Welcome to the Blog!

Hello and welcome to the official blog of the Dublin International Piano Festival and Summer Academy! We are hard at work here in the office planning this summer’s festival, and excited to be starting off the new year with a new blog. Here you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at this year’s programmes and events, get to know our faculty through artist spotlights, and have the first look at exclusive updates from our directors as they confirm the schedule of the coming festival.

Last summer’s festival was a great success, with the academy featuring 16 brilliant young pianists from as far as Canada, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the USA, as well as a few local faces from Kilkenny and Dublin. Our annual faculty (Edmund Battersby, Evelyne Brancart, Archie Chen, and Lance Coburn) wowed audiences all week with fabulous performances in the Hugh Lane Gallery, and we were lucky enough to have guest artist HJ Lim join us for a concert and masterclass series, including a unique collaborative performance with Buddhist master The Venerable Seongdam Sunim. DIPF regulars Dr. Jaime Diaz-Ocejo and Martin Walsh gave insightful seminars on performance psychology and the subtleties of piano repair and maintenance, and Bill Whelan of “Riverdance” fame teamed up with Lance Coburn to present an engaging seminar on composition and improvisation, concluding with a beautiful performance of Whelan’s own The Currach. After the whirlwind of activity in July we were happy to take a break, but now we are gearing up in earnest for this year’s festival, and we can’t wait to hear the young talent coming our way from all over the world.

Here are some highlights from the festival, captured by Evan Duning: 

Artistic Director Archie Chen plays at the Hugh Lane

Students Marco Di Marzio (Italy), Jesus Diaz (USA), and Chloe Power (Ireland) team up for a performance of Camile Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre at the Hugh Lane

A student plays for Archie in a public masterclass at Christ Church Rathgar

All smiles after a fantastic final concert!

That’s all for now, but check back soon for updates, interviews, and more!