One of Ireland's most successful musicians, Dubliner Finghin Collins studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O'Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. Winner of the RTE Musician of the Future Competition in 1994 and the Classical Category at the National Entertainment Awards in 1998, he went on to achieve major international success by taking first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1999. Since then he has developed a flourishing international career that takes him all over Europe, the United States and the Far East.

Finghin has performed with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gulbenkian Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.  Conductors with whom Finghin has collaborated include Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Hans Graf, Emmanuel Krivine, Nicholas McGegan, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, Tadaaki Otaka, Heinrich Schiff, Vassily Sinaisky and Leonard Slatkin.

Chamber music plays an increasingly important role in his musical life and he has collaborated with ensembles such as London Winds and the Aviv, Chilingirian, Ebene, Panocha, Shanghai, Skampa, St Petersburg, Vanbrugh, Vertavo and Vogler String Quartets. Instrumentalists with whom he has collaborated include violinists Isabelle van Keulen, Anthony Marwood and Raphael Oleg, cellists Han-Na Chang, Marc Coppey and Guy Johnston and clarinettists Michael Collins and Sharon Kam.

In August 2008 Finghin made his debut at the BBC Proms in London, performing Stanford's Second Piano Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Montgomery; his performance was widely praised by the critics. During the 2009/10 season he makes return visits to the Northern Sinfonia, the Ulster Orchestra, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.  He will also make his debut at the Korea International Music Festival as well as giving a major recital tour of Korea with cellist Han-Na Chang. In January 2010 Finghin will make his solo debut in the National Concert Hall's Celebrity Recital Series in Dublin.  Finghin has been appointed Associate Artist of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland for the three seasons 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13.

Finghin's first volume of recordings in Claves Records' complete survey of Schumann's piano works received glowing reviews in the international press, including "Editor's Choice" in the October 2006 issue of Gramophone Magazine, 4 stars in BBC Music Magazine and 5 Diapasons in "Diapason" Magazine in France. A further double album was released in March 2009 to great acclaim, including 5 Diapasons in "Diapason" Magazine in France.  In June 2010 Finghin will record a CD of Stanford’s works for piano and orchestra with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin.

Finghin is Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival.

Finghin Collins acknowledges the support of The Arts Council and Music Network through the Music Capital Scheme 2008.

www.finghincollins.com

Sample Programmes

Bach Partita No. 2 in C minor

Schumann Six Intermezzi Op. 4

Brahms Three Intermezzi Op. 117

Schumann Faschingsschwank aus Wien Op. 26

Reviews

"Finghin Collins has long been the most successful Irish pianist of his generation.. .In Schumann's carnivalesque Faschingsschwank aus Wien, he enabled the music to burst with explosive energy and to linger languishingly in pools of tenderness. This was definitely a carnival to celebrate."

Michael Dervan, The Irish Times, February 1st 2010

"The Irish pianist made a tremendous impression with Mozart's A major concerto. Collins approached his part in a light, free and inspired manner, with sparkling virtuosity and a clear predilection for expressive phrasing, connecting seamlessly with the orchestra's part right the way through. ...... It was absolute bliss when Collins played the first of Brahms' Intermezzi Opus 117 as an encore: very slow, very tender, the melody perfectly phrased in the middle hand - a dream in E flat major, glimmering like moonlight..."

Ute van der Sanden, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, January 21st 2010

More Info

For further information on availability or artist fees or to discuss a booking please contact the Performance Programme Manager by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or telephone: 01 6719429.