The Space Between the Notes - VII –
About Dublin, Performing, Learning, Women in Music, and other Stories

It has been such a pleasure and a privilege to step foot into the National Concert Hall again after two years of enforced abstinence.

When Finghin Collins and I, with whom I established the National Concert Hall's International Master Course (NCH IMC) back in 2018, met on the front steps of the building, even the typically volatile weather was abiding. I would love to say that the clouds parted and a ray of well-meaning sunshine illuminated our path, but that would be an unnecessary exaggeration. The truth is, just standing there, knowing that we were about to go inside to present our guided tour of Debussy's monumental Violin and Piano Sonata in the Kevin Barry Room, felt like an otherworldly yet familiar experience. I realised I was home.

Home on Stage

Reunited with my Parents After More Than a Year

What is home to you? In the case of what I feel when I refer to the National Concert Hall as "home", it’s the familiarity of the soft grey stone under my feet as I ascend the front steps and approach the brass handles on the glass doors of the front of the building. A rising sense of anticipation, laced with a healthy dose of excitement, lets my adrenals know that "home" is not just back on the Emerald Isle, it is also the stage.

Irish Talent at This Year's National Concert Hall International Music Course

This year's NCH IMC was somewhere between an online and offline experience — at least for some of the faculty.

Our "Creative Improvisation in Contemporary Classical Music" workshop saw some of Ireland's foremost musicians come together for a rousing 90 minutes of music — Ronan Guilfoyle, Nick Roth, Kate Ellis, and Cora Venus Lunny. Each artist brought with them a cornucopia of musical legacy. I am in awe of each and every one of them.

Listen to what they cooked up here

If you want to discover more about these amazing talents, please listen to some of their music:

Ronan Guilfoyle Plays "Falling in Love with Love".
Yurodny (with Nick Roth, Cora Venus Lunny) Play Taraf at my GAIA Music Festival in 2013 with an EPIC bass solo by Dave Redmond (Thanks for lending us your bass Philipp Moll!)
Yurodny Play Red Horo (with Nick, Kate, Cora) These outstanding musicians, along with cimbalom player Miklos Lukacs, will be performing with me in Berne's Casino in January 2023. Come along!
Cora at the Grand Social
Kate Ellis performs Sondas by Niall Vallely
Yurodny play Crow's Hora at GAIA I had the pleasure of playing along

Who is Finghin Collins?

Finghin and I Outside the National Concert Hall

Finghin was a boy I met when we were both around 10 years old and making our first regular appearances on both the concert and competition scene in Ireland. We had much in common. We were surrounded by loving and supportive families. We both loved to play; and we both expressed our innermost selves through music. We were used to being alone in order to focus on practicing. We were used to travelling many miles to go to lessons, masterclasses, festivals and the like. Finghin, unlike me, however, managed to stay on top of everything, all the time. He was top of his class at school, taking on subjects that only the most studious amongst us would dare dabble in — Latin! Russian! He learned a second instrument, the violin, to a level of mastery that I know few people have on their second instrument. And despite the discipline and solitude that one would suspect he’s cultivated when hearing his resumé or performances, Finghin has always been a hugely engaging personality and someone who many call a friend. Rather than my adding to the rightfully-earned noise around his presence on the international music scene, his presentation and playing speak for themselves.

Listen here for yet another outstanding moment in his recent life

An Imaginary Tale of Love and Music

With Finghin Collins Preparing Our Debussy Seminar

Both Finghin and I had the pleasure of presenting our performers’ perspectives on Debussy's Sonata live from the Kevin Barry Room, as well as performing a recital in the same venue.

With a nod to France (two of this year's faculty are French: Gilles Apap and Marc Coppey), we placed two major duo works from the 20th century in our programme: those by Debussy and Poulenc. We called the recital “An Imaginary Tale of Love and Music”.

Shorter pieces by a diverse range of composers from Saint-Saëns to Tabakova sought to put the sonatas into context. An overriding theme which emerged was a string of strong women who were either the dedicatees, the first performers or the inspiration behind virtually all the works, such as Ginette Neveu, Jelly d'Aranyi, and Emma Bardac.

Watch here. This live concert is online for a limited time — one month only!

Masterclasses with Finghin, Gilles Apap, Máté Szücs, Marc Coppey and I

Being My Son's Evening Entertainment

The stellar faculty at this year’s NCH IMC is to be noted, not only for their strong reputations internationally, but also for their teaching online. With the exception of Finghin, who was able to teach on site in the NCH, the others went online in their respective locations to teach both Irish and international participants. One and a half years after the pandemic began, teaching online has not gotten easier. The intensity and unwavering attention of the camera remains. Finghin and I thank Gilles, Máté and Marc for their professionalism and the enthusiasm with which they listened to participants and shared their thoughts.

View the masterclasses at the following links:

Finghin’s Masterclass

Gilles’ Masterclass

Máté’s Masterclass

Marc’s Masterclass

Gwendolyn’s Masterclass

Workshop with Zoë Conway

One of Ireland’s most treasured idioms must be its traditional music. There is no one better to represent it than Zoë Conway. She took to the task of explaining, demonstrating, and playing her fiddle, as well as sharing thoughts about the history of Irish Trad music, improvising, songwriting, and technique.

Watch the session here

Professional Development with Katie McGuinness

For this year’s NCH IMC, Finghin and I wanted to add to what would, in an offline environment, be a master course that focused on introducing an international faculty to Ireland and providing focused intention on chamber music, individual tuition, and concerts with faculty and participants. We feel it is important to emphasise the strength of inspiration already thriving in Ireland, the abundance of different musical styles that can and does influence classical music and vice-versa, as well as highlighting the importance of what happens offstage.

One such success story is that of Katie McGuinness. While pursuing her doctoral studies in piano performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Ireland in the class of John O’Connor, she spent two summers working for the Aspen Music Festival and School in administrative roles.

Knowing that her career was moving in the direction of artist management, she accepted the offer in September 2011 to work for HarrisonParrott Artist Management in London. In 2013, she was appointed Executive Assistant to the Senior Vice President of Artistic Planning at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was soon promoted to Manager of Artistic Administration. Since 2017 Katie is Director of Artistic Planning at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and as of 2021 has been appointed as the new Vice President of Artistic Operations of the Dallas Symphony.

Having lost none of her generous nature, kindness, humour, or modesty along her meteoric rise to the top, we felt Katie was the perfect person to ask her opinion regarding the current state of performance in classical music. What should musicians take into account for the future and what does it means to, as a young woman, be in a position to accelerate positive change in an otherwise largely male-dominated sector?

Watch here