Michael McHale
Biography Michael McHale
Michael McHale
was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1983. His interest in music began at the age of seven when he started learning the piano, soon followed by cello lessons at the City of Belfast School of Music. A varied education took Michael from Belfast to Dublin, Cambridge and ultimately London.
His performing career encompasses solo recital, concerto and chamber music appearances and he enjoys playing both core and contemporary repertoire.
Since completing his studies at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music he has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. Michael has performed at many important musical centres including Suntory Hall, Tokyo; Lincoln Center, New York; Symphony Hall, Boston; Konzerthaus, Berlin; Pesti Vigadó, Budapest; the Ushuaia and Tanglewood Festivals, and for TV and radio broadcasts throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America.
His début solo album ‘The Irish Piano’ was released in 2012 on the RTÉ lyric fm label and has already been featured on national radio in France, Austria, Canada, Australia, the USA, Italy, Estonia and the UK. The disc was selected as ‘CD of the Week’ by critic Norman Lebrecht, who described it as “a scintillating recital…fascinating from start to stop”, whilst Gramophone praised “the singing sensibility of McHale's sensitive and polished pianism”.
Michael has performed frequently as concerto soloist with the Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony and Moscow Symphony orchestras, the Teatro Colon Orchestra, Discovery Ensemble in Boston, the London Mozart Players and all five of the major Irish orchestras in repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin and Rachmaninov.
A recent début with the Irish Chamber Orchestra saw Michael deputise for the indisposed Leon Fleisher in a performance of Prokofiev’s Left Hand Concerto with Gérard Korsten, which was broadcast worldwide on a live online video stream. Engagements in 2013/14 include performances with the Minnesota Orchestra (Mozart K.488 with Courtney Lewis), Ulster Orchestra (Liszt Concerto No.2 with Alan Buribayev), Irish Chamber Orchestra (a new concerto by Garrett Sholdice with Gábor Takács-Nagy) and the RTÉ National Symphony (Gershwin Concerto with Jayce Ogren).
His début solo recitals in the Wigmore Hall, London, the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and the Phillips Collection, Washington DC received great public and critical acclaim, with the Washington Post praising his “…bravura playing in the music of Franz Liszt…” and his “…beautifully proportioned and energetic account of Mozart’s Sonata in C minor, K.457…”
Upcoming engagements include return visits to the Discovery Ensemble (Mozart K.467), Ulster Orchestra (Mendelssohn Concerto for Violin and Piano, and Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue), RTÉ NSO (Prokofiev Concerto No.1, and a première of a new concerto by Philip Hammond), a début solo recital at the Chopiniana Festival in Buenos Aires, a Wigmore Hall coffee concert with London Winds, solo and chamber music performances with Camerata Pacifica in Los Angeles, and with the Vogler Quartet in Madrid and Berlin. New albums due for release in 2014/15 include a second solo CD, Miniatures and Modulations, a disc of clarinet sonatas by Brahms and Reinecke with Michael Collins, and an album of flute and piano works by Schubert, Prokofiev and Liebermann with Stefan Hoskuldsson.
In addition to winning first prize and the audience prize at the prestigious Terence Judd/Hallé Award finals in 2009 (previous winners include Nikolai Lugansky and Stephen Hough), Michael was awarded the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition and the 2005 Camerata Ireland/Accenture Award. His teachers and mentors include John O’Conor, Réamonn Keary, Christopher Elton, Ronan O’Hora and Barry Douglas.
Michael collaborates regularly with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Patricia Rozario, Ensemble Avalon, Cappa Ensemble and the Vogler Quartet, and his discography includes recordings for Chandos, RTÉ lyric fm, Louth CMS, Lorelt and Nimbus Alliance. For more information visit www.michaelmchale.com
