24 October 2021 at 15:00

Caecilia Bastian, Luke Boyle, Arthur Greene, Alexander Kelly, Tom Maxwell

Caecilia Bastian 

Caecilia Bastian was born in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. She is a former organist of the Senior Choir in St. Michael's Church, Enniskillen (directed by Paul Flynn) and studied organ with Ian Mills of St. Columb's Cathedral, Derry. She further pursued her studies under the guidance of Simon Harden (organ) and Mary Lennon (piano) at TU Dublin Conservatoire, completing both the Trinity College of London Piano Performance Diploma and Advanced Level One Organ Exam. 

Caecilia is also a former accompanist of the Fermanagh Choral Society in Enniskillen. She has performed at various concerts and events, including the Pipeworks Festival Young Organists: Bach and Brahms Recital at the National Concert Hall in Dublin in 2017.

 

Luke Boyle 

Luke Boyle always had an interest in the organ having grown up listening to it in his parish church. He started lessons at the age of 15, when he was awarded an organ scholarship in St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry.

He is now in first year of the music performance degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he is studying with David Adams, and has been appointed organ scholar of St Mary’s Pro Cathedral. 

 

Arthur Greene

Arthur Greene began playing the organ at the age of sixteen having already played the piano for many years. He moved to Dublin from his native Kildare in 2015 to read music in Trinity College Dublin. He specialised in composition. He held the title of organ scholar to the college for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2020, working under the director of chapel music, Dr. Kerry Heuston. 

He competed in the Feis Ceoil numerous times during his undergraduate degree and in 2018 was awarded the Catherine McAuley Perpetual cup, awarded to the most promising organ player across all the organ categories. 

In 2019 he went to study full time in the Royal Irish Academy of Music completing a masters in performance under Dr David Adams. He continued to study composition and also took up the harpsichord during this time. He completed his studies in 2021 and was awarded an overall distinction. He is the current organ scholar of Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin. 

 

Alexander Kelly

Alexander Kelly began studying organ at the age of 15 with Carole O’Connor in Blackrock College, where he held an organ scholarship for 4 years. At the age of 16, he auditioned successfully for the Royal Irish Academy of Music to study piano under Anthony Byrne. 

In 2019, he competed in Junior Organ Feis Ceoil and performed in the Pipeworks Young Organists’ Concert in the Unitarian Church. In March of 2020, he was a member of the orchestra for the “Mahler 2020” project, playing the organ part from the finale of Mahler's second symphony, and later that year competed in the Anthony Glavin Cup in the over 17s piano solo for Feis Ceoil. He has been a regular performer in the National Concert Hall, both as a member of various ensembles and as a soloist, and has competed annually in the Wesley Interschools Music Festival. 
 
This year, Alexander began studying organ with David Adams at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He is a first-year student of engineering in UCD, where he was awarded the Ad Astra Performing Arts scholarship.

 

Tom Maxwell

Tom Maxwell is a 20-year-old musician and received much of his early music training as a chorister at St Patrick’s Cathedral where his interest in playing the organ began. He studied with David Adams for 10 years at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Tom is a multiple prize-winner at Feis Ceoil and at the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition. He spent a year as Junior Organ Scholar at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, and subsequently held the posts of Organ Scholar and Interim Organist at St Paul’s Church, Glenageary. He is now the Organist and Director of Music at St Brigid’s Church in Stillorgan and is in his 3rd year at DCU, studying for a BA in Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance.

During the lockdown of 2020 Tom initiated and directed the Christmas Collaboration Choir. This virtual choir of over 100 singers from parishes throughout Ireland collaborated to record a service of 9 Lessons and Carols.

Just before the pandemic struck, Tom worked on a production of Leonard Bernstein’s musical ‘On the Town’, conducted by David Brophy, as rehearsal pianist, orchestra member and vocal coach. It is from this work that he has found the two pieces for today’s recital. Ballet is prominent in the choreography of Bernstein’s work; these two movements, one from each Act, are ‘Pas de Deux’ - ballet dances between two people, telling a story of love.