DEIRBHILE BRENNAN

AGE 53  I  DUBLIN, IRELAND  I  IRELAND
ACCOUNTANT

Just over a decade ago, Deirbhile Brennan found herself back where it all began: the Royal Irish Academy of Music. That’s where she started her music studies when she was 5, and, in 2009, she returned to the school and to the piano, this time simultaneously maintaining a busy career in accounting and raising four small children. That recommitment has led her to a flourishing amateur piano life: she completed her master’s in piano performance (part-time while working full-time) in 2013; has won competitions in St. Petersburg, Boston, Chicago, and Île-de-France; has performed across four continents performing solo and concertos (including at Carnegie Hall with New York Concerti Sinfonietta and at the Gasteig in Munich); and has broadcast on radio in Ireland and the United States. A chartered accountant with almost 30 years of experience, Deirbhile currently serves as head of compliance for an Irish government agency. Outside of all these accomplishments, she also spent nine years in the national broadcaster RTÉ Philharmonic Choir.

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) (I)
RAVEL “Ondine” from Gaspard de la nuit

Semifinal Round 

GERSHWIN Prelude No. 1
CHOPIN Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, op. 54
LISZT “Vallée d’Obermann” from Années de Pèlerinage

Final Round 

SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)