Wednesday 7th December 2022 | 7.30pm
Curtis Auditorium, MTU Cork School of Music
Irish tenor Gavan Ring – “The agility of a gymnast and the vocal command of a sergeant major” Opera Magazine – joins pianist Gary Beecher, COS Emerging Artist 2021-22, for a performance of Schubert’s profoundly moving Winterreise song cycle, one of the supreme masterpieces of the genre.
Tickets:
€20 (General Admission) | €15 (Concessions & COS standard members)
€10 (COS concessionary members) | €5 (Students)
Programme:
Schubert: Winterreise, song cycle, D.911
Gavan Ring (tenor)
Gary Beecher (piano)
To view or download complete programme note, please click here.
Hailing from Cahersiveen in County Kerry, Irish tenor Dr Gavan Ring studied at the Schola Cantorum at St Finian’s College Mullingar before reading education and music at Dublin City University. An alumnus of the National Opera Studio in London, Gavan is also the first opera singer and the youngest graduate to complete doctoral studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Gavan’s ground-breaking doctoral research on Robert O’Dwyer’s Irish language opera Eithne led to the work’s first performance in 107 years.
Concert highlights include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms and Lucerne Festival under Sir Simon Rattle, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Royal Festival Hall under Sir Mark Elder and the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Prinzregententheater under Keri Lynn-Wilson. Recital work includes regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and RTÉ Lyric FM plus appearances at Wigmore Hall, the Oxford Lieder Festival and the Ludlow English Song Festival collaborating with pianists such as Simon Lepper, Graham Johnson, Eugene Asti, Sholto Kynoch and Iain Burnside. Opera highlights include leading roles at Opéra Royal de Versailles, Glyndebourne, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Garsington Opera, Wexford Festival Opera and Opera Holland Park.
Discography includes Barry: Alice’s Adventures Underground (Signum Classics 2021), Larchet: The Complete Songs and Airs (Champs Hill 2020), Rossini: Sigismondo (Bayerischen Rundfunks 2019), O’Dwyer: Eithne (RTÉ Lyric FM 2018), Gilbert and Sullivan: HMS Pinafore (Linn Records 2016), Offenbach: Fantasio (Opera Rara 2014) and Fleischmann: Orchestral Works (RTÉ Lyric FM 2010).
Gavan is kindly supported by Howard Gatiss, the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the Skellig Six 18 Distillery, Andrew and Lucy Penny and Michael and Giancarla Alen-Buckley.
The pianist Gary Beecher has a varied career as an accompanist, répétiteur, chamber musician and soloist. With a wealth of experience and having trained in both London and Ireland, Gary is a classical pianist who is also a versatile, accomplished musician across several genres of music; from classical, pop, jazz and musical theatre to Irish traditional music.
With a particular passion for working with singers, Gary has had several international competition successes including 1st Prize at the International Nadia and Lili Boulanger Voice-Piano Competition (France), the Rudolf Jansen Pianist Prize at the 53rd International Vocal Competition LiedDuo (Netherlands), and 2nd Pianist Prize at the International Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition (Austria). Previous to this, he was a Samling Artist, a Britten-Pears Young Artist and a winner of the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform. Additionally, Gary enjoys working as a répétiteur and has worked with Irish National Opera and Blackwater Valley Opera Festival among other opera companies.
As a soloist, Gary was winner of the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year (2014) and has recorded and performed as soloist and orchestral pianist with the RTÉ NSO, RTÉ CO, Camerata Ireland, Southbank Sinfonia London & Irish National Opera. Venues he has performed in include the Barbican and Wigmore Hall (London); National Concert Hall, RDS, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (Dublin), University Concert Hall, (Limerick), Cork Opera House, Triskel & Cork City Hall among others. Radio broadcasts include live and recorded performances on BBC Radio Three and RTÉ Lyric FM.
He completed his MA at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he was a Fellow and staff vocal coach accompanist. He holds a BMus and MA from the Cork School of Music (Munster Technological University) and was awarded 1st class honours degrees and top overall performer awards from both Guildhall and CSM institutions.
Gary currently lives in Cork and is a Lecturer of Piano and Contemporary Keyboards at MTU CSM.