Harmonically Speaking

My guest today is the Irish bow maker, or achetier, Noel Burke. Born in England to Irish parents, he grew up steeped in Irish traditional music, and upon leaving school studyied woodwind instrument making. However, it was a trip to Paris and a chance encounter that drew him to bow making. He apprenticed under Charles Espey, and Stéphane Thomachot, before setting out on his own path and eventually...

My guest today is artistic director of the Wigmore Hall, John Gilhooly. Hailing from Castleconnell in Limerick in Ireland, he studied history and political science in University College Dublin, alongside singing lessons with the legendary Dr Veronica Dunne. Following his university studies, he transitioned into Arts Administration, with stints at the Harrogate and Excel centres, before joining Wig...

My guest today is Head of Keyboard and piano professor at Cagliari Conservatoire, Giulio Biddau. Born in Cagliari, Sardinia, he studied there, in Paris, Rome, and Berlin and is a prize winner at numerous international competitions, including Aix-en-Provence, Valencia, Terni, and Tbilisi and performs all over the world. Most recently he has been pursuing a doctorate in musicology in Zurich and Graz...

My guest today is opera director Caroline Staunton. Growing up in Dublin, her path to the Staatsoper in Berlin was an unusual one, first studying English and Philosophy in UCD, followed by a masters there in Drama studies. Whilst teaching English in Gonzaga College, and directing theatre productions, the allure of opera became ever stronger, leading her to take a year out and intern in Berlin and...

My guest today is composer and former Professor of Composition and Theory at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Frank Corcoran. Hailing from Borrisokane in County Tipperary, he was always drawn to music, and as a young child wanting to record traditional Irish music created his own method of notation, before going on to study in Maynooth, Rome, and finally in Berlin with Boris Blacher.&...

My guest today is Professor of Viola at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden, Neasa Ní Bhriain.  Hailing from Dublin, she started out playing violin and in 2008 moved to Rostock in Germany to study it. However she had always been drawn to the viola, the critical middle voice of the string quartet, and during her studies there switched to it, before completing further studies in Leipzig and Wei...

My guest this week is Professor of Musicians Health with a special focus on mental health in Lübeck, Prof. Dr. Daniel Sebastian Scholz. Hailing from Tübingen in southern Germany, he is a trained psychologist and jazz musician, and initially studied psychology in Marburg before studying jazz composition in Osnabrück whilst completing his doctorate in Hannover. In 2022 he took up his current positio...

My guest today is director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and current President of the European Association of Conservatoires, Deborah Kelleher A native of Dublin, she studied music in Trinity College Dublin, later becoming a teaching fellow in UCD, whilst also teaching in the then DIT College of Music, and working in FM3, the precursor to RTE Lyric FM. However, her sights were always s...

My guest today is superstar jazz clarinettist, Giacomo Smith. Born in Italy, Giacomo grew up in upstate New York and initially wanted to learn saxophone, but was persuaded to start with clarinet, and went on to study clarinet classically in Boston University and McGill in Montreal. However, the lure of jazz was always there, inspired by both his mothers affinity for Dave Brubeck, and a roommate wh...

Bringing Season 1 of Harmonically Speaking to a close is Irish pianist, Fiachra Garvey. Growing up in the countryside in Wicklow, his two passions are music and animals, and on leaving school he faced a dilemma regarding choice of career, studying both music and veterinary for a year before deciding on former at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. Upon completing his masters with first cla...

My guest today is the CEO of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Gerard Keenan A native of Dublin, he learned trumpet through the VEC at the College of Music in Dublin, later joining the Army No. 1 band before transitioning into management. During his time at the Irish Chamber Orchestra, they have built incredible partnerships, most notably with Jorg Widmann, and toured the globe, performing in many of t...

My guest today is conductor Killian Farrell, Generalmusikdirektor, of one of Germany's most historic opera houses, the Stattstheater Meiningen. A native of Dublin he made his professional conducting debut aged 15 by organising and directing a performance of St Johns Passion before studying music at Trinity College Dublin.  Following this, he made the move to Germany, becoming First Kapellmeis...

My guest today is the Chief Executive of two of the worlds most prestigious artist management companies, Askonas Holt and Opus 3, Donagh Collins Whilst studying mechanical engineering in UCD, he began amassing administrative experience running a successful string quartet in Dublin, before moving to London in 1999 to work in Askonas Holt. Before taking up his current position as CEO there in 2...

My guest today is clarinettist Carol McGonnell. A fellow Dubliner, she initially wanted to play the flute, before taking up the clarinet in the then DIT College of Music. After studies in Queen's University Belfast and the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt she moved to New York for her Masters, where she studied at the Manhattan School of Music with the legendary clarinettis...

My guest today is the Lithuanian pianist, pedagogue, and presenter Gintaras Januševičius.  Hailing from a musical family his career to date has been defined by versatility and constant innovation. A graduate of the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover, and prize winner at multiple competitions, Gintaras now sits on numerous international competition juries and is artistic dire...

My guest today is the Austrian clarinet maker, Gerold Angerer. Hailing from the town of Fritzens in the Tyrolean Alps, he first served an apprenticeship with Hammerschimdt in Wattens, later spending time with Howarth of London, before embarking on his own path and founding Gerold Klarinetten . In the more than twenty years since, his instruments have become some of the most exclusive and soug...

Hello and welcome to Harmonically Speaking, the podcast that meets high achievers from the field of music and gives you an insight into their lives. I'm clarinettist Macdara Ó Seireadáin, and my guest today is violinist Maighréad McCrann. A native of Dublin, she studied Music in Trinity College Dublin and was a student of Brian McNamara at the then College of Music in Dublin before going to Vienna...

Hello and welcome to Harmonically Speaking, the podcast that meets high achievers from the field of music and gives you an insight into their lives. I'm Macdara Ó Seireadáin, a clarinettist in the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and my guest today is internationally renowned Irish pianist Finghin Collins. Born in Dublin, Finghin studied in the RIAM and the Geneva Conservatoire, and is a multiple competition...

Hello and welcome to Harmonically Speaking, the podcast that meets high achievers from the field of music and gives you an insight into their lives. I'm Macdara Ó Seireadáin, a clarinettist in the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and throughout the series I’ll be talking to orchestral musicians and soloists, conductors, administrators, instrument makers and more, finding out what sparked their passion, their...