Fiachra Garvey has been playing the piano since the age of five and spends his time in London as a professional pianist. This sits in huge contrast to his life at home here in Ireland, where he tends the family farm in Wicklow and spends his time caring for livestock. Elysia from our Box Office & Marketing Team sat down with Fiachra following his Spotlight III performance in Triskel to find out just what makes the great pianist get out of bed every day.

Describe your art/music in three words.

Respect, responsibility, and adaptation.

How did you start playing piano, and how did you get into performing covers of Classical greats?

My mom was working for an amazing lady whose family had fled from then-Nazi-occupied Vienna, and she had this gorgeous upright piano. She suggested to my parents to send us for lessons, so if it wasn’t for that we wouldn’t have had the interest in pursuing classical education as my parents loved music but they preferred Irish traditional stuff when I was growing up. She actually gave me that upright piano, and there was this hilarious moment of my dad driving in to Dublin city centre with the sheep trailer, and he had some of his farming friends help load the piano into the sheep trailer!

You grew up on a farming background, and were at one point studying to become a veterinarian. How did you make the decision to pursue music over veterinary work?

It was really hard. Even to this day it’s still hard, because I’ll always had those two loves in my life. Even when doing my Leaving Cert I knew to get into veterinary you had to have chemistry, so I remember choosing veterinary, and when I got into college I thought I had this great plan; do a year of veterinary and a year of music, then decide. That was actually so unhelpful because in the end I still just wanted to do both, and it turned into a Sophie’s Choice moment where I knew I had to choose one. I was about to start second year of veterinary and I was just constantly so exhausted trying to do music while juggling exams, and it culminated with me falling asleep while driving on the M50.

It was a terrifying wake-up call that pushed me to make a choice, and I chose music. If you don’t do music now, you may never get the chance. You can play music at any point, but making a career out of it at this level, you have one chance to do it now. Animals will always be in my life since I’m from a farm too, but a big reason I made the choice I did was because in veterinary, people rarely come to a vet to tell them, “my dog’s doing great”, it’s always sad stories. I like to still have an association with farming and animals that feels positive. I always said I want to die a qualified vet but now at 38 I think it’s quite unlikely, but you never know.

Do you find any of the skills translate over from piano to veterinary work?

You know what, I think so. So much of the classical music I cover was originally composed with inspirations from nature and the natural world. Basic things like time management and responsibility also, you can easily apply that discipline needed in veterinary work to your music. It’s also an escapism, I would say. There’s so many times where music is so intense that you need to tune out and get a bit of perspective in life, and I found the farm work really helpful for that. It’s grounding, distracting, and also helps you build a care and love that translates back into your music. I think how polar-opposite the two careers are actually helps to compliment it too, in a way. There’s a famous pianist called Hélène Grimaud, she has a wolf sanctuary in New York. She’ll play Rachmaninov second piano concerto, and then she’ll go off home and feed the wolves. I always found her very inspiring to have that balance of nature and art in your life. I think everyone needs the ability to get away from the work they do, or you’ll go mad. It allows you to come back to it with some passion still.

Is there a particular piece of music you consider meaningful or special to you? 

Yeah, funnily enough the piece we just played today (Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time as part of Spotlight IV) is a pretty epic piece for any musician just from the context it’s written in. In terms of solo stuff, Franz Lizst has an incredible piece called Sonata in B Minor that I’ve played throughout my whole life. There’s works like that where you’ve gone on a little journey with them and those are quite special. In terms of solo works, last year I learned Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition which is an amazing piece, but I only learned it last year, so I haven’t gone on the same journey with it yet compared to the Sonata.

Funny enough, the Rachmaninov sonata I’m playing here in January for my solo concert, I’ve gone on a bit of a journey with that because I’ve been playing that since I learned it maybe six years ago now.  I really enjoy going on my journey with that particular piece because I love Russian repertoire; I love Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, all these incredible composers, and I love their sound. There’s something about Rachmaninov. He went to America and was very influenced by American music. It’s not in this piece I’ll be playing, as it’s before his time in America, but you can really hear the difference. There’s a complete transformation where he goes from Soviet Russia to American influences like jazz. It’s like watching him discover a whole new world.

The beauty of music is that it’s always different. I could play a piece here and have it sound completely different to when I played it just yesterday in another venue. The acoustics are different, the piano I’m using is different, and the audience is also a huge factor. You can play things so quietly that sometimes wouldn’t be picked up in a larger venue, and that makes it even more special because there’s something about the atmosphere of an audience that determines your performance.

You started out recording your first CD for RTE Lyric FM, do you consider this your official start in professional music?

I did the Dublin International Piano Competition in I want to say 2009, so when I was about 21 or so, and that was my first international thing that I did. I won the Brennan Prize in that, and part of the prize was making that CD. I also got to debut concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, and debut solo recital at the concert hall. It built a lot of things for me and gave me confidence then to start entering competitions abroad. I started competing in competitions in Prague, I won a competition in London, I got to perform in Venice and then that led me to Wigmore Hall and it opened up all these possibilities. So I definitely consider it the moment I was opened up to a lot more opportunity.

You have performed everywhere from France and Italy to the USA. What place stood out to you and why? Is there somewhere you’d love to perform but haven’t had the chance yet?

Definitely Carnegie Hall, and I’m very fortunate to have played Wigmore Hall as well. I’ll be playing this programme there actually, on February 15. I’m playing it here, then Kilkenny, then a few more places until it culminates in the Wigmore performance, so I’m very excited for that. I’d also love to play the Philharmonie in Berlin would be a very cool place to play. When I was in America recently I played in this beautiful place called in Washington called the Phillips Collection, and I got really lucky to play that. The artistic director heard I was in America and I got contacted on the day of a show asking could I cancel my flight and come perform there as the musician intending to play that night had gotten hurt by a suitcase falling out of the luggage compartment above them on the plane! I stepped in last minute and played the concert. If I had to pick one I haven’t played yet, definitely Carnegie Hall.

You just finished another successful West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival. What inspired you to curate these and what do you feel they provide for the musical community?

So, I’m from the area originally. Growing up there as a child and musician, if you wanted to absorb any kind of music, it always frustrated me that you had to drive to Dublin to access any sort of culture. West Wicklow isn’t that far from Dublin, it’s an hour, but even then as a teen I was wondering whenever I wanted to access something culturally why don’t we have the same resources? Russborough House is this beautiful place full of works of art and I thought, “god, that’d be the perfect place” even when I was a young child. I hadn’t yet thought about a festival but even just producing concerts there, so I said when I’ve grown up I’ll put on concerts there.

I was playing a festival in Spoleto, Italy and their Artistic Director was similar in age to me, and I was like, “wait, if he’s doing it and he’s my age, why wait until I’m 40 to do this?” I was turning thirty that year but I’d first had the idea around twenty-eight, and I started putting it together. There was no point telling everyone I wanted to do it and then starting all the structural stuff, so from day one I wanted to have a board of directors, incorporate a charity, let’s do it properly from day one. I started planning in 2015 and the first one ran successfully in 2017. But the main reason was, I’m from the area, and I wanted people from my area to have access to the culture. I want to attract an audience who would never think to seek out our type of music, but when they do come along, they absolutely love it and come back every year. I actually get to invite my friends out of Dublin to see performances in Russborough now! It’s lovely that people where I’m from can drive ten minutes down the road now for that experience. Using your local, cultural history to inspire new creations as well is amazing.

What do you have coming up in 2026?

The Wigmore Hall shows are probably my big ones for 2026. I’m playing there on February 15th, but I’m actually playing there twice. February is a solo concert, and the second gig on St. Patrick’s Day as part of a lovely Irish Tenor, so that’ll be a fun one. I’m doing a nice tour then after that with a flute, piano and cello here in Ireland which I’m very excited about.

Cats or dogs?

Dogs. I love all animals don’t get me wrong, but as a farmer, dogs are a man’s best friend.

Tickets are available now for Beethoven and Rachmaninov Masterworks for Piano.