Finghin Collins
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Finghin Collins (born March 31, 1977) is an Irish pianist. He won first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1999, and has performed with many of the world's finest orchestras and conductors.
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[edit] Studies and Competition successes
Finghin (pronounced Fin-een) studied with John O'Conor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and with Dominique Merlet at the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from Dublin City University in 1999 and a premier prix avec distinction from the Conservatoire in Geneva in 2002. Early competition successes include the Overall Winner of the RTÉ 'Musician of the Future' Competition in Dublin in 1994, semi-final prizes at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1996 and the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition in 1997 and the Classical Category at the National Entertainment Awards in Ireland in 1998. Finally, in 1999, Finghin was awarded the top prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Vevey, Switzerland, which led to a very busy international performing career.
[edit] Performances
Finghin has performed with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductors with whom Finghin has collaborated include Christoph Eschenbach, Hans Graf, Emmanuel Krivine, Nicholas McGegan, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, Tadaaki Otaka, Heinrich Schiff and Vassily Sinaisky. Chamber music plays an increasingly important role in his musical life and he has collaborated with ensembles such as London Winds and the Aviv, Callino, Chilingirian, ConTempo, Shanghai, Skampa, St Petersburg, Vanbrugh, Vertavo and Vogler String Quartets. Instrumentalists with whom he has collaborated include violinists Isabelle van Keulen, Miriam Fried, Anthony Marwood and Raphaël Oleg, cellists Alban Gerhardt, Marc Coppey and Guy Johnston and clarinettists Michael Collins and Sharon Kam.
[edit] Recordings
In May 2005 RTÉ Lyric FM released Finghin's debut solo CD album; entitled 'Impromptu', it features 19 sparkling piano classics. In May 2006 Claves Records in Switzerland released a double CD set featuring the piano music of Schumann; these recordings have 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.
"Vol. 1 of Finghin Collins's Schumann cycle is revelatory. In this young Irish pianist we have an artist (and I use the word advisedly) of rare poetic empathy, one with an uncanny and moving capacity to arrive at the still centre, the very heart, of Schumann's teeming and frenzied imagination. Winner of the 1999 Clara Haskil Competition, Collins is here to stay. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that he plays in the spirit of Haskil herself...this issue deserves a heavenful of stars." Bryce Morrison, Gramophone Magazine Awards Issue, October 2006
Finghin is Artist in Residence at Waterford Institute of Technology and Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival.
