National Piano Festival
12th National Piano Festival, 17th - 19th March 2022
11th National Piano Festival, 16th - 17th March 2021
10th National Piano Festival, 13th - 15th March 2020
9th National Piano Festival, 22nd - 25th February 2018
8th National Piano Festival, 10th - 12th March 2017
7th National Piano Festival, 19th - 21st February 2016
6th National Piano Festival, 20th - 22nd February 2015
5th National Piano Festival, 14th - 16th March 2014
4th National Piano Festival, 1st - 3rd March 2013
3rd National Piano Festival, 18th - 19th March 2012
2nd National Piano Festival, 13th March 2011
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
*To perform the first OR last movement from any Sonatina.
**To present 5 - 7 minutes of contrasting repertoire, minimum of 2 pieces representing different styles/moods. Please note performers presenting a programme under the time limit will not be considered for a prize.
***To present one Piano Etude by one of the following composers: Hummel, Moscheles, Herz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Alkan, Henselt, Smetana, Gottschalk, Saint-Saens, Moszkowski, Lyadov, MacDowell, Debussy, Busoni, Godowsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Bartok, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Prokofiev, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Glass, or Bolcom.
****To present one movement from a piano concerto of own choice. Orchestral part to be provided by the competitor. A second piano will be provided.
Prizes
Prizes
1st prize: Cup & Gold medal
2nd prize: Silver medal
3rd prize: Bronze medal
THIS YEAR'S SPECIAL PRIZES – sponsored by various private donors & PAI
As well as an array of trophies and medals, we have two special awards to present in honour of the late Clive Gouldson:
~ A cash prize of €150 will be presented to the most promising Junior Pianist.
~ A cash prize of €300 will be presented to the most promising Senior Pianist.
In addition, there will be three special prizes:
~ The Emerald Award and a cash prize of €75 will be presented to the best performance of a piece by an Irish Composer from any category;
~ The Virtuoso Cup and a cash prize of €125 will be presented to the winner of the Solo Etude Open category &
~ The Bob Smyth Cup & €150 cash prize will be awarded to the winner of the Concerto category.
Rules & Regulations
- All online registration forms must be completed and payment made to be processed.
- Entries must be submitted by Friday 17th February 2023. Late entries will be accepted until Tuesday 21st February, but with an additional fee of €10 per entry.
II. Age Requirements
- Ages will be determined based on the performer's age on January 1st of the competition year.
- Example: For the Solo Under 10 category, the performer must be 9 years old or younger on January 1st 2023.
III. Schedule and Performance Requirements
- The Festival schedule will be available online prior to the event.
- Performers will present one piece of their choice, except for those in the Under 12 Repertoire category.
- Participants cannot perform the same piece in multiple categories.
- Previous first-prize winners are not eligible to enter the same category again.
- The time limit for each category is 9 minutes, except for the Concerto category.
IV. Adjudication and Prizes
- Performers must score a minimum of 86% to win first prize and 81% to win second prize.
- The Adjudicator's decision is final.
- The Prizewinners Concert will take place at the Rathgar Methodist Church.
V. Festival Administration
- The Piano Academy of Ireland reserves the right to refuse entry to any performer.
- The Academy also reserves the right to change the time, venue, or order of performances as necessary.
- If a large number of entries are received for a category, it may be divided into two groups.
- The performer's piece may be heard in its entirety or in part at the discretion of the adjudicator.
- Performers must provide a clean copy of their music to the adjudicator.
Past National Piano Festival Prize Winners
We are honored to have had such a diverse group of pianists grace our stage, and we look forward to discovering the next generation of piano prodigies at our future festivals!
2020
U8 Pei Xi Saoirse Pu
U10 Ryan Keogh
U12 Anita Han
Sonatina U12 Pei Lin Oisin Pu
Repertoire U12 Pei Lin Oisin Pu
U14 Anna Hrymak Quinn
U16 Jinlong John Situ
U18 Stan O' Beirne
Concerto Open Leo Mac Nally
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 Myn Fitzpatrick
Duet U16 Anita Han & Ryan Keogh
Emerald Award Yichen Yao
Clive Gouldson Junior Award Pei Lin Oisin Pu
Clive Gouldson Senior Award Myn Fitzpatrick
2021
U8 Emily McCarthy
U10 Grace Bai
Duet Under 10: Lucas & Jody Wang
Duet Under 16 Not Awarded
U12 Pei Lin Oisin Pu
Sonatina U12 LuoXi Xu
Repertoire U12 Ethan Bai
U14 Pei Lin Oisin Pu
U16 Pei Lin Oisin Pu
U18 Dylan Hanly
Bob Smyth Concerto Open Stan O' Beirne
Pre Grade 5, Bronze Jubilee Pearse Crowley
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 Laura Finn
Emerald Award Maria Nasypanaya
Clive Gouldson Junior Award Pei Lin Oisin Pu
Clive Gouldson Senior Award Stan O' Beirne
Very Highly Commended:
Bob Turvey - Bristol, UK
Bonnie Neubauer - Havertown, Pennsylvania, USA
Joint 3rd:
Emily Mc Carthy - Dublin
Mac Chen - Kirkland, Washington, USA
Joint 2nd:
Ciara Cassoni - Kells, Co Meath
Dick Warwick - Oakesdale, Washington, USA
1st:
Dave O’ Sullivan - Co Kildare
2022
Solo Under 8 Daniel Zhu
Solo Under 10 Rebecca Yu
Duet Under 10 Marco Li & Leo Wang
Duet Under 16: Kexin Zhang & Zoe Yu
Solo Under 12 Ethan Bai
Sonatina Under 12 Lan Chen Liu
Repertoire Under 12 Coco Luoxi Xu
Solo Under 14 John Ding
Solo Under 16 Zongwen Wu
Solo Under 18 Not Awarded
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5" Maeve O' Regan
Virtuoso Cup Dylan Hanly
Emerald Award Molly Devaney
Clive Gouldson Junior Award John Ding
Clive Gouldson Senior Award Zongwen Wu
ADULTS
1. Dick Warwick - Oakesdale, WA, USA
2. Rachel McCabe - Co. Monaghan
3. Teresa Mahon - Do. Dublin
Children
1. Leah Elwood - Co Galway
2. Sheba Chen - Spokane, WA, USA
3. Ava Marie Mc Cabe - Co. Monaghan
2016
U8 Sheba Chen
U10 Solomon Chen
Duet U10 Aristide Claude Illya Selve & Georgina Yu Her Ter
U12 Conor Dixon
Sonatina U12 James Guerrero
Repertoire U12 Gerry Yang
U14 Stan O'Beirne
U16 Dida Condria
U18 Aidan Chan
Pre-5 Jubilee (Bronze) not awarded
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 not awarded
Emerald Award Tiago Dennehy
2017
U8 Maria Motsonelidze
U10 Melodie Nekrasova
Duet U10 Solomon Clive Chen & Sheba Hisa Chen
U12 Maria Nasypanaya
Sonatina U12 Solomon Clive Chen
Repertoire U12 David Walega
U14 Eoin Maher
U16 Stan O'Beirne
Duet U16 Ekaterina Dementyeva & Georgy Dementyeva
U18 Bethany Edgar
Pre-5 Jubilee (Bronze) not awarded
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 Brendan Kennedy
Etude Under 25 Dida Condria
Emerald Award Emma Wang
Clive Gouldson Junior Award Pei Lin Oisin Pu
Clive Gouldson Senior Award Dida Condria
2018
U8 Pei Lin Oisin Pu
U10 Rana O' Sullivan
Duet U10 Jada Smith & Reuben Avery
U12 Solomon Clive Chen
Repertoire U12 Charlie Mc Hugh
Sonatina U12 Maria Nasypanaya
U14 Leo MacNally
U16 Eoin Maher
Duet U16 James & Jeannine Guerrero
U18 Michael Carey
Robert Smyth Junior Concerto Dida Condria
Pre-5 Jubilee (Bronze) Jo Parada
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 Bethany Edgar
Etude Under 25 Brendan Kennedy
Emerald Award Solomon Clive Chen
Clive Gouldson Junior Award Solomon Clive Chen
Clive Gouldson Senior Award Stan O' Beirne
2013
Solo U8: Conor Dixon
Solo U10: Nora Ronan
Duet U10: Joseph Sheng Zher Ter & Stephanie Chu Er Siak
Solo U12: Isolde O' Loughlin
Solo Repertoire U12: Dida Condria
Solo U14: Aidan Chan
Solo U16: Ryan Joseph McGrath
Solo U18: Carmel Comiskey
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 Holly Murphy
Solo Golden Jubilee: Hilary Dungan
Emerald Cup: Isolde O' Loughlin
2014
U8 James Guerrero
U10 Defne Gultoprak
Duet U10 Jeannine Guerrero & James Guerrero
U12 Nora Ronan
Sonatina U12 Sidi Bao
U14 Antonia Huang
U14 Defne Gultoprak
U16 Aidan Chan
U18 Peter Mullen
Pre-5 Jubilee (Bronze) Donal Galvin
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 Killian Grumley Traynor
2015
U8 Solomon Chen
U10 Maria Nasypanaya
Duet U10 Sheba Chen & Solomon Chen
U12 Stan O'Beirne
Sonatina U12 Leo MacNally
Repertoire U12 Nora Ronan
U14 Ledidq Condria
U16 Michael Carey
Duet U16 Lim Meng-Lah & Gerry Yang
U18 JJ McNamara
Pre-5 Jubilee (Bronze) not awarded
Adult Silver Jubilee Post Grade 5 not awarded
Emerald Award Stan O'Beirne
2010
Solo U8: Rachel Low
Solo U10: Conor Johnston
Solo U12: Adam Shaw
Solo U14: Lauren Fehily
Solo U16: Francesca Keane
Solo U18: Thea Koutsoukis
Solo U25: Penelope Maguire
Solo U40: Not Awarded
Solo P40: Marco Di Marzio & Mark Duffy
2011
Solo U8: Stan O' Beirne
Solo U10: Rachel Low
Solo U12: Conor Johnston
Solo U14: Adam Shaw
Solo U16: Not Awarded
Solo U18: Ellen Duffy
Solo U25: Conor O' Shea
Solo Bronze Jubilee: Michael Bevan
Solo Silver Jubilee: Jane Brownlee
2012
Solo U8: Joe O' Grady
Solo U10: Milena Cuk
Duet U10: Niall Connolly & Christine Wang
Solo U12: Jiou Wu
Solo U14: Ryan Joseph McGrath
Solo U16: Carmel Comiskey
Solo U18: Peter Regan
Solo Silver Jubilee: Killian Grumley Traynor
Solo Golden Jubilee: Helen Redwood
Emerald Cup: John Prendergast
Past Adjudicators
Through the years, our adjudicators have come from diverse backgrounds, with different teaching styles, and performance experience, but they all shared a deep love for the piano and a commitment to helping young pianists to reach their full potential. They have provided constructive feedback, and valuable guidance to our participants, helping them to grow and develop as musicians.
We are grateful to have had such a distinguished group of adjudicators, and we are excited to have future adjudicators join us in our future festivals.
2021 Adjudicator: Dr. Peter Mack
2020 Adjudicator: Dr. Yonit Kosovske
2018 Adjudicators: Veronica McSwiney & Roy Holmes
2017 Adjudicators: Colma Brioscu & Dr. Orla Mc Donagh
2016 Adjudicators: Una Hunt & Mairead Hurley
2015 Adjudicators: Anthony Byrne & Conor Linehan
2014 Adjudicators: Dr. David Mooney & Dr. Mary Lennon
2013 Adjudicators: Dr. Mary Lennon & Prof Pádhraic Ó Cuinneagáin
2012 Adjudicator: Prof Pádhraic Ó Cuinneagáin
2011 Adjudicator: Prof Ray Keary RIAM
2010 Adjudicator: Prof Lance Coburn RIAM
Email: info@pianoacademy.ie
Address:
Head Office and Studios:
1) 71B Brighton Road, Back of Methodist Church, Rathgar, D06Y497
Office Administration Hours:
- WED 6pm-8pm
- THURS 12pm - 2pm
Piano Studio: