From Cork to Buenos Aires to Paris: Cork PianoFest 2025 Recital Series

The final programme takes us on a whistle-stop world tour starting in Ireland, with music from Cork composers Linda Buckley and John Gibson, Dublin composer Philip Martin and Bill Whelan’s solo piano transcription ‘The Currach” from his double violin concerto. All of these works were commissioned by the Dublin International Piano Competition. We then head for Argentina and the music of Carlos Guastavino. After settling in Buenos Aires from his home city of Santa Fe he established himself as one of the most important voices in twentieth-century Argentinian music. His delightful set of four colonial songs is followed by Ravel’s setting of five popular Greek folksong melodies, and finally a selection of his Miroirs for solo piano, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth this year. The melancholic birdsong of Oiseaux tristes is followed by the sardonic humour and strumming guitar chords of Alborada del gracioso, before the chiming Parisian midday church bells of La vallée des cloches bring the series to an atmospheric conclusion. 

Philip Martin: The Rainbow Comes and Goes 

Linda Buckley: Liquid Mercury 

John Gibson: Moladh go deo le Dia 

Bill Whelan: The Currach 

Jimmy Goeijenbier, piano 

Carlos Guastavino: Cuatro Canciones Coloniales 

i. Cuando acaba de llover; 

ii. Préstame tu pañuelito; 

iii. Ya me voy a retirar; 

iv. Las puertas de la mañana

Maurice Ravel: Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques (Five Greek Songs) 

i. Chanson de la mariée (The Bride’s Song); 

ii. Là-bas, vers l’église (There, by the church); 

iii. Quel galant m’est comparable (What gallant can compare with me?); 

iv. Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques (Song of the lentisk gatherers); 

v. Tout gai! (All joyful!) 

Ivana Ledesma, soprano & Juliana Carozza, piano 

Maurice Ravel: Miroirs 

ii. ‘Oiseaux tristes’ 

iv. ‘Alborada del gracioso’ 

v.’La vallée des cloches’ 

Billy O’Brien, piano 

About the Musicians 

Jimmy Goeijenbier is a pianist, artistic researcher, and teacher with a passion for contemporary Irish music. As a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar, his doctoral research involves performing and recording the forty-one commissioned works by Irish composers for the Dublin International Piano Competition (1988-2022). Jimmy regularly collaborates with composers, both in refining his interpretations of existing repertoire and in the development of new works for the piano. He has performed in Ireland, Europe, and the United States, presented on his research at conferences internationally, and currently teaches at MTU Cork School of Music and TU Dublin Conservatoire. 

Argentinian soprano Ivana Ledesma received her Master’s degree from the Liceu Conservatoire Superior in Barcelona in 2023. Last season she was part of the Young Artists’ Programme Crescendo at the Teatro Real in Madrid. She recently performed Violetta La Traviata, Liu Turandot, and Micaela Carmen in Spain and Italy, and took part in Tutto Puccini at Teatro nuovo Giovanni da Udine, as well as Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero and L’enfant et les sortilèges. In Argentina she has sung leading roles such as Liu, Micaela, among others. She studied in Rosario and Teatro Colón, and won several competitions including DEARTE 2024, Corsica Lírica 2023, Les Corts 2023, and 1st prize at Scala de San Telmo. 

Argentinian pianist Juliana Carozza is based in Cork City. She studied piano at the National University of Rosario (UNR), Argentina, from 2010 to 2017, where she was actively involved in chamber music, working with a variety of instruments and vocalists. During this time, she participated in masterclasses, collaborated on student performances, and regularly accompanied auditions and exams. From 2012 to 2017, Juliana was a member of the tango orchestra Orquesta Típica del Sur, performing in numerous concerts and festivals across Argentina. After relocating to Ireland in 2017, she co-founded the tango quintet Rebel Tango, performing at milongas across the country and at the Cork Tango Festival in 2019. She completed a BMus (Hons) degree at the Cork School of Music, MTU, in 2022 and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Performance, specialising in chamber music. 

Dr Billy O’Brien is currently Assistant Lecturer of Piano at MTU Cork School of Music, and enjoys combining passions for solo & chamber music performance, teaching and research. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Hibernian Orchestra, UCD Symphony Orchestra, RIAM Symphony Orchestra, among others, and has given solo recitals throughout Ireland as well as in Spain, France, Finland and the UK. Billy studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, pursued postgraduate study in Paris with Rena Shereshevskaya, and in 2023 earned a Doctor in Music Performance degree from Trinity College Dublin and the RIAM. 

Cork PianoFest 2025 Recital Series at Triskel 

in association with MTU Cork School of Music 

“Following on from last year’s Cork PianoFest, we are delighted to present another three-concert series at Triskel as part of the 2025 festival with performances from students and lecturers from MTU Cork School of Music, including our first collaborative concert with singers and a special focus on the music of Maurice Ravel to mark his 150th anniversary this year.” 

Michael McHale & Gabriela Mayer