BBC Radio 3 Piano recital: Michael McHale

Belfast pianist Michael McHale presents three special concerts in Portico in association with BBC Radio 3, comprising an opening solo piano concert and a pair of duo recitals with two of the world's finest wind soloists, clarinettist Michael Collins and oboist Juliana Koch. Each concert will include music from recent acclaimed album releases in what promises to be a feast for music lovers, with beloved favourites alongside lesser-known gems of the classical repertoire.

Programme

i.      W.A. Mozart: Sonata No.13 in B flat major K.333 

ii.      Mathilde de Rothschild: Mazurka in B minor op.2 no.6 

 iv.   Fryderyk Chopin: Nocturne in E major op.62 no.2 

v.      Samuel Barber: Excursions op.20

- interval -

vi.    Johannes Brahms: Four Ballades op.10  

vii. Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in C sharp minor op.27 no.2 "Moonlight" 

About Michael McHale

Belfast-born Michael McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician.

He has performed and recorded as a soloist with the Minnesota and Hallé Orchestras, the Moscow, Bournemouth, Jacksonville, Fort Smith, BBC and London Symphony Orchestras, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and all five of the major Irish orchestras. He has performed at the Tanglewood, BBC Proms and Tokyo Spring Festivals, Barbican, Cadogan Hall and Southbank Centre, London, Berlin Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center, New York, Symphony Hall, Boston, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and regular appearances at Wigmore Hall, London as a founding member of the Wigmore Soloists.

Michael’s début solo album The Irish Piano was released in 2012 by RTÉ lyric fm and selected as ‘CD of the Week’ by the critic Norman Lebrecht. More recent solo releases include Schubert: Four Impromptus on Ergodos, Irish Piano Concertos on RTÉ lyric fm, Miniatures and Modulations on Grand Piano and the Strauss 'Burleske' on Chandos. His discography of over twenty-five albums includes releases on Delos, Nimbus Alliance, Champs Hill, and eight duo recital albums on Chandos with clarinettist Michael Collins. The début album of the McGill/McHale Trio Portraits on Cedille featuring special narrations by Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was released in 2017 and immediately entered the Top 25 US Billboard Classical Chart. Recent releases include a recording of Richard Rodney Bennett's Piano Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Wilson and the complete music of oboe and piano by English composer Ruth Gipps with oboist Juliana Koch for Chandos, and for BIS a recording of Clarinet Trios by Mozart, Schumann, Bruch and Stravinsky with Wigmore Soloists and an album of English and Irish works with Michael Collins.

A commitment to new music has seen Michael give first performances and recordings of music by composers including Valentin Silvestrov, Valerie Coleman, John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Rogerson, Abbie Betinis, Bill Whelan, Siobhán Cleary, Edward Gregson, Jennifer Walshe, Cliff Eidelman, Luke Bedford and Linda Buckley, as well as concerto world premières by Irish composers Garrett Sholdice (with Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Irish Chamber Orchestra), Philip Hammond (with Nicholas Collon and the Ulster Orchestra for BBC Radio 3) and Andrew Sholdice (with Gavin Maloney and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for RTÉ lyric fm).

Winner of the Terence Judd/Hallé Award in 2009, Michael was also awarded the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, the 2005 Camerata Ireland/Accenture Award, and in 2016 a Major Individual Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Emmanuel College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, and his teachers and mentors include John O’Conor, Réamonn Keary, Christopher Elton, Ronan O’Hora and Barry Douglas.

In 2017 Michael was invited to become a Patron of the Ulster Youth Orchestra, and in 2018 he was appointed lecturer in piano at the MTU Cork School of Music in Ireland in addition to which he regularly gives masterclasses and adjudicates competitions in the USA, Ireland and the UK. In 2023 he was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. michaelmchale.com