Finghin was first taught piano by sister Mary before pursuing his passion at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. His international career was launched by winning first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1999. He has performed in recital and with major orchestras across the globe. Since 2013, he has been Artistic Director of Music for Galway. He is also the founding Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival, as well as the founding co-Artistic Director of the International Master Course at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Finghin continues to make a significant contribution to the musical landscape of his native Ireland, where he resides.

Dublin-born clarinetist, Carol McGonnell, is known for the expressive power of her playing of standard repertoire while also enjoying acclaim for her fearless exploration of cutting-edge developments in new music. Carol is a founding member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble. She has been involved in the commissioning of over 100 new works, ranging from solo pieces to clarinet concerti. Carol has been broadcast on RTE, Lyric FM, BBC, WQXR, and NPR  awaiting the release of her latest CD including a new concerto by Phillipe Hurel. Carol spent two years in residence with Trio Ariadne at the Green Music Center in Sonoma and she has been on the chamber music faculty of the American Academy at Fontainebleau and the Aaron Copland School of Music of CUNY. She is auxiliary faculty for contrabass clarinet at the Juilliard School in NYC.

Described as “a rapidly rising cello star” (The Irish Times), soloist Christopher has performed internationally at many festivals including SuperCello Festival Beijing, Piatigorsky Cello Festival Los Angeles and has appeared at festivals in Ireland. As an avid chamber musician, Ellis has shared the stage with artists such as Barnabás Kelemen, Lars Anders Tomter, Finghin Collins, and Marc Coppey. Christopher began his studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and is currently completing a Masters degree at Rice University in Houston, Texas. In 2020, Christopher graduated from Paris Conservatoire where he was studying with Marc Coppey.

Born and raised in Germany, Clara was first introduced to the piano at the tender age of four, by her mother. In 2014, Clara pursued her studies in the Young Student Programme of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich as a student of Prof. Thomas Böckheler. A Young Steinway Artist and a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben , Clara is also supported by Yehudi Menuhin Life Music Now. Clara is a prizewinner of numerous national and international piano competitions and has also given recitals and performed in festivals in China, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and The Netherlands. No stranger to Ireland, Clara has also been awarded a Gold Recital Medal by the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin.

Stemming from the Irish word for collaboration and cooperation, Comhar is a music collective that focuses on providing a performance platform for young Irish classical musicians. Founded in 2019 by Emma Downes, Conor Prediville and Eoin Scanlon, Comhar has already brought many fantastic concerts to life including their inaugural Summer concert as well as the Christmas Tour with Comhar Vocal Ensemble.

Accordionist Dermot Dunne began his performing career after winning the Irish National Music Competition - ‘Musician of the Future’ in 1996. He studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kyiv, Ukraine, and now follows a busy career as a performer and teacher. He performs regularly at venues and festivals in Ireland and has given chamber music recitals and concerto performances across the globe. He has performed with leading European musicians including Pekka Kuusisto, Natalie Klein, Katherine Hunka, and Ivan Monighetti, and has recorded with groups including Crash Ensemble, Lunfardia, and the Far Flung Trio.

Based in County Clare, Diane has been a member of the Irish Chamber Orchestra since ‘98 and has toured the world with many prestigious ensembles including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. A renowned chamber musician, Diane has performed at major international festivals and also alongside and recorded with Sir Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, The Corrs, Shania Twain, Katie Melua. She is currently Course Director of the MA in Classical String Performance in the University of Limerick where she also teaches Dalcroze, Kodaly and improvisation.

Hannah embodies an exquisite blend of international artistry, having grown up in Ireland; attained her Bachelor degree at Finland’s Sibelius Academy; and recently graduating with a Master’s degree from New York’s Juilliard School. Hannah has shone as an orchestral musician, heard with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and many more ensembles. Hannah’s commitment to new music has expanded in recent years to include performances with Crash Ensemble across Europe. Hannah has recently moved to Paris to join Le Concert Impromptu, a French wind quintet, who performs a variety of classical concerts.

An Irish poet based in Dublin, Jane has a B.A. from Trinity College Dublin, a Ph.D in Biology from the California Institute of Technology, and worked as a Research Professor at the University of Arizona for ten years before returning home to Ireland. Her recorded readings have been broadcast on RTÉ’s Lyric FM, the Poetry Jukebox, and on the RTÉ Poetry Programme. She was the Irish Writers Centre’s 2019 Writer in Residence in Norway as well as 2019 Poet in Residence at the Archive of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. Recent and forthcoming projects include: a study of Donegal poet Madge Herron; a poetry film ‘Orchard Diary of our Undoing’; and a poem sequence to be set to music with support from DLR Arts Office and Creative Ireland.

Born in East Germany, Joachim graduated from the Hochschule für Musik “FranzLiszt” Weimar and the Orchesterakademie of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1994, Joachim moved to Ireland to become principal viola with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and has held the position ever since. With many prestigious performances to his name, Joachim is often invited to lead viola with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. As an outstanding musician to many Quartets such as Esposito String Quartet and renowned Contempo Quartet, Joachim is also a passionate teacher of viola and chamber music at the MA in Classical String Performance at the University of Limerick.

John Hearne was born and raised in Dublin. Growing up, he was taught both the piano and the recorder by his father William, and later he took up the bassoon before continuing his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Scuola Musicale di Milano. Since 2001, John has worked as a freelance player with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and various other ensembles. A keen chamber musician, John is a member of Cassiopeia Winds, Musici Ireland, and the Ficino Ensemble. He teaches the bassoon at TU Dublin Conservatoire and at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Malachy’s performing career began at a very young age, as he sang principal roles in the Dublin Children’s Opera in the RDS in 1982 & 1983. Starting out in the Irish Youth Orchestra, Malachy blossomed into a wonderful musician and pursued his studies in London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and later at the University of London. A dedicated chamber musician, Robinson is a founding member of many renowned groups from the Gregory Walkers, Crash Ensembles to the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Principal double-bass with the Irish Chamber Orchestra since ‘95, Malachy also has a plethora of solo accolades to his name.

21-year-old Zoë is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich, Germany, in the class of Julian Steckel. Zoë has been a multiple prize-winner in competitions throughout Ireland over the years. Recently these have included 1st place in the Clyde Twelvetrees Cup for Cello Concerto. Zoë has a great love for chamber music and performed in the National String Quartet Foundation’s 2020 Chamber Music Gathering at the National Concert Hall. She has participated in the masterclass programme at both the 2018 and 2019 West Cork Chamber Music Festivals, receiving tuition from members of the Vanbrugh, Danel, Apollon Musagète, and Chiaroscuro quartets.