Feis Ceoil 2025

Feis Ceoil is always an enjoyable period of time every year - catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, performing music I love, and getting to hear so many amazing performances. This year, I was absolutely thrilled to have been awarded the Mabel Swainson Pianoforte Award. The list of previous winners on the cup includes many names that I have looked up to for years as a young musician, as well as (more recently) the names of some of my close musical friends and colleagues. Getting to add my name to that list is something really special to me. I performed a programme of Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61, and Albéniz’s Evocación and El Puerto from Iberia Book 1, and received some great feedback from the adjudicator Mark Swartzenruber.

As a result of the win, I got to perform in the final of the Morris Grant Bursary, which took place on Saturday, 14 June. It was such a pleasure to play in this final; the Morris Grant evening is always an evening of amazing performances, and I was so thrilled to be there to represent the Swainson Cup. It was particularly lovely to have my wonderful teacher Professor Thérèse Fahy there in the audience. During the week, I also placed Highly Commended in the Benson Cup, got to play some really fun chamber music with one of my close friends, tubist Adam Buttimer, and accompanied a few students who all played brilliantly!