Since winning First Prize at both the 1983 Pozzoli and 1984 Paloma O’Shea Piano Competitions in Italy and Spain, Hugh Tinney has performed in more than 30 countries throughout Europe, the USA, South America and the Far East. Festival engagements have taken him across the globe and he has broadcast in more than 15 countries.
A prize in the 1987 Leeds International Piano Competition earned him a busy career in Great Britain, performing with major orchestras there including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and conductors including Simon Rattle. Highlights in Ireland include regular solo appearances with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. He has collaborated with the Borodin, Tokyo, RTÉ Vanbrugh and Vogler Quartets, Ensemble Wien, Steven Isserlis, Catherine Leonard, the Chieftains and the late Bernadette Greevy. He has recorded solo, chamber and concerto repertoire for Decca, Naxos, RTÉ lyric fm and several other CD labels.
From 2000 to 2006 Hugh Tinney was Artistic Director of the Music in Great Irish Houses Festival. He has taught at the Royal Irish Academy of Music since 1995 and has been a jury member at several international piano competitions. He is a board member of both the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition and Opera Theatre Company. He was awarded a two-year bursary in 2006 by the Arts Council of Ireland to work on contemporary music and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music by the National University of Ireland in 2007.