The first of the four concerts of the Spotlight Chamber Music Series 2024 will be given by the Picorlino Trio, who will present an eclectic programme of works for violin, horn and piano.

Their recital will open with some charming fin-de-siècle petits fours by French composer Charles Koechlin, proceeded by German composer Robert Kahn’s passionate and lyrical Serenade in F minor. A new work by contemporary Irish composer Tom Lane will follow, commissioned by Hannah Miller and funded by the Arts Council’s Commissions Award 2023. Divided into three movements in a familiar fast – slow – fast pattern, this piece explores the interplay between traditional chamber music structures and contemporary harmony, rhythms and sonorities. The programme will conclude with Ligeti’s extraordinary Horn Trio, composed in 1982. With the subtitle “Hommage à Brahms”, the work evokes a variety of more traditional features typical of Brahms, including a four-movement structure, motivic continuity, thematic development, a scherzo, a clear ternary form and even a passacaglia in the last movement.

This promises to be an exciting, engaging and varied recital, given by a trio of instrumentalists of the highest calibre.

Musicians:

Hugh Murray – Violin
Hannah Miller – Horn
Éadaoin Copeland – Piano

Programme:

Charles Koechlin: Quatre Petites Pièces, Op.32a – Andante; Très modéré; Allegretto quasi andantino; Scherzando
Robert Kahn: Serenade, Op.73
Tom Lane: Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano
György Ligeti: Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano

Hannah Miller grew up in Ireland, received her Bachelor’s degree from Finland’s Sibelius Academy and graduated with a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School, where she was awarded with the William Schuman Prize for outstanding achievement in music and leadership. Hannah is currently Principal Horn with the Irish National Opera and joined the Irish Chamber Orchestra in 2023. She also performs with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Wexford Festival Opera, and is a former member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland and the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland. With a keen  interest in new music, Hannah is a member of the experimental Kirkos Ensemble, and she has also worked extensively with Crash Ensemble, Le Concert Impromptu and Ulysses Ensemble in recent years. Hannah is the Festival Director and founder of FuddleFest, a family-run music festival based at her home in Fuddletown, Wexford, where she also works part-time as a farmer.

Hugh Murray is a graduate of the Cork School of Music, studying with Ruxandra Colan-Petcu. He currently lives and works in Dublin as a member of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He has also enjoyed appearances with the John Wilson Orchestra at festivals, the BBC Proms, and their UK tour. Recent orchestral work includes Sinfonia of London and Irish National Opera. Hugh has also been heard as the violinist on the UK touring shows Les Misérables and Book of Mormon. Chamber music appearances include Strauss Metamorphosen at the St. Endellion Festival, Cornwall, Brahms Horn Trio at the Juilliard School, New York, National tours with Ficino Quartet, and premiering Ronan Guilfoyle’s new work ‘Allies’ alongside jazz musicians David Liebman and Richie Beirach at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Éadaoin Copeland is an Irish pianist based in Amsterdam. She holds a position as a collaborative pianist in both the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Passionate about chamber music, Éadaoin performs regularly with various instrumentalists and singers across Ireland and the Netherlands. Her performances have also taken her further afield to stages in London, Paris, Madrid, Prague, and New York, as well as on British and Dutch national radio. Recent highlights include a tour of Japan with trumpeter Omar Tomasoni and saxophonist Femke IJlstra, and releasing the album Mélodies Volées with French horn player José Sogorb. Éadaoin has also played for various festivals including Dublin Brass Week and the National Concert Hall International Master Course. Éadaoin graduated with a Master’s degree specialised in collaborative piano from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2019 under the tutelage of Frank van de Laar.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin, during which time she was also a student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.