11th Annual National Piano Festival - March 16th - 18th, 2021
The Festival videos are HERE!
Tuesday 16th (Today!) – kicking off @5:00pm!
Highlights from the National Piano Festival 2021

SHOW #1:
Solo Under 12 and Repertoire Under 12 @5:00pm

SHOW #2:
Solo Under 14 @ 7:00pm

SHOW #3:
Solo Under 6; Solo Under 8; Solo Under 10;
Duet Under 10; Sonatina Under 12; and Virtuoso Cup
(Etude open) @ â° 3:00pm

SHOW #4:
Solo Under 16 @ â° 4:45pm

SHOW # 5:
Solo Under 18; Adult pre & post Grade 5’s; and Bob Smyth Concerto @ Ⱐ6:00pm

SHOW #6:
FINALS Thursday 18th - kicking off @ approx 5:00pm (stay tuned!) SHOW #6: ✨FINALE Concert✨ showcasing all the 1st Prize winners, announcing the Special Awards, including the Emerald Award, a New Adjudicator’s Award and the Clive Gouldson Junior & Senior Awards
11th Annual National Online Piano Festival
March 16th, 2021 Results
| Pei Lin Oisin Pu | 96 | 1st |
| Grace Bai | 95 | 2nd |
| Ryan Keogh | 94 | 3rd |
| Maria Motsonelidze | 94 | 3rd |
| Yihan Sheng | 92 | VHC |
| John Elwood | 92 | VHC |
| Aran Cahalan | 90 | HC |
| Aurora Drapikovska | 90 | HC |
| Eóin Mc Intyre | 90 | HC |
| Fiona Mc Intyre | 90 | HC |
| Emma Wang | 90 | HC |
| Ryan Ali | 89 | C |
| Alexandra Butler | 89 | C |
| Saoirse Dagg | 89 | C |
| Thea Jin | 89 | C |
Results – Solo Repertoire Under 12
| Ethan Bai | 93 | 1st |
| Anita Han | 92 | 2nd |
| Ryan Keogh | 92 | 2nd |
| Yihan Sheng | 91 | 3rd |
| Rebecca Yu | 91 | 3rd |
| Mia Dobbyn | 90 | VHC |
| Timothy Lau | 90 | VHC |
Results – Solo Under 14
| Pei Lin Oisin Pu | 96 | 1st |
| Mark Egan | 94 | 2nd |
| Yichen Yao | 94 | 2nd |
| Zoe Yu | 94 | 2nd |
| Molly Devaney | 92 | 3rd |
| Yajun Wu | 92 | 3rd |
| Kexin Zhang | 92 | 3rd |
| Laurence Coonan | 91 | VHC |
| John Ding | 91 | VHC |
| Michael Holton | 91 | VHC |
| Reuben Avery | 90 | HC |
| Anna Doherty | 90 | HC |
| Jimmy Heng Fan Mi | 90 | HC |
| Léon GAUTIER-LOFTUS | 89 | C |
| Eve O' Donovan | 89 | C |
You will remember how we quickly & successfully switched the Festival to Online last March… and with live events still not permitted, this year’s 2021 Online Festival will take place March 16th & 17th, as part of the St Patrick’s Day Celebrations! We like to take things up a notch and can assure you, the 2021 Festival will be even better than ever!! We invite you to go *all out* and wear your craziest or finest GREEN! Along with the numerous performance prizes throughout each round, there will be extra prizes thrown in for the most interesting costumes!!
Online Piano Festival
We are excited to welcome this year’s piano adjudicator, Dr Peter Mack – former student of Mr Frank Heneghan and Bela Siki. From Terenure just beside us, he relocated to Seattle, WA in the 1990’s to further his studies in Piano Performance, where he enjoys a highly successful teaching & performing career. From the tiniest tots (under 6 yrs) ALL the way to our most MATURE & seasoned adults (pre and post Grade 5)…and everyone in between…the PAI Festival is the perfect platform for you to step out of your comfort zone, have your performance heard, get some positive feedback from an esteemed pianist, who has also many times before been in your shoes!
With fantastic prizes, interlaced with some good ol’ fashioned Irish humour what are you waiting for?!
Limerick Contest
NEW this year is our LIMERICK CONTEST!
The Limerick (5 line rhyme) contest will be one of the fun highlights of this year’s National Piano Festival! To help lift the oul’ spirits, all participants, friends and family are encouraged (arms twisted:) to submit ONE Limerick to the Piano Academy of Ireland!
During the Piano Festival Concerts on March 16th – 17th, the top finalists will recite their Limericks! The overall winner will be announced and awarded a handsome prize including the illustration & framing of their Limerick, to the value of €100.
Save the Dates!
(1) sending of LIMERICK (optional –
but go on…give it a lash!)
Poems not later than
DEADLINE
5:00pm Friday, 5th March, 2021
Submit Your Video by March 8th for your chance to win this NFT!
Categories
- Solo Under 6 years
- Solo Under 8 years
- Solo Under 10 years
- Solo Under 12 years
- Sonatina Under 12 years*
- Solo Repertoire Under 12 years**
- Solo Under 14 years
- Solo Under 16 years
- Solo Under 18 years
- Solo Etude Open (no age limit)***
- Piano Concerto Open (no age limit)****
- Solo Adult Bronze Jubilee Pre-Grade 5 (over 18)
- Solo Adult Silver Jubilee Post-Grade 5 (over 18)
- Duet Under 12 years
- Duet Under 16 years
Festival Procedure
- With round-the-clock piano performances, each age-group Concert will be presented, running in alphabetical order – followed by Dr. McVey’s video adjudication – just like the live-event! Interlaced with humourous Limericks, the ‘Most Festively Dressed’ & the ‘Best Limericks’ will also be announced. The Festival will be YouTube Premiered on 17th – 19th March 2022 but in the event that you are busy, it will be viewable afterwards.
- Premiering as part of the St Patrick’s Day festivities, we ask each of our participants when making their videos, to wear their finest or funkiest GREEN attire!
- Feedback Report sheets and certificates will be emailed in the days immediately after the Festival, including other special awards. Medals will be mailed out after that.
- With more than €1000 in prize money, NFTs, gorgeous trophies, salvers and medals, as an inclusive event, each participant will receive both certificates and fun give-aways.
- As we are all more than aware of the challenges teachers have faced this past couple of years, this year’s motto is Appreciation – and participants will also be asked to submit a short “Thank their Teacher” video.
- Trophies to be picked up from the PAI Office or delivery by courier, at the expense of the participant.
Limerick Video Submission Guidelines
Video Recording Tips
- Please film your video in Landscape.
- Using your phone or tablet to record is fine.
Please hold your - phone/tablet to record video in landscape, not portrait (landscape is horizontal, portrait is vertical). This type of recording will help fill the screen better and make for a more consistent presentation for our premiere.
- When recording your video, include just a few seconds of silence before and after starting the performance.
- Try to present yourself as if this were a “real” performance! We want to capture your best performance to share!
Instructions for Uploading Video
- After your video audition has been created, upload it to YouTube as “unlisted” (see below).
- Be sure to give the file an appropriate title and description (see below).
- Copy/paste the URL into your online Video Submission Form.
- Please check your URL to ensure it is functioning properly before submitting your application.
Video Format
- YouTube accepts any of the following video formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, and WebM.
Upload
Follow these directions to upload your completed video to an unlisted YouTube file. By doing this, only someone with a direct link to your video will be able to view it on YouTube.
- Go to http://www.youtube.com and sign in. If you don’t already have an account, create one.
- Click the “UPLOAD” button at the top.
- Either click on the “Select files to upload” box and select your video file from the directory or
- drag/drop your video file into the box.
- In the “Basic Info” screen, enter YOUR NAME where the filename appears. i.e. Lisa Smith, Limerick
- Change the privacy setting from “Public” to “Unlisted.”
- Click “Done.”
- When the video is finished, copy the URL and paste it into your online application form