Events and Tickets
NCH International Master Course
- Monday 29th July to Saturday 3rd August 2024
National Concert Hall's International Master Course runs from Monday 29 July - Saturday 3rd August with public master classes each day.
This intensive summer school provides national and international musicians with the opportunity to take part in a series of masterclasses and seminars by world-renowned musicians. Over the duration of the course, participants will receive one-on-one masterclasses, chamber music coaching with new ensembles and performance opportunities. On Wednesday 31 July the faculty will give a unique chamber music concert and on Saturday 3 August the faculty and students will take part in concerts to mark the end of the International Master Course.
The International Master Course is led by one of Ireland’s foremost musicians, Artistic Director Gwendolyn Masin (violin). Gwendolyn is one of today’s most significant concert violinists and an innovator in classical music. Emma O’Halloran will be the first composer in residence during the course in addition, renowned violinist Zoë Conway will lead a traditional Irish music workshop for the course participants.
This year, Gwendolyn leads an impressive faculty of musicians that comprises violinist Hyeyoon Park, youngest ever winner of the ARD International Music Competition; violist Hartmut Rohde who is renowned for his stylistic versatility and counts Heinrich Schiff, Lars Vogt and Jörg Widmann amongst his chamber music partners; Ulrich Witteler, principal cellist with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne; and celebrated pianist Hisako Kawamura who in 2020 received the 51. Suntory Music Award.
Also bringing their expertise to this year’s International Master Course are our Irish mentors; Abbie McDonagh, violin; Martin Moriarty, viola and Patrick Moriarty, cello.
Collaborative Composition Workshops with Emma O’Halloran
Over the course of the week, participants will engage in a series of hands-on workshops, guided discussions, and collaborative explorations designed to unravel the intricacies of the composition process. Led by composer Emma O’Halloran, these sessions are aimed at fostering a rich exchange of ideas in a supportive and inspiring environment. Participants will collectively create original compositions and have the opportunity to share their work and gain insights into the creative processes of their fellow musicians. Emma will also be available for individual composition lessons throughout the week.
Public Master Classes
Individual lessons and ensemble coaching sessions will be open to observers, please note the times listed below are subject to change, tickets may be purchased through the box office.
The International Master Course is kindly supported by TJ O'Connor and the Sheridan Family in memory of Patricia Sheridan.
Gwendolyn Masin, violin
Artistic Director
Gwendolyn Masin is one of today’s significant concert violinists.
She performs internationally to praise from press and audiences alike as a soloist, chamber musician and as guest with orchestras. Gwendolyn teaches violin and chamber-music master classes at institutes and festivals throughout Europe and North America and gives talks concerning her areas of expertise. She is also an artistic director and PhD scholar. She is Professor of Violin Studies at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, Switzerland, since September 2013. She is also the author of the award-winning book, Michaela’s Music House, The Magic of the Violin which is available in English and German and is part of the ESTA Edition collection available via Müller & Schade. In 2017, born out of the wish to shine a light on home-grown talent and offer international perspectives to young musicians and audiences in Ireland alike, she shaped a chamber music series and later the National Concert Hall International Music Course.
Hyeyoon Park, violin
Hyeyoon Park is an artist of outstanding focus and virtuosity, combining effortlessly rich sonority with musical integrity. The youngest ever winner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 2009, she is in demand as both a soloist and chamber musician.
A passionate chamber musician, she regularly appears at major festivals and venues such as Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, London’s Southbank Centre, Birmingham’s Town Hall, Spannungen Festival Heimbach, Moritzburg Festival, Les Rencontres Musicales d'Évian, Internationales Musikfestival Koblenz, Molyvos International Music Festival and Marlboro Festival at the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida. She has collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Andras Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Yuri Bashmet, Lars Vogt, Daniel Hope, Alban Gerhardt, Jan Vogler and Florian Uhlig.
Hyeyoon received the London Music Masters Award in 2012, and is now a proud Ambassador of the same charity, which gives children from underprivileged areas a much-needed platform to experience classical music education in the UK.
Hyeyoon studied at the junior colleges of the Korean National University of Arts and University of Cincinnati with Professor Piotr Milewski. She also studied with Professor Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin and with Christian Tetzlaff as a Young Soloist at the Kronberg Academy, where she completed her Master’s degree in 2016 which was kindly supported by the Nikolas Gruber Stipendium.
Hyeyoon plays a violin made by German violin-maker, Stefan-Peter Greiner.
Hartmut Rohde, viola
Violist and conductor Hartmut Rohde delights the audience with his tone and musical language as well as his special commitment to the respective style. Rohde is one of the leading European violists and a founding member of the Mozart Piano Quartet, with which he received the coveted OPUS Klassik Award for the first time in 2018.
For the past 20 years Hartmut Rohde is member of the “Spectrum Concerts Berlin” series in the Berliner Philharmonie bringing together most famous soloists under violinist Janine Jansen. 2024 will be its 35th jubilee season.
Hartmut Rohde has been a professor at the UdK Berlin since 1993 and is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music London. He plays a viola by Giuseppe Fiorini (1899) and an Ivo Luliano (2016).
Ulrich Witteler, cello
From 2013 to 2023, Uli Witteler was principal cellist with the Bamberg Symphony. Before that, he was best known as a founding member of the Gémeaux Quartet. He taught with the quartet at the Lucerne University of Music and as a quartet in residence at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen.
Witteler initially completed his early studies with Prof. Alexander Hülshoff at the Folkwang University in Essen before moving to the Basel Music Academy to complete his teaching diploma with Prof. Reinhard Latzko. He then completed his studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Prof. Clemens Hagen with a Master of Arts.
He has appeared as a soloist with, among others, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the North Rhine-Westphalia State Youth Orchestra and the Offenbach Chamber Orchestra, the Festival Strings Lucerne, West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Marienbad and the Munich Chamber Orchestra, whose principal cellist Uli Witteler has been from 2011-2013 and worked with conductors such as Radek Baborak, Jonathan Nott, Jakub Hrusa or Manfred Honeck.
His chamber music partners include Christian Poltera, Jens Peter Maintz, Clemens Hagen, Patrick Gallois, Sebastian Manz, Carl Wolf, Till Fellner, Hisako Kawamura and Bruno Giuranna.
Uli Witteler is currently principal cellist with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne.
Hisako Kawamura, piano
Hisako Kawamura's international concert career kick-started with First Prizes at the Concours Clara Haskil in Vevey, the A. Casagrande International Piano Competition in Terni, the G.B. Viotti International Music Competition in Vercelli and the European Chopin Competition in Darmstadt.
Kawamura has performed with orchestras including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Kyoto City Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Kawamura has participated in major music festivals such as Klavierfestival Ruhr, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Klavierwoche Ernen, Festival Auvers-sur-Oise, the Chopin Festival Duszniki-Zdroj, Spring-Festival in Tokyo and La folle journée Tokyo.
As an avid and sensitive chamber musician Kawamura performs regularly with cellists Clemens Hagen, Maximilian Hornung and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. Committed to sharing her musical experience with the next generation Kawamura holds a professorship at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen (Germany) and teaches masterclasses at the Tokyo College of Music.
Emma O’Halloran, composer
Composer in Residence
Irish composer Emma O’Halloran is interested in joy, wonder, hope, and connection, and her music is driven by a desire to capture the magic of what it means to be human. Freely intertwining acoustic and electronic music, Emma has written for folk musicians, chamber ensembles, turntables, laptop orchestra, symphony orchestra, opera, and theatre, and her work has been described as “intensely beautiful” (Washington Post) and “unencumbered, authentic, and joyful” (I Care If You Listen).
Known for her unique ability to fuse elements of pop, rock, and electronic music while exploring the colours and textures of acoustic instruments, her work has found a wide audience and has been featured at various music festivals such as Classical NEXT, PODIUM Esslingen, New Music Dublin, Tokyo’s Born Creative Festival, and Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend.
Emma loves working with people of all ages to explore and create music, and she has served as a mentor for various composition programmes in Ireland and the United States. In 2021, in partnership with the NCH, she founded the Creative Lab, an award-winning mentorship programme for young composers from traditionally under-represented groups in music composition.
Emma holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University and is currently working as a freelance composer. Current and future projects include works for Friction Quartet, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, a saxophone concerto, and a new opera with Naomi Louisa O’Connell.
Zoë Conway, Irish Fiddle Player & Composer
Irish fiddle player, Zoë Conway, is a prodigious talent, equally at home in both traditional Irish and classical styles. Zoë has performed across the globe, both as a solo artist and also playing with international acts such as Riverdance, Damien Rice, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Lisa Hannigan, Nick Cave and Lou Reed among others.
She has performed at festivals such as Glastonbury, L’Orient, Tonder and Womad and has also performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world.
Zoë is increasingly in demand as a tutor, specialising in teaching her students both traditional and classical styles. Learning both genres allows for a wide musical education, as the traditional side develops a strong ear, memory, and free bowing technique, while the classical training promotes tuning, tone, posture and reading.
