Irish cellist, Ailbhe McDonagh, performs throughout Ireland and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Ireland, she studied with world-renowned cellist Steven Doane, Nora Gilleese, Aisling Drury-Byrne and William Butt. McDonagh gave her debut recital with celebrated Irish pianist John O’Conor at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland.
Over the last ten years, she has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the USA and has appeared as a concerto soloist numerous times all over Ireland. Performances include concerts for the Irish President at Aras an Uachtarain, the Yale Norfolk Festival, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, Great Irish Houses Festival, Carnegie Hall and Irish national television and radio. McDonagh has worked in masterclasses with Bernard Greenhouse, David Geringas, Ralph Kirshbaum, Philippe Muller, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Julian Lloyd Webber, Maria Kliegel, Moray Welsh, Anna Shuttleworth, The Tokyo String Quartet, Altenberg Trio Wien and many others.
She has recently formed a new duo, “The McDonagh Sisters” with pianist Orla McDonagh. Keenly interested in contemporary music, McDonagh collaborates with several composers and other artists worldwide, most recently recording a CD of contemporary music for Bridge Records in New York. A composer and arranger in her own right, she has had several piano compositions published for the RIAM Local Centre Examinations. McDonagh joined the cello faculty of the RIAM in 2010.