on Ergodos, Irish Piano Concertos on RTÉ lyric fm, Miniatures and Modulations on Grand Piano and the Strauss 'Burleske' on Chandos. His discography of over twenty-five albums includes releases on Delos, Nimbus Alliance, Champs Hill, and eight duo recital albums on Chandos with clarinettist Michael Collins. The début album of the McGill/McHale Trio Portraits on Cedille featuring special narrations by Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was released in 2017 and immediately entered the Top 25 US Billboard Classical Chart. Releases in 2020 included a recording of Richard Rodney Bennett's Piano Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Wilson for Chandos.
A commitment to new music has seen Michael give first performances and recordings of music by composers including Valentin Silvestrov, Valerie Coleman, John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Rogerson, Abbie Betinis, Bill Whelan, Siobhán Cleary, Edward Gregson, Jennifer Walshe, Cliff Eidelman, Luke Bedford and Linda Buckley, as well as concerto world premières by Irish composers Garrett Sholdice (with Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Irish Chamber Orchestra) and Philip Hammond (with Nicholas Collon and the Ulster Orchestra for BBC Radio 3).
Winner of the Terence Judd/Hallé Award in 2009, Michael was also awarded the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, the 2005 Camerata Ireland/Accenture Award, and in 2016 a Major Individual Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, and his teachers and mentors include John O’Conor, Réamonn Keary, Christopher Elton, Ronan O’Hora and Barry Douglas.
In 2017 Michael was invited to become a Patron of the Ulster Youth Orchestra, and in 2018 he was appointed lecturer in piano for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the MTU Cork School of Music in Ireland.
Michael collaborates regularly with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Patricia Rozario, Dame Felicity Lott, Wigmore Soloists and Camerata Pacifica.
A commitment to new music has seen Michael give first performances and recordings of music by composers including Valentin Silvestrov, Valerie Coleman, John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Rogerson, Abbie Betinis, Bill Whelan, Siobhán Cleary, Edward Gregson, Jennifer Walshe, Cliff Eidelman, Luke Bedford and Linda Buckley, as well as concerto world premières by Irish composers Garrett Sholdice (with Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Irish Chamber Orchestra) and Philip Hammond (with Nicholas Collon and the Ulster Orchestra for BBC Radio 3).
Winner of the Terence Judd/Hallé Award in 2009, Michael was also awarded the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, the 2005 Camerata Ireland/Accenture Award, and in 2016 a Major Individual Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, and his teachers and mentors include John O’Conor, Réamonn Keary, Christopher Elton, Ronan O’Hora and Barry Douglas.
In 2017 Michael was invited to become a Patron of the Ulster Youth Orchestra, and in 2018 he was appointed lecturer in piano for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the MTU Cork School of Music in Ireland.
Michael collaborates regularly with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Patricia Rozario, Dame Felicity Lott, Wigmore Soloists and Camerata Pacifica.
About The Vanbrugh
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Winners of the London International String Quartet Competition in 1988, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet’s performances include concerts, radio and television appearances in Europe, the Americas and the Far East. Based in Cork as Resident Quartet to the national broadcasting service, Radio Telefis Éireann, the members of the Quartet are also Artists in Residence at University College, Cork. In recognition of their services to music in Ireland they were presented with the 1995 National Entertainment Award for classical music.
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Highlights of recent seasons include Beethoven cycles in the UK, Ireland and Sweden as well as major festival appearances in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. In July 2000 the Vanbrugh Quartet represented Ireland at the Europamusicale festival of chamber music in Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The Quartet broadcasts regularly for the BBC and other European stations as well as for RTÉ. A live European Broadcasting Union recital in December 2000 went out to an audience of some four million listeners throughout Europe.
The Vanbrugh Quartet has released numerous CDs, including the complete Beethoven quartets, works by Haydn, Schubert, Dvorak, Janacek, Dohnanyi, Copland, Robert Simpson, John Tavener and many of Ireland’s leading composers.
In 1996, the Quartet co-founded the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, based at the spectacular location of Bantry House. With its adventurous and uncompromising programming, the event has quickly established itself as a major event in the European musical calendar. Regular EBU broadcasts and a television documentary in 1998 helped spread the Festival’s reputation and the 2000 and 2002 Festivals were featured on BBC Radio 3. In 2003, the Quartet gave the world premiere of a new piano quintet by Deirdre Gribbin, entitled Speakers Corner, which was also performed at this year’s Spitalfields Festival.
The Vanbrugh Quartet has released numerous CDs, including the complete Beethoven quartets, works by Haydn, Schubert, Dvorak, Janacek, Dohnanyi, Copland, Robert Simpson, John Tavener and many of Ireland’s leading composers.
In 1996, the Quartet co-founded the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, based at the spectacular location of Bantry House. With its adventurous and uncompromising programming, the event has quickly established itself as a major event in the European musical calendar. Regular EBU broadcasts and a television documentary in 1998 helped spread the Festival’s reputation and the 2000 and 2002 Festivals were featured on BBC Radio 3. In 2003, the Quartet gave the world premiere of a new piano quintet by Deirdre Gribbin, entitled Speakers Corner, which was also performed at this year’s Spitalfields Festival.
Michael McHale and The Vanbrugh
Michael McHale - John Field's Nocturne in C minor |
Vanbrugh Quartet with William Butt - Riverbank Arts Centre |
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