On Tuesday, November 12th, the DIPC had the pleasure of presenting the participants of its 2024 Young Pianists Programme in a sold-out Showcase Recital in the National Concert Hall’s Kevin Barry Room. This very special evening brought talented students of both the Royal Irish Academy of Music and TU Dublin Conservatoire together.

The five participants of this year’s programme: Ava Duffy, Defne Gultoprak, Peter Ryan, Iris Stoicescu and Mickey Glen Tomas; presented a varied repertoire spanning Baroque masters Bach and Scarlatti to Romantic and Impressionist classics by Liszt and Ravel, to Modern sonatas by Berg and Rubinstein.

Ava Duffy commuted from her native Dingle, Co. Kerry, until she began her BMus Performance in RIAM this September, studying piano with Thérèse Fahy. Defne Gultoprak also studies piano with Thérèse Fahy, and is in her Third Year BMus Performance at RIAM. Defne recently won the 2024 Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year Competition, and the Lucien and Maura Tessier Scholarship. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Ryan studies piano with David Mooney at TU Dublin Conservatoire. Peter commutes to the Royal College of Music in London each weekend for violin and organ studies, and is Leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Mere days ago, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the Royal Albert Hall.

The DIPC Young Pianists Programme aims to acquaint pianists with the skills both at and beyond the keyboard required of professional pianists, and pianists who compete in international piano competitions such as the DIPC. We are delighted to see that Iris Stoicescu on the Young Pianists Programme competed in the MozArte International Piano Competition in Aachen, Germany in September. Iris studies piano with Réamonn Keary at RIAM. Mickey Glen Tomas is in the Final Year of his BMus Performance in TU Dublin Conservatoire, where he studies piano with David Mooney. Mickey was featured as a Rising Star in UCH Limerick’s 2024 Rising Stars Concert.

To conclude this varied programme of masterclasses, holistic workshops, concerts, operas and Q+A sessions with classical music industry professionals from all over the world – the DIPC will bring the Young Pianists to see ‘Rigoletto’ in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in December. We thank all our wonderful facilitators this year, and our wonderful venues including RIAM and the National Concert Hall. We look forward to keeping in touch with the Young Pianists and seeing all the great things they achieve in future, including but certainly not limited to international piano competitions such as the DIPC.