Profile

Irish pianist John O’Conor has garnered international praise for his impeccable technique, eloquent phrasing and mastery of keyboard colour. Through his recitals, concerto appearances, and critically acclaimed recordings, Mr. O’Conor has earned a reputation as a masterful interpreter of the Classic and early Romantic piano repertories. He has performed in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and has appeared with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, l’Orchestre National de France, the Scottish and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, the NHK, Yomiuri, Kyusyu, Kyoto and Sapporo Symphonies in Japan, the KBS Symphony in Seoul, the Singapore Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony, and the orchestras of Cleveland, San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, Tampa and Washington DC in North America. He also appears frequently with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the Irish Chamber Orchestra in Ireland and abroad.

Mr. O’Conor also continues to make significant contributions to the arts in his native country through his numerous performances of music from the traditional repertoire and his championing of the works by Ireland’s leading 19th century composer, John Field. He has become a key figure in the development of young artists through his role as Director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and was a co-founder of the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, of which he is Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury.

John O’Conor first gained widespread attention in the United States in 1986 with the release of the initial volume of his complete recorded Beethoven sonata cycle which was issued as a box set in 1994. CD Review described Mr. O’Conor’s performances of these sonatas as “piano recording of the highest caliber and Beethoven playing at its best” and went on to say “This Beethoven series should become the complete set of choice for the next decade”.

Mr. O’Conor has made more than 20 recordings for the Telarc label including the complete Beethoven Bagatelles, which was cited by The New York Times as the best recording of these works; four volumes of Mozart Piano Concertos with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; numerous works by Schubert including the late A major Sonata, the complete Impromptus and Moments Musicals, Waltzes and the “Trout” Quintet with the Cleveland Quartet; and two volumes of short piano pieces entitled “Piano Classics” and “Autumn Songs”. An avid proponent of the works of his fellow countryman John Field, he has recorded most of the composer’s major works including the complete Concertos, Sonatas and Nocturnes. His recording of Field Nocturnes was featured on Billboard’s Classical Charts for many weeks.

Mr. O’Conor’s early studies began in Dublin. He was awarded an Austrian Government scholarship that enabled him to study in Vienna with the respected pedagogue Dieter Weber. He also made a special study of Beethoven with the renowned German pianist Wilhelm Kempff. In 1973 Mr. O’Conor was unanimously awarded First Prize in the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna and in 1975 won the Bosendorfer Competition.

John O’Conor is deeply committed to the development of young pianists in Ireland and other countries. As well as being Professor of Piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music he gives masterclasses and lectures in many of the places where he performs as well as in many of the major music institutions including the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools in New York, Harvard, Yale, Indiana and Seattle Universities, the Hamamatsu Piano Academy in Japan and the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music in London. He gives annual summer courses in Holland and Israel and coaches chamber music at the Yale School of Music Summer School at Norfolk, Connecticut. He has been invited on the juries of many of the world’s most prestigious international piano competitions including those in Leeds, Moscow (Tchaikovsky), Vienna (Beethoven), Munich, Bolzano (Busoni), Cologne, Vevay (Clara Haskil), Cleveland, Salt Lake City (Gina Bachauer), Sydney, Pretoria, London, Washington DC (William Kapell), Valencia (Jose Iturbi) and Seoul. His students have won many international prizes including First Prize at the Clara Haskil Competition in 1999 (Finghin Collins), Second Prize at the Olivier Messiaen Competition in Paris in 2000 (Jean Dube) and First Prize at the Cologne International Competition in 2001 (Lance Coburn).

Since 1997 he has taken on the mantle of his revered professor Wilhelm Kempff and gives the annual Beethoven interpretation course in Kempff’s own villa in Positano, Italy where Kempff gave the course from 1957.

For his services to music he has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the National University of Ireland and an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He has been decorated with the title of “Officier de l’Ordre desd Arts et des Lettres” by the French Government, has been awarded the “Ehrenkreuz fur Wissenschaft und Kunst” by the Austrian Government and has also been decorated by the Italian and Polish governments.