BIOGRAPHY

A graduate of the Royal College of Music studying with Ashley Wass, Irish pianist Fionnuala Ward enjoys a diverse musical career, and is in demand across London as a chamber musician, accompanist and orchestral pianist. Recent solo performances include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Laganside Sinfonia, performances as part of the RCM Rush Hour Recital series and the RCM Keyboard Festival, and in 2018 she made her debut at St John’s Smith Square performing Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. With a strong affinity for orchestral piano, she was selected for the London Philharmonic Foyle Future Firsts scheme in 2020, and has since freelanced with orchestras including the LPO, Philharmonia, RSNO, London Mozart Players, English National Ballet Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra and Sinfonia Smith Square, with whom she was delighted to make her BBC Proms debut in 2024. She was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra as principal pianist from 2018-2020, including a performance at the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day in Paris for world leaders, including President Macron. In 2021 she was invited to the inaugural Grafenegg Academy pioneered by Colin Currie and Hakan Hardenberger, and returned for a second year in 2022, performing Bartok’s ‘Music for Strings Percussion and Celeste’ to be broadcast on German radio. Her orchestral career has allowed her to work under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Manfred Honeck, Vasily Petrenko, Ed Gardner and Karina Canellakis, performing in esteemed and venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Köln Philharmonie, Royal Concertgebouw, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, London Coliseum, Royal Festival Hall and Snape Maltings. Her collaborative work has included playing for various institutions and conservatoire’s entrance and orchestral auditions, workshopping new compositions with Hard Rain Ensemble at Queen’s University in Belfast, and depping on keys for the national tours of My Fair Lady and Wicked.

Before moving to London, Fionnuala received a First Class Honours degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying under Korean pianist, Sinae Lee. Born in Co. Derry, she began playing piano at the age of 4, under tuition from Irish concert pianist Ruth McGinley. She was requested to perform for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at 15, and has also performed live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Ulster. During her time at the RCS, she won the Peter Lindsay Miller Prize for piano duo, and received Highly Commended in the Governors’ Recital Prize. Performance highlights in Scotland include a solo recital at the Edinburgh Fringe, collaborating with the Red Note Ensemble conducted by Garry Walker, performing at the Aberdeen International Festival and working extensively with Les Sirenes Female Chamber Choir, which she accompanied for five years. Named Choir of the Year in 2012, Fionnuala recorded two commercial albums with the ensemble for Albion Records and Nimbus Records, and performed frequently throughout the UK, including at Glasgow Cathedral, Bridgewater Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. In 2013, she spent a semester abroad studying at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Poland with Zbigniew Raubo and Piotr Banasik, and in 2015 she was invited to attend the Young Artists Programme at the Clandeboye Festival, receiving private lessons with Barry Douglas. In the same year she competed in the City of Cantu International Concerto Competition in Italy, and in 2016 she was selected as the first recipient of the Peter Rankin pianist internship for Northern Ireland Opera’s Festival of Voice, receiving coaching from Iain Burnside. Other masterclasses include Peter Donohoe, John O’Conor, Roy Howat, Pascal Roge, Barry Douglas, Richard Goode, Philip Kawin and Malcolm Martineau.

Fionnuala is also an accomplished violinist, which has greatly added to the versatility of her career in London, affording her the opportunity to perform with many orchestras, including concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, at the Barbican with Street Orchestra Live, freelance recording at Abbey Road, and touring Prague as a principal with Imperial College Symphony Orchestra. Outside of the traditional concert hall, Fionnuala has over the years performed in primary school Christmas shows, prisons, care homes, train stations, on cruise ships, in a tango band, a chemotherapy ward, supermarkets, a skate park, ballet studios, housing estates, nightclubs, Italian piazzas, and countless churches and cathedrals. In her free time, she enjoys drinking too much coffee, petting stray cats, and watching as many iterations of Drag Race as possible.