CLASSICAL duo John O’Conor and Ailbhe McDonagh join forces to bring an intimate evening of cello and piano music to Ennis this week.
World renowned Beethoven specialist O’Conor and Irish cello soloist Ailbhe McDonagh celebrated Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year in 2021 by recording a double album of his complete sonatas for cello and piano.
And this Thursday, October 6, they will bring their nationwide tour showcasing their partnership to glór.
On the night they will be performing sonatas by Beethoven and some shorter works by Faurè, Chopin and McDonagh herself including the world premiere of Valentia composed specially for this tour.
O’Conor has been gathering wonderful reviews for his masterly playing for over 40 years with the Chicago Tribune saying, “He represents a vanishing tradition that favours inner expression and atmosphere over showmanship and bravura”.
He studied in his native Dublin, in Vienna with Dieter Weber, and was tutored by the legendary Wilhelm Kempff.
His unanimous First Prize at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna in 1973 opened the door to a career that has brought him all around the world.
Composer and cellist McDonagh is an international soloist and chamber musician who performs throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.
She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, New York and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. McDonagh performs as a soloist and with many different chamber music ensembles including the Ficino Ensemble, Wilde Trio, McDonagh Sisters and the classical-traditional cross over group Trio Elatha.
She also plays regularly with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
In 2021 McDonagh recorded the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas with O’Conor on the Steinway Label which was widely received on both sides of the Atlantic. “McDonagh and O’Conor take [Beethoven] to whispered heights, and again later there is a most appealing sense of two-as-one. They find buoyant, almost dancing, rhythms” (Classical Explorer);
“Out of several performances of the Beethoven A major sonata heard over 30 years, McDonagh’s was the most musically complete and satisfying” (The Irish Times).
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