Irish pianist Clíodna Shanahan is currently in the process of making her début CD, to include works by Messiaen and Mozart. She began playing piano at age five with Moira Gray in Limerick followed by attendance at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey.
In 2005 Clíodna gave a recital as part of the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s Shannon International Music Festival and in 2006 was a finalist in the concerto competition at the Clandeboye Festival with Barry Douglas and Camerata Ireland. More recently, she has performed at the Malcolm Arnold Festival, the Contemporary Music Festival-Transcendent: The music of Helmut Lachenmann, RCM, London, and at the UBS Long Weekend, Tate Modern, London.
She has won the major senior pianoforte competitions at the Dublin Siemens Feis Ceoil, including the Benson Cup for Bach playing, Morris Grant Bursary, Mabel Swainson Pianoforte Award, Contemporary Music Cup and Elsner Cup for ensemble playing. Other awards include the Belfast Classical Music Bursaries, Jellinek Award for Concerto performance and Musician of Promise prize at the RTE Musician of the Future competition.
She has performed throughout Ireland and Europe, including the NCH Dublin, Farmleigh House, UCH and IWAMD Limerick, Hunt Musuem and Waterfront Hall, Belfast. She has also performed at the Wigmore Hall, Hague Conservatoire, Royal College of Music and Konservatorium Bern.
Clíodna has a passion for contemporary music, in particular the works of Irish and French contemporary composers, and regularly includes the music of Messaien, Gerald Barry, John Kinsella and Phillip Martin in her programmes. She has taken masterclasses from the French pianists Michel Beroff and Pascal Rogé at the Academie Internationale d’Ete de Nice.
In addition to solo work, Clíodna is committed to chamber music, regularly collaborating with other musicians and has established a piano/cello duo with Aoife Nic Athaloich and piano duo with Simon Callaghan.
