Latest news with #FinghinCollins
Irish Independent
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Finghin Collins: ‘As a freelance musician, you always have anxiety... is next year going to be a bad year? Maybe I'm just lucky'
Finghin Collins (48) launched his international career by winning first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland at the age of 22 in 1999. Since then, he has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras. Collins is artistic director of Dublin International Piano Competition.
RTÉ News
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
RTÉ to livestream Dublin International Piano Competition finals
Audiences around the world can tune in live as 25 of the globe's most gifted young pianists descend on Dublin this week for the prestigious 13th Dublin International Piano Competition (DIPC). The competition's climactic final on 16th May will be livestreamed via RTÉ Culture and broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm, with earlier rounds also accessible on the DIPC YouTube channel. Hailed as one of the most respected platforms for emerging classical talent, this year's DIPC has drawn participants from 12 countries. The quarter-final rounds will take place from 9th to 11th May, followed by semi-finals on 13th and 14th May, both hosted at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. The grand final at the National Concert Hall will see three finalists perform full piano concertos with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Jonas Alber. Open to the public, the competition offers a rare opportunity for Irish audiences to hear the next generation of piano virtuosos. Finghin Collins, Artistic Director and jury chair, welcomed the competitors with enthusiasm. "It's a great pleasure to welcome this outstanding group of young pianists to Dublin," he said. "These talented artists represent the very best of the next generation. I would encourage everyone with a love of great music to join us for what will be some hugely enjoyable performances." This year's competition stands out for its inclusion of contemporary works by four Irish composers: David Coonan, Roger Doyle, Ailís Ní Ríain, and Judith Ring. Commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm, these pieces must be performed by all contestants, offering a spotlight on Ireland's vibrant contemporary music scene. The semi-finalists will also perform chamber music with the acclaimed ConTempo Quartet. The DIPC's international jury includes renowned pianists Michel Béroff (France), Piers Lane (Australia/UK), Noriko Ogawa (Japan), Dénes Várjon (Hungary), and Ireland's Hugh Tinney, alongside Katie McGuinness, Chief Artistic Officer at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Winners will share in a prize fund worth €35,000, with the top prize of €20,000 sponsored by KPMG. The first prize also includes a Carnegie Hall recital debut and a series of international engagements. Second and third prizes of €10,000 and €5,000 and several special category awards will also be presented. Watch the 13th Dublin International Piano Competition (DIPC) final on 16th May from 7pm via RTÉ Culture and listen via RTÉ lyric fm, with earlier rounds also accessible on the DIPC YouTube channel.
Irish Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Dublin International Piano Competition 2025: ‘As a jury member, I feel terrible for those poor kids playing in front of us'
The 26 musicians who made it through the first round of the 13th Dublin International Piano Competition are about to compete in the quarter-finals. By next week just three will remain, to contest the final at the National Concert Hall on Friday, May 16th. They'll be judged by a seven-strong jury chaired by the Irish pianist Finghin Collins . Four of the judges talk about their roles. Anne-Marie McDermott Winner, Young Concert Artists auditions, New York; artistic director/curator of festivals in Colorado, Florida, Oklahoma and San Diego Anne-Marie McDermott: 'To me, what makes a great winner is a great musician where their whole focus is about being a great musician, not having a great career.' Photograph: Sophie Zhai Who was the first competition winner to make an impression on you? Ivo Pogorelich was quite striking to me at the time. It was a long time ago, at the Chopin Competition where Martha Argerich walked off the jury when Pogorelich was eliminated. It was a very dramatic story at the time. But maybe even before that Van Cliburn at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. What was your first full encounter with a piano competition? When I was on the jury of the Cliburn competition in 2017. I had judged some smaller competitions but nothing of that magnitude. And then I was fortunate enough to be on the jury of the Dublin competition in 2022. READ MORE What are piano competitions for? Whether you win or not, it's a great way for people to become aware of you. I think it's a great motivator to really push yourself as a young player to get a lot of repertoire to the highest level. Every jury is different. Music is subjective, and there's never any guarantee. Do juries get it right? It really is all dependent on the jury that is put together – who the people are, and what aesthetic those jury members have. That's critical. Do the audiences always get it right? I feel in general that audiences can recognise great over good. What makes a great winner? To me, what makes a great winner is a great musician where their whole focus is about being a great musician, not having a great career. To do that you need to, foremost, have such a passion and a dedication to the art form. [ Irish drummer Kevin Brady: 'Most nights you're able to hear great live jazz. But we need something like classical has in the NCH' Opens in new window ] Noriko Ogawa Third prize, Leeds International Piano Competition 1987; professor of piano at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London Noriko Ogawa: 'At the end of the day we have to choose a pianist that you would pay to hear again.' Photograph: Patrick Allen/Opera Omnia Who was the first competition winner to make an impression on you? Probably Maurizio Pollini , though at first I didn't know him as a winner. I only knew him as a pianist, with this kind of immaculate technical ability and precision in performances which were also full of insight. What was your first full encounter with a piano competition? I entered the Japanese national student competition's primary-school edition, and I won the first prize. I was pretty lighthearted about it. My teacher had very casually said, 'Why don't you enter it?' and I said yeah. But when the preparation started my teacher became such hard work. So although I won the first prize, the memory became really quite negative. What are piano competitions for? Piano competitions are for pianists who don't have useful connections yet. There are some fortunate people, like the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who are recognised early by very big names, and then their career is pushed forward. Most of us don't have those connections, and competitions are very useful for reaching the public and all kinds of people in the music business. Do juries get it right? The pianists are young, and there are many years after the competition is over. They might survive for 40 years or not, but we can only adjudicate on what they show us. Some winners survive for a very, very long time. Sometimes lower-ranking pianists do better in the real world. Do the audiences always get it right? I cannot use the word 'always'. But at the end of the day we have to choose a pianist that you would pay to hear again. So an audience prize does say a lot, I think. What makes a great winner? Most of them are perfect technically. Nowadays the kind of ability Pollini had has become almost normal. But on the other hand there are some pianists who sound a bit digital to me; the dynamic range is a bit narrower; and although the musical expression seems correct, it doesn't sound like it's coming from the heart. If you could change one thing about piano competitions, what would it be? Maybe even more freedom for repertoire, that kind of thing. [ 'It's really a coup': Irish Baroque Orchestra to make BBC Proms debut with Handel 'Dublin' oratorio not performed since 18th century Opens in new window ] Michel Béroff Winner, Olivier Messiaen Piano Competition; professor emeritus at Paris Conservatory; also active as a conductor Michel Béroff: 'Today there are so many competitions, it's like a sports thing.' Photograph: Lyodoh Kaneko Who was the first competition winner to make an impression on you? When I was really young, Jean-Bernard Pommier, who was a student of my teacher Pierre Sancan, went to Moscow, to the Tchaikovsky competition. He didn't get the first prize, but Khrushchev liked very much his Mozart and Shchedrin and gave him a kiss. He was as famous as if he won the competition. What was your first full encounter with a piano competition? I wasn't much involved in competitions. I just did one, which I won, the Olivier Messiaen competition for contemporary music. I met Olivier in 1961, when I was 11, and played some of his music for him. In the competition I played a lot of Messiaen, Boulez, Stockhausen, Berio, plus some Bartók. I was 17 at that time. It was really nothing special. I was just playing some repertoire, and going to a competition didn't mean so much. I don't think I became more nervous playing for the jury. Now, as a jury member, I feel terrible for those poor kids who are playing in front of a jury. What are piano competitions for? It is a way of getting some attention. Maybe 20, 40, 50 years ago it was something which was quite big. Today there are so many competitions, it's like a sports thing – which has nothing to do with music, because music has nothing to do with competition. Do juries get it right? Since nothing is right, nothing is wrong. Everything is subjective. I remember once I was with Robert Levin on a jury. And after the result of the first stage, there is always a jury member who says, 'Oh, I have all the names, I have all the names.' So he said, 'If you have all the names we don't need you, because we want people with different opinions.' Do the audiences always get it right? In the short term audiences are wrong, but in the long term they're always right. What makes a great winner? A winner is just a great musician, making music not for his ego but just to be humble and to know he is playing the pieces of some geniuses. That's the responsibility. Even if everything is subjective, you have to have to try to transmit as much as you can while being transparent. If you could change one thing about piano competitions, what would it be? That's a really, really difficult question. Because you do have to have a winner. Katie McGuinness Chief artistic officer, Dallas Symphony Orchestra Katie McGuinness: 'I feel like every time there's been the Dublin International Piano Competition it's had some part in my life.' Photograph: Sylvia Elzafon Who was the first competition winner to make an impression on you? The pianist who stands out is Daniil Trifonov . I saw him with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where I was working at the time. I have no doubt that he is the greatest living pianist. I think he is today's Richter, Van Cliburn or Glenn Gould, without doubt. For me that was the moment where I was, like, 'Okay, competitions actually can find outstanding, exceptional artists.' What was your first full encounter with a piano competition? The Dublin competition. I was born in 1983. The competition started in 1988. My mother took me to concerts at the National Concert Hall all through my childhood. When I was 12 I became a student of John O'Conor 's. I feel like every time there's been the Dublin International Piano Competition it's had some part in my life. I've had friends who've competed in it. There are the people that open up their homes, their pianos, to competitors. They're their family. They feed them. They make sure they're sleeping. They give them a shoulder to cry on if they don't get through. It was a life lesson for me, honestly, because now I see it in what I do today. [ Irish composer John Buckley: 'I never try to write music that's difficult to play. It's just the way it emerges' Opens in new window ] What are piano competitions for? I have to steal a phrase from my teacher Emil Naumov. I'm paraphrasing. He said winning a competition can make you, show you off as a good pianist, but preparing for a competition is what makes you a great pianist. Competitions are for preparing works to as close to perfect as you can. It's the preparation that makes the great pianist. Do juries get it right? I would say no if it weren't for Daniil Trifonov. But maybe if he hadn't won that competition [the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011], would we know who he is today? Do the audiences get it right? The audience will pick somebody that they love, and you can tell by their reaction. But there's a caveat. They may not realise that they're influenced by the concerto they're hearing. And also they haven't heard the playing at every round. If you could change one thing about piano competitions, what would it be? I would love there to be a round where we actually get to meet them as a person, because that's so much part of the career as well. The semi-finals of Dublin International Piano Competition are at the Royal Irish Academy of Music from Friday, May 9th, to Wednesday, May 14th; the final is at the National Concert Hall on Friday, May 16th. Since this article was written, Hugh Tinney has replaced Anne-Marie McDermott on the jury; the full panel also includes Piers Lane and Dénes Várjon
