20 August 2023 at 20:00

Carole O’Connor & Patrice Keegan, organ duo

Carole O’Connor is a first-class honours graduate of DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and UCD, where she respectively completed performance and master’s degrees. She furthered her organ studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and was awarded a PhD by DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. She has studied with Anne Leahy, Una Russell, Siobhán Kilkelly, Mary Lennon and David Adams. Carole has given solo recitals throughout Ireland, including Galway Cathedral, St Patrick’s Cathedral, St Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire, the Unitarian Church, St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, and the National Concert Hall. As an organ duo with Patrice Keegan, she has performed in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork and St Teresa’s Church, Clarendon Street as part of the 2019 Pipeworks Festival. In 2021, she presented The Music of Jeanne Demessieux in Pipeworks from the Loft 2.0, and was artistic director of Dún Laoghaire Summer Organ Concerts for the 2021 and 2022 series. Carole teaches organ and piano in Blackrock College. She is the accompanist for two of the National Concert Hall’s performing groups, Cór na nÓg and Cór Linn, and is organist of St Andrew’s Church, Westland Row.

Patrice Keegan began her studies with Una Russell at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and graduated with Honours in 2006. She was concurrently, for three years, organ scholar of Trinity College. Following her degree, she took up the position of organ scholar of St Patrick's Cathedral. She combined this role with regular teaching and accompanist work. Patrice completed her Masters in Organ in 2009, studying with Una Russell and Margaret Phillips. Some career highlights since then have included the Jan Kucharski Organ Competition, the release of the album Les Angélus with Niamh McCormack, and an appearance on the album Potboilers, Pastiches and Party Pieces. Patrice has performed as a soloist in the Dún Laoghaire Summer Series, Galway Cathedral Recitals, the National Concert Hall, and Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, and has acted as adjudicator for the Newry Organ Feis Competition. She recently completed her doctoral studies with Dr David Adams at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Patrice currently teaches organ at St Columba’s College and is accompanist for Tallaght Choral Society, Diva Voces, and Sing Out choir. She is resident organist in Holy Cross Church, Dundrum.