Dublin-born Thérèse Fahy, one of Ireland’s foremost pianists, enjoys an active performing and teaching
career at home and abroad. Her regular recital and concerto appearances throughout Europe and the United
States have met with critical acclaim, as have her numerous broadcasts for both RTÉ and BBC.
In recent years, Thérèse has toured the east coast of the United States, with a recital-programme of solo
Irish contemporary piano music supported by Culture Ireland and the Fulbright Commission, and in 2012
with performances of the 24 Debussy Préludes, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
This programme was toured extensively through Europe and Ireland.
Other engagements over the last six years have included solo recitals, lecture-recitals and masterclasses in
France, UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, Portugal, USA, the Czech Republic, Holland, Israel, Ethiopia and Ireland,
as well as serving on international juries including Dublin International Piano Competition, the Manchester
International Concerto Competition in Great Britain, the Baltic International Piano Competition and the
Scriabin International Piano Competition, Italy.
Thérèse Fahy, as the only professional Irish pianist to specialise in the performance of French music, has
performed the complete works for solo piano by Debussy at Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery. She has also
recorded a documentary, ‘The Snow is Dancing’, on his life and piano music for Ireland’s national
broadcasting station, RTE Lyric FM. She is particularly identified with the performance of Olivier Messiaen’s
piano music, having given the Irish premieres of Reveil des Oiseaux (2008) with the National Symphony
Orchestra of Ireland, under its Principal Conductor, Gerhard Markson, at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, and,
Visions de l’Amen (1990) for two pianos. Her performances of the solo works of Messiaen have been
described by The Irish Times as a “tour de force”.
In 2014, Thérèse received a major Music Project Award from the Arts Council for her especially
commissioned collection of six solo piano pieces for small hands, entitled Handprint, from Irish composers
Bill Whelan, Raymond Deane, Siobhan Cleary, Michael Holohan, Grainne Mulvey and Benjamin Dwyer. The
world première recital of all six pieces was an acclaimed highlight of the New Music Dublin Festival in March
2014, followed by a uniquely curated series (Handprint: Before and Beyond, incorporating each new piece
into a non-contemporary recital setting) in Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery. The Handprint Collection was
recorded by RTE Lyric FM, and was broadcast over six weeks at the end of 2014.
In 2018, one hundred years after the death of Claude Debussy, Thérèse Fahy, with the support of another
Music Project Award from the Arts Council, brought an exciting festival to the National Concert Hall, Dublin in
May and June 2018, and the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris in October 2018. Entitled ‘Ireland’s Tombeau to
Debussy’ ,the series of three concerts in both cities included world-premières of seven newly-commissioned
Irish works inspired by Debussy, as well as performances of the original 1920 ‘Tombeau de Debussy’,
interwoven with Debussy’s own masterpieces. Thérèse also performed a solo recital at Debussy’s birthplace,
La Maison Natale de Claude Debussy, on March 25th 2018, the anniversary-day of the composer’s death.
In November 2019, the French Government bestowed on Thérèse Fahy the award of Chevalier des Arts et
des Lettres.
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, a Fulbright scholar and a French Government scholar, Thérèse Fahy is
Professor of Piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and former Director of Chamber Music there for ten
years. Her students have been First Prizewinners and Finalists in many international competitions, including
the Shanghai International Piano Competition, Hammamatsu International Piano Competition, EU
International Piano Competition, the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, the Maria Canals
Competition in Barcelona (2012), the Beethoven Competition in Bonn (2013), César Franck Competition in
Brussels (2016)