DIPF Spring 2018 Newsletter

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Looking back on Five Festivals

Spring 2018

Fostering Excellence in Piano

Announcement!

The Directors of DIPF would like to thank you all for your support over the past five seasons of spectacular piano performances. We are taking a short sabbatical in 2018 in order to refresh ourselves and allow some space for our Artistic Director to complete a recording project. We will be back in Summer 2019 with even more exciting concerts, seminars and Masterclasses!

Until then please enjoy the 2013-2016 YouTube video performances on our channel at: http://www.youtube.com/c/Pianofestivalie

The 2017 videos will be ready by July 2018 so please keep an eye out for these!

Let’s take a few moments to reflect on the highlights of the past five years....

Dr. Archie Chen and Rhona Gouldson, Festival Directors

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Inaugural Festival - 2013 In association with the International Piano Magazine, Classical Music Magazine, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane & Pianos Plus The culmination of many dreams & hard work…. faculty & students share an incredible 10 days together averaging 12 hours a day with lessons, Masterclasses, concerts, practise time, shared meals & cooking, featuring esteemed pianists Evelyne Brancart, Edmund Battersby (Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University), Lance Coburn (RIAM) with our Artistic Director Dr. Archie Chen – along with workshops in performance Psychology by the world’s current leading Psychologist Dr. Jaime Diaz, faculty & students fine tune their bodies with daily Feldenkrais training, as this year’s students travelled from the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Switzerland, Italy, UK and Ireland.

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Edmund Battersby performing at the NCH’s John Field Room.

It is not surprising that each Festival has a special story that we recall & laugh about years later! 2013’s was while Edmund takes a peculiar notion to place the flowers received INSIDE the lovely Steinway...and while Rhona tiptoes back to her seat, only to witness what has just happened, Edmund and the entire audience proceed to loose themselves in his magnificent encore (Lavapiés by Albeniz)....while Rhona (the only person who knew there was in fact, albeit it just one inch - of water at the bottom of the bouquet) spends the next 7 minutes with her head on her lap, wondering which direction the water might be flowing....??

Needless to say, she doesn’t remember one single note of the encore!

We were blessed that our piano technician was in the audience that evening, who witnessed what appeared (to Rhona after 7 minutes in a cold sweat) as the s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n scattering of water droplets (as Edmund grabbed his bouquet and took his final bow), Martin promptly proceeded to grab the nearest towels backstage, absorbing any droplets that had escaped into the piano, thankfully was just a few! Lesson learned: no more water in flowers!

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3 1: Both faculty & students started the day with Feldenkrais.

2&3: Students enjoying a feast at Johnny Foxes Pub & outside Rathfarnham Castle.

4: Friends for life! Faculty member Lance Coburn & our Artistic Director post- opening Concert.

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2nd Festival - 2014 In association with Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Blüthner Pianos Our esteemed core faculty return and are joined by Portuguese pianist, Artur Pizarro and Festival’s Honorary Patron, Dr. John O’ Conor, while Finghin Collins shared his great wisdom on how to develop a career as a concert pianist with this year’s students, from China, Japan, Malaysia, Romania, Italy, USA, Canada and Ireland. Raising the spirits of the patients at Harold’s Cross Hospice, the students entertain them, in preparation for their final performance at Dublin City The Hugh Lane.

Martin Walsh returns to give a ‘Pimp my Piano’ talk. An all-day excursion roaming the Wicklow hills, students & faculty are then treated (again) to a night at the Gaiety’s Riverdance, courtesy of Bill & Denise Whelan, bringing the Festival to an exciting close!

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6 1&2: Artistic Director Archie Chen & Lance Coburn open the Festival. 3: Students performing for the patients of Harold’s Cross Hospice. 4: Edmund Battersby interviewed with Irish TV; those braver students testing the Irish sea! 5: 4 year old Sheba Chen having a bounce. 6: Four peas in a pod! Archie, Edmund, Evelyne & Lance. 7: Artur Pizarro with Archie, Lance & Rhona.

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1: The love & mutual respect these two shared is so obvious here- Archie with Edmund. 2: Students hanging out on Dublin’s Samuel Beckett Bridge, from which our logo is derived. 3: Honorary Patron Dr. John O’ Conor giving a Masterclass. 4: Finghin Collins speaks with our students on developing a career as a concert pianist.

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5: Artur Pizarro giving a Masterclass. 6: Sheba (age 5) and Solomon (age 6) with their lovely Brazilian minder Giovanna. 7: Talented Festival Photographer Evan Duning with Archie, Indiana pals.

8: Artur Pizarro performing at NCH. 9: Martin Walsh tuning in between concerts.

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3rd Festival - 2015 In association with Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane & Pianos Plus A memorable year as core faculty Evelyne Brancart, Edmund Battersby and Lance Coburn return, with surprise guest artists, Korean pianist HJ Lim, in tandem with ancient Korean Jitsori singer, the Venerable Seongdam Sunim – in an unusual & rare collaboration that was musically and spiritually uplifting. Evelyne gave her amazing seminar on developing piano technique while Bill Whelan gave students (hailing from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Ireland and the USA) - an engaging seminar on the subject of composition & improvisation...”Who has the rights and does it matter…?”

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3 1: HJ Lim & Archie Chen performing in duet.

2: The 2015 “story” when we realised we forgot to turn the wheels of the stunning 7 ft Steinway - Edmund

Battersby performs Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on a moving piano...in true ‘performance bubble’ as he ever so eloquently pulls the keyboard back towards him between variations - as Michael Dervan brilliantly put it - “like he was merely adjusting his tie”.

3: Lance Coburn mesmerising his audience at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.

4&5: Evelyne Brancart performing & giving seminar on developing one’s piano technique.

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1: Director Rhona Gouldson doing MC. 2: Performance Psychologist Dr. Jaime Diaz assisting our students.

3: Bill Whelan at the NCH with Archie, Lance and Rhona. 4: Archie Chen giving a Masterclass. 5: HJ Lim performing to a hushed audience with the Venerable Seongdam Sunim.

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8 6: Students & Faculty pose after the Final Concert at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. 7: Love is‌.when your 6 year old daughter presents you with flowers! 8: The Venerable Suengdam Sunim, HJ Lim, with Archie

& Rhona.

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4th Festival - 2016 In association with Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama, the Arts Council, Dublin City Council, Failte Ireland, Music LX; in addition, President Michael D. Higgins becomes Patron to the Festival Core faculty member, friend and colleague, Edmund Battersby passes away suddenly just a few months before, leaving a hole in our hearts. The 4th Festival somehow gains momentum, attracting even more support, for which we are truly grateful. This year’s stunning guest artists, Belfast-born Barry Douglas, Luxembourgian Jean Muller & DIT Director, Dr. Orla Mc Donagh, along with Ragtime & jazz pianist Ethan Uslan from North Carolina. While one of the special highlights was American pianist Frederic Rzewski, who performed a specially commissioned work based on “The Foggy Dew” in commemoration of the 1916 Rising along with his famous work “The People United”. The success of the 2016 Festival was particularly important as a milestone.

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1: Jean Muller performing at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.

2: Barry Douglas in ‘Sublime to Monumental’ at the NCH. 3: Frederic Rzewski performing specially commissioned works for the 1916 commemoration.

4: Poker playing under the stars…with Lance Coburn & Jean Muller…an end of Festival tradition.

5: Ragtime & Jazz pianist Ethan Uslan playing some lovely foot tappin’ tunes followed by a workshop on improvisation with the students & the public.

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1: Daily al fresco dining.

2: Dr. Orla Mc Donagh giving a Masterclass.

3: Barry Douglas with Archie & Rhona.

4: Martin O’ Leary, Ann Cleare, Frederic Rzewski, Grainne Mulvey & Kevin O’ Connell – our panel at Rzewski’s debate “Can music change the world?” at Rathmines MART.

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5: Rhona Blake, Paddy & Margaret Duffy.

6: Jean Muller with Archie & Rhona.

7: Barry Douglas & Archie Chen at La Trocadero.

8: Daily al fresco dining at Rathgar’s Piano Academy of Ireland.

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1: Students receiving their VIP (Very Important Pianist) T-shirts.

2: Rhona, Archie, Lance and Evelyne.

3: Barry Douglas giving a a Masterclass.

4: Evelyne Brancart giving a Masterclass.

5: Spin 103.8 James Kavanagh & RTE meteorologist Nuala Carey with Archie & Rhona.

2016 Story Was the final day of the Festival - the Alumni Alight concert, featuring all 15 students at the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane Gallery. It was not uncommon to witness a Student being ill in the bathroom before her performance, and despite what seemed to be an unusual amount of abdominal pain, US student Holly Quist (right) performed magnificently and we all put it down to nerves on the day.

When she didn’t show up to the end-of-festival party, we heard news from another American student that she was accompanying Holly to the ER with suspected appendicitis.

Archie & Rhona worked in shifts to keep her company until she had surgery the next day, hosting her afterwards in their home until she was well enough to travel back to the US. A most dramatic end to 2016’s Festival!

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5th Festival - 2017 In association with Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama, the Arts Council, Dublin City Council, Failte Ireland, Music LX & Precision Pianos.

Dr. Archie Chen, Evelyne Brancart & Dr. Orla Mc Donagh are joined by American pianist & pedagogue Frederic Chiu, who assisted our students through a programme of ‘learning without practising’ (during one session they instantly learned – away from the piano - & performed a Scarlatti Sonata!) as well as ‘dealing with stage fright’. They were joined by Italian virtuoso pianist, Gabriele Baldocci for Masterclasses & phenomenal performances along with Sony Recording Artist electronic crossover pianist extraordinaire, Francesco Tristano, while our Frank Mac Namara guided our students through a session on improvisation, with fantastic results!

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A memorable year, along with French Forest Fires and subsequent two attempts to get Russian virtuoso Boris Berezovsky to Dublin, the DIPF still managed to raise €3,500 for ChildVision, the National Centre for blind children.

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1: ‘Titan of the Piano’ Boris Berezovsky in action. 2: Ruth Hickey & the lovely children at ChildVision.

3: Frederic Chiu performing his ‘Classical Smackdown’ – Prokofiev versus Debussy - with audience participation & votes. 4: Dr. Orla Mc Donagh giving a Masterclass. 5: Gabriele Baldocci performing ‘War & Peace’ with Liszt’s fiendishly difficult transcription of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. 6: Electronic crossover pianist, Francesco Tristano. 7: Archie & Evelyne performing the Opening concert ‘Schubertiade’ for 4-hands.

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1: Archie & Rhona calming the nerves with a pre concert drink.

2: Frank Mac Namara doing Improvisation workshop with the students.

3: Colma Brioscu, Dr. David Mooney & Dr. Orla Mc Donagh at NCH. 4: Evelyne Brancart giving a Masterclass at DIT Conservatory.

5: Archie & Rhona at Meet ‘n Greet.

6: Frederic & Jeanine Chiu, Evelyne Brancart & Nathan Davis, Archie & Rhona.

7: Sheba & Solomon having their own fun, dressed & ready to join us at tonight’s concert.

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1: Gabriele Baldocci giving a a Masterclass.

2: Frederic Chiu giving one of several Masterclasses.

3: Students cook together – amazing teamwork as one team makes pasta (from scratch), another makes the sauce & a salad, another on deserts…with ‘minimal’ instructions from Frederic Chiu, as part of his ‘Deeper Piano studies’ – with Michael Dervan.

4: Martin Walsh in ‘The Art of Piano Tuner’ at Rathgar Methodist Church.

5: Frederic Chiu in ‘Learning without practising’ (during one session they instantly learned – away from the piano - & performed a Scarlatti Sonata!)

6: Dr. Jaime Diaz returns each year, assisting students with issues

to do with nerves & strategies for optimising their performance.

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Founded in 2012 by pianists Dr. Archie Chen and Rhona Gouldson, the Dublin International Piano Festival & Summer Academy was created to meet the need for a high-quality holistic program of piano in Dublin. Rhona’s work as Founder and Director of the Piano Academy of Ireland and the National Piano Festival combined with Archie’s vast international experience over years of teaching and performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Lincoln Center, the National Concert Hall and the Vatican, makes them the perfect duo to spearhead the effort of opening up spaces for international pianists to perform and study in Dublin.

The festival would like to thank all who have supported and contributed to making the past 5 years a stunning success.

We look forward to seeing you at our next Festival which will take place 20th – 28th July 2019 and includes Masterclasses, seminars and a concert series. More details will be available on our website in the coming months www.pianofestival.ie.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, where you will find all the exciting updates!

Photography: Evan Duning Supported by:

Newsletter Design: Norberto Legidos