DAVID QUIGLEY BMUS HONS, HON BC
Award winning Irish pianist David Quigley leapt to international attention in 2002 by representing the UK in the prestigious ECHO Rising Stars series. Since then he has enjoyed a growing reputation as a leading pianist of the younger generation and is now firmly established on the international circuit. He has performed as soloist in many of the world's greatest concert halls including recitals at the Philharmonie Koln, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Musikverein Vienna, Mozarteum Salzburg, Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, National Concert Hall Athens, Wigmore Hall London, Konserthaus Stockholm and Carnegie Hall New York.
As a concerto soloist he has appeared with many leading orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Ulster Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, RTE Concert Orchestra and Camerata Ireland. In 2006 he made his debuts with the Chethams Chamber Orchestra (broadcast for BBC radio 3) and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Barry Wordsworth, Barry Douglas, Takuo Yuasa, Sachio Fujioka and David Porcelijn.
Born in Ireland in 1977, David began his musical studies at the age of four. He attended the Leinster School of Music, Dublin, studying with the renowned Irish teacher Mabel Swainson. In 1996 he entered Birmingham Conservatoire where he worked with the pianist/composer Philip Martin, graduating in July 2000 with a first class honours degree and the Principal's Prize. As a result of winning the Joseph Weingarten Scholarship, David continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, with Balázs Szokolay and with Brigette Engerer at the Paris Conservatoire.
David has been successful in many national and international competitions. In 1999 he won the Royal Over-Seas League Piano Competition, the Ulster Bank Music Foundation Award (piano section), the Carnwath Scholarship and silver medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians London and a major scholarship from the Midlands based Trust "Young Cygnets." In 1996 he won the Piano Section of the R.T.E. Young Musician of the Future Competition and was also a piano finalist in the B.B.C. Young Musician of the Year Competition. David has taken first prize in several major competitions at Birmingham Conservatoire and been awarded scholarships from the Northern Ireland Arts Council. He has also been awarded major scholarships from the Martin Musical Trust, Musicians Benevolent Fund the Myra Hess Trust and the Wingate Foundation. David is also a former winner of the Making Music Young Artist Award.
In March 2000 David gave a special performance of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini to mark the award to Sir Simon Rattle of an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Central England. After appearing at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2000 David made his Wigmore Hall debut the following October and returned there in the spring of 2001 to give a recital as part of the 'Maisie Lewis Concert Series'. In March 2001, he made his Symphony Hall Birmingham recital debut to great critical acclaim. David has also performed in many other leading venues, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall London, St. Martin in the Fields London, Waterfront Hall Belfast, Ulster Hall Belfast, National Concert Hall Dublin, La Salle Maurice Fleureut Paris, Liszt Museum Budapest, and the Glenn Gould Conservatory Toronto.
David is a recording artist for the Lorelt label (www.lontano.co.uk) and his latest solo recording was released in March 2006, featuring piano music by composers from Northern Ireland. He has recently recorded Saint-Saens 'Carnival Of The Animals' with the Lancashire Sinfonietta which was released on CD-Rom in early 2008.
David is a member of the piano faculty at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the University of Birmingham. He is also founder and artistic director of the Birmingham International Piano Academy, a summer school for talented pianists hosted by Birmingham Conservatoire. (www.bipa.info)
REVIEWS
"I doubt if the composers could have had better performances than those by David Quigley. He is clearly a pianist of notable musical and technical skills who plays with total commitment."
Musical Opinion, Review of "Piano Music from Northern Ireland" CD, July 2006
"Bravissimo - Captivating piano playing...the audience were overwhelmed by the brilliance of this young performer, who without doubt has a wonderful future."
North Norfolk News, Templewood Cromer, March 2005
"The young pianist David Quigley has achieved much in recent years as a recitalist and concerto soloist. Here he presented Haydn's D major Concerto. Quigley has a powerful presence on stage and his performance was clean, bright and even. This persuasive performance may help to rehabilitate a rather overlooked concerto."
Belfast Telegraph, Ulster Hall Belfast, June 2004
"...Debussy's Images Book 2 was a joy: exquiste sound pictures faultlessly conveyed to rapt listeners. Layer upon layer of dreamy texture seamlessly drifted into our imaginations: bells, shadows, pearly moonlight, darting goldfish. This seemingly effortless interpretation was masterly. And finally the tour de force of Liszt's Sonata in B minor. This mature young pianist can convey everything with conviction, from poignant bell-like floating melodies, to torrential arpeggios and monumental pianistic nobilities.an unforgettable evening for all."
Birmingham Post, Adrian Boult Hall Birmingham, March 2003
"....a pianist of amazing maturity and concentration. His body as one with the keyboard, nothing distracts him from the work in performance, and he finds markedly different soundworlds for each composer under discussion...........Applause from a gratifyingly large, mixed audience of all ages threatened to go on forever."
The Birmingham Post, Symphony Hall Birmingham, January 2003
"Already 'mature' at 25! ........ he executed the whole chronologically ordered programme in exemplary fashion.......a powerful debut.
Wienerzeitung, Musikverein Vienna, November 2002
"But the most complete performance was of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2, where the conductor and orchestra had a compelling partner in the soloist, David Quigley. For a musician born in 1977, his performance was strikingly mature, driven by musical insight and by an understanding that this virtuosic music must seem not to strive."
The Irish Times, Millennium Forum Derry, August 2001.
"...phenomenal talent.....immense understanding and technical panache..."
The Birmingham Post, Symphony Hall Birmingham, March 2001.
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