EU Evening Last Rose of Summer

LAST ROSE OF SUMMER

Johanna Keszei-flute

David Tobin-violin

Finghin Collins-piano

Johanna Keszei is quickly developing a reputation as one of Hungary’s rising stars in classical music and has played with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. She is currently living and studying in Germany and was an academist of the renowned Staatskapelle Berlin, performing regularly at the State Opera House. In 2023 she made her debut as soloist at Carnegie Hall in New York.

She is a multiple prizewinner at international competitions both in Hungary, Poland, Italy and the Netherlands. She also had the opportunity to perform in the Main Concert Hall of the Alte Oper in Frankfurt alongside Igor Levit and performed chamber music with Carolin Widmann in the Apollo Hall of Berlin’s State Opera House.

She has had the privilege to work with great conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Andris Nelsons and Daniel Barenboim, alongside orchestras like the Staatskapelle Berlin, Deutsche Oper, Konzerthaus Berlin, NDR Hannover, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

David Tobin has developed a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading classical musicians. He is currently based in Berlin and tours internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster. He has performed as a soloist with many orchestras in Ireland, the US and across Europe, including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Wiesbaden Symphony orchestra and the New York Concerti Sinfonietta.

He plays regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors like Sir Simon Rattle, Klaus Mäkelä and Kirill Petrenko. He has also played as concertmaster of Deutsche Oper Berlin, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Heidelberg Symphony, European Union Youth Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana and Cologne Chamber Orchestra and as principal/co-leader with Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden under Daniele Gatti and the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer.

David has performed in prestigious venues in Europe and at festivals in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic and the UK.  He was the youngest musician ever to have his own Chamber Music Series at the National Concert Hall, as part of the International Concert Series. He recently completed his Soloist Master’s degree at the prestigious University of Arts Berlin, receiving the highest mark. He previously graduated from his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with First Class Honours in Cologne.

One of Ireland’s most successful musicians, Finghin Collins was born in Dublin in 1977 and studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O’Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. He took first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1999. Since then, he has continued to enjoy a flourishing international career that takes him all over Europe and the United States, as well to the Far East and Australia. Collins has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors. He has also given solo recitals in many of the world’s most prestigious halls and participates frequently in chamber music festivals with a variety of colleagues of international standing. Finghin Collins is very active as a programmer, commissioner and concert presenter in Ireland, having been Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival since its inception in 2006, and Artistic Director of Music for Galway since 2013. In March 2023 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Dublin International Piano Competition. He will chair the jury of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 2023 and 2025. In October 2017, the National University of Ireland conferred on him an honorary Degree of Doctor of Music.