Michael McHale
Thursday 12 OCTOBER 2023
At 7.00pm
Presenting pianist Michael McHale
Pianist Michael McHale makes a welcome return to Drogheda for a special solo recital to mark his 40th birthday. The programme combines beloved works by some of the Romantic era’s greatest pianist-composers with stories of romance and heartbreak, from Romeo and Juliet to the Greek myth of Hero and Leander, from love song arrangements by Clara and Robert Schumann to more contemporary takes on love and loss.
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata in C minor op.13 “Pathetique”
John Field Nocturne No.5 in B flat major
Fryderyk Chopin Nocturne in E flat major op.9 no.2
Sergei Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet Suite op.75
iv. The Young Juliet vi. The Montagues and the Capulets
vii. Father Lorenzo viii. Mercutio
Franz Schubert Impromptu op.90 no.4
Three love songs arranged for solo piano:
Augusta Holmès Evocation d’Amour
Clara Schumann Sie Liebten Sich Beide op.13 no.2
Liszt/Schumann Liebeslied S.566 “Widmung”
Garrett Sholdice Und weinen, und lächeln
Missy Mazzoli Heartbreaker
Franz Liszt Ballade No.2
Our artist
MICHAEL MCHALE
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 as a soloist with the Minnesota, Hallé, Moscow Symphony and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and all five of the major Irish orchestras, and performed at the Tanglewood 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, Miniatures and Modulations on Grand Piano, and a first orchestral album Irish Piano Concertos featuring works by John Field and Philip Hammond with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Courtney Lewis. His discography of over twenty albums includes releases on Delos, Nimbus Alliance, Champs Hill, and seven duo recital albums on Chandos with 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. Upcoming releases include a recording of Strauss’s ‘Burleske’ with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Chandos, and a recording of two new works by Cliff Eidelman with the London Symphony Orchestra.
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 as a part-time professor of piano for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Cork School of Music in Ireland.
Michael collaborates regularly with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Patricia Rozario, Dame Felicity Lott and Camerata Pacifica.
Book tickets
Individual Concert Tickets are €20 (€18 conc.). Season Ticket €130 (applies to full price tickets only).
TICKETS
€20 (€18 conc.)
WHEN
Thursday 12th October 2023
Pre-concert talk at 7.00pm, performance at 7.30pm
WHERE
St Peter’s Church of Ireland, Drogheda – Google maps
Buy a full season ticket
Our full season tickets allows you access to all eight concerts throughout the series for only €130!