Celebrated Irish violinist Mairéad Hickey is acclaimed for her captivating expression, soaring tone and fearless virtuosity. Her natural ability to communicate sincerely, with beauty and integrity, entrances audiences worldwide. As a soloist, Mairéad has performed with the RTÉ Irish National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Irish National Concert Orchestra, Hessicher Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, Kremerata Baltica, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Ireland and with conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach in some of the major halls around the world. Her Carnegie Hall debut was described as ‘…magical, penetrating to the heart and soul of the music.’ (New York Epoch Times)

Mairéad was the concertmaster of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire from 2021 to 2023. She is frequently invited to perform as guest concertmaster in orchestras including Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Ulster Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and Orquesta Simfónica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.

A passionate chamber musician, Mairéad has performed with Sir András Schiff, Barry Douglas, Tabea Zimmermann, Renaud Capuçon, Mate Bekavac, Irena Grafenauer, Alexander Lonquich, Steven Isserlis, Christian Tetzlaff, Alain Altinoglu, Kirill Gernstein, Paul Neubauer, Pieter Wispelway, Michel Lethiec, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the Vanbrugh Quartet, among many others.

Mairéad has been invited to perform at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Westport Festival of Chamber Music, the Clandeboye Music Festival, the Rheingau Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Festival International de Colmar, Nouveaux Horizons d'Aix-en-Provence, Mantova Chamber Music Festival, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Rolandseck Festival and Chamber Music Connects the World.

Her love of chamber music led her to co-found the Ortús Chamber Music Festival in 2016 in her native Cork, of which she is Artistic Director. Mairéad was Irish NCH Young Musician of the Year 2010–2012. As well as winning prizes at renowned Irish competitions, she won third prize and a Special Prize for the best interpretation of a virtuoso work at the 2016 International Louis Spohr Competition and first prize in the Jeunesses Musicales Violin Competition, Romania, in 2012. In 2017, she was awarded a Special Prize in the Berliner International Music Competition and the Manhattan International Music Competition. She was awarded the André Hoffmann prize at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad in January 2022 for her interpretation of the world premiere performance of Wolfgang Rhim's 'Episode'.

Born in 1996, Mairéad began playing the violin at the age of three with Jyrki Pietila. From 2003 to 2014, she studied with Adrian Petcu at the CIT Cork School of Music and spent a year in France studying at the Conservatoire de Nantes with Constantin Serban. In 2020, she graduated with a Masters in Performance from Kronberg Academy, where she studied with Mihaela Martin.

Mairéad also plays traditional Irish music and has won eight world Irish fiddle titles. She currently plays a 1702 Giovanni Tononi violin and is supported by Music Network's Music Capital Scheme, funded by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. Music Network is funded by the Arts Council.

Nathalia Milstein was born into a musical family in 1995 in France and received her first piano lessons at the age of four from her father, Serguei Milstein. She went on to study the piano with Nelson Goerner at the Geneva Haute Ecole de Musique, where she completed Bachelor and Masters degrees with distinction, and with Sir András Schiff at the Barenboim-Saïd Akademie in Berlin.

Nathalia’s international career took off in 2015, when she won first prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition. In 2017, she was also awarded the Young Soloist Prize by the Médias Francophones Publics. She has since been invited to renowned concert venues such as Cologne Philharmonie, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Wigmore Hall in London, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Zankel Hall in New York, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and Radio France Auditorium in Paris. Moreover, she has joined orchestras such as the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, the Boulez Ensemble and the Paris and Geneva Chamber Orchestras, working with conductors such as Matthias Pintscher, John Storgårds, Christoph Koncz and Arie van Beek.

In France, she regularly performs at renowned concert series and with major orchestras. Her recent appearances include concerts with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Renaud Capuçon, Orchestre de Paris under the direction of Xu Zhong and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under the direction of Anna Rakitina.

At home and abroad, she enjoys participating in festivals such as La Roque d'Anthéron, the Heidelberger Frühling, Piano aux Jacobins, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Grachtenfestival, New Ross Piano Festival, Zaubersee Festival and Radio France Festival. As part of the “Building Bridges” program curated by Sir András Schiff, Nathalia has gained valuable experience performing in renowned concert venues across Europe.

Her most recent international orchestra highlights include collaborations with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under the baton of Miguel Pérez Iñesta, as well as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the baton of Jonathan Nott.

Nathalia’s discography is already impressive: supported by the Safran Foundation (Paris) and the Fondation Tempo (Geneva), Nathalia's debut solo CD features works by Prokofiev and Ravel and was released by the French label Mirare in 2018. Her second album, “Visions Fugitives”, was released in September 2021 and was awarded the “Choc Classica” as one of the best recordings of 2021. She also recorded Stravinsky's “Capriccio” with Mikko Franck and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra as part of an album dedicated to the composer and released by Alpha Classics in September 2022.

Moreover, Nathalia has been playing in a duo with her sister, violinist Maria Milstein, for several years. Together, they have recorded two albums - “La Sonate de Vinteuil” (2017) and “Ravel Voyageur” (2019), both released by Mirare and praised by international critics. In September 2024, they released their third recording, a double album dedicated to the complete works of Schubert for violin and piano.

Recognised for his celebrated interpretations as soloist, his extensive exploration of chamber music with some of the finest musicians today, and a dedication to widening the cello literature, Marc Coppey is considered to be one of the world’s leading cellists. He now also has a growing reputation as a fine conductor on the international podium.

A protégé of Lord Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich, Marc first shot to international acclaim at the age of 18, winning first prize and ‘Prize for the Best Bach Performance’ at the prestigious Leipzig Bach Competition in 1988. Soon after, he made major debuts in Paris and Moscow in collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin and Victoria Postnikova (captured on film by the celebrated director Bruno Monsaingeon), and performed at the Evian Festival by personal invitation of Mstislav Rostropovich. Since then, Marc has carved out an impressive solo career to date, working regularly with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors, including Alain Altinoglu, Lionel Bringuier, Lawrence Foster, Alan Gilbert, Kirill Karabits, Emmanuel Krivine, John Nelson, Pascal Rophé, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Yutaka Sado. He was made Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Cultural Ministry in 2014.

The breadth of his repertoire is testament to his profound musical curiosity: alongside mainstream cello literature, he is a champion of lesser-known and contemporary works. He has given the world premieres of cello concerti by such celebrated composers as Jacques Lenot, Marc Monnet and Eric Tanguy, and the French premieres of works by Elliott Carter, Mantovani and Erkki-Sven Tüür. Amongst those composers to have dedicated works to Marc are Lera Auerbach, Christophe Bertrand, Hugues Dufourt, Frédéric Durieux, Ivan Fedele, Philippe Fénelon, Philippe Hurel, Michael Jarrell, Betsy Jolas, Frank Krawczyk, Philippe Leroux, François Meïmoun, Brice Pauset, Enno Poppe, Thierry Pécou, Michèle Reverdy, Johannes Maria Staud and Frédéric Verrières.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include performing as soloist with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse/Lio Kuokman, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France/Kazushi Ono, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/John Nelson, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Lawrence Foster.  As conductor, Marc collaborates with the Deutsche Kammerakademie and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, amongst other leading ensembles, and serves as Music Director of the Zagreb Soloists (2011-present). 2021 marked his first year as Artist-in-Residence with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, performing Dutilleux (with John Storgårds), Dvořák (with Vassily Sinaisky), and Elgar (with Michael Sanderling), alongside Rhim (with Peter Rundel) and Shostakovich No.1 (with Stefan Blunier).

Marc is a much acclaimed recording artist, working exclusively with the audite classics label. 2021 saw the release of “Shostakovich: Cello Concertos” (with Polish Radio Symphony/Lawrence Foster), and 2022 saw the release of “Kodály: Music for Solo Cello”, and “The French Cello” (Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/John Nelson). All three albums received exceptional reviews.

Marc’s recordings have received exultant critical acclaim, including a Diapason d’Or and “Choc” in the Monde de la Musique for his recording of the Dutilleux Cello Concerto (with Orchestre Philharmonie de Liège/Pascal Rophé), and the highly sought after “ffff” from Télérama, amongst other awards. He has also recorded extensively for the Accord/Universal, Aeon/Outhere, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, K617, Mirare, and Naïve record labels.

Passionate about inspiring future generations of musicians, Marc is a Professor at the Conservatore National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and is regularly invited to give masterclasses across Europe, Asia and both North and South America. Since October 2020, he is the Artistic Director of the Saline Royale Academy d’Arc-et-Senans, a state-of-the-art music education facility in France.

Marc Coppey is also a passionate chamber musician and former member of the Ysaÿe Quartet (1995-2000). He now serves as Artistic Director of the annual Festival Les Musicales de Colmar. He collaborates regularly with such luminary pianists as Nelson Goerner, Stephen Kovacevich, Kun-Woo Paik and Maria-João Pires, leading string players including Ilya Gringolts, Vadim Gluzman, Viktoria Mullova, Alina Pogostikina and Lawrence Power, and the internationally acclaimed flautist Emmanuel Pahud. Marc’s regular sonata partner is esteemed Russian pianist Peter Laul.

Marc Coppey performs on a cello by Matteo Gofriller (Venice, 1711), known as the ‘Van Wilgenburg’, and resides in Paris.

Richard O’Donnell was the Section Leader and Principal Percussion of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra from 1996-2020. Previous to this, he was a member of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia and the Basque National Orchestra in San Sebastian, Spain. He has appeared as an orchestral soloist on numerous occasions with each of these orchestras, performing on over a hundred commercial CDs. 

In the field of education, Richard is Professor Emeritus of Percussion at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where, in addition to teaching, he also directed the percussion ensemble. As well as commissioning over twenty new Irish works for percussion ensemble, Richard has led the ensemble on thirty international tours to the USA, South America and Europe.

Outside of the orchestra, Richard has been particularly active as a performer in the field of contemporary music. He was a member of Concorde for over 25 years and has also performed with the Crash Ensemble, Vox21 and various freelance ensembles. 

Many of Richard’s students have particularly successful careers in music and currently have positions in the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Army #1 Band, the Gárda Band and in orchestras and universities in Germany and South America.

Richard holds a Masters in Music from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and a BMus from Indiana University in the US.

Mickey Glen Tomas has recently completed his studies for an undergraduate degree in the TUDublin Conservatoire, under the guidance of Dr. David Mooney. He has played in many venues and festivals across the country, including the National Concert Hall, the Limerick University Concert Hall, The Boyle Arts Festival, and The New Ross Piano Festival, as both soloist and collaborative musician.

He has had many masterclasses with respected musicians, including John O’Conor, Steven Osborne, and Gabriele Carcano, Barry Douglas, and Nathalia Milstein.

Mickey received first prize in the Freemason Young Musician of the Year 2025. He has also received multiple awards in the 2026 Feis Ceoil, was awarded a Kawaii Bursary in TUDublin in 2023 and received the Wil Keune Memorial Prize at the Freemason Young Musician of the Year Competition in the same year. In 2024, he became one of five young pianists in Ireland to be selected for the DIPC Young Pianist Programme. This has given him the opportunity to learn from fantastic musicians in Ireland and abroad.

Mickey is also an organist studying under Simon Harden. He has been the organ scholar in Trinity College Dublin since 2024, playing alongside the Trinity Chapel Choir. He recently received first prize in the Sidney Grieg TU Dublin competition and second prize in the Senior Organ Feis Ceoil ompetition.