News & Events
John O'Conor to Step Down as Director of RIAM
The Royal Irish Academy of Music has announced today (Friday, May 21st, 2010) that John O’Conor, will step down as Director of the institution in September 2010. He will continue his teaching commitments at the Academy.
John O’Conor was appointed Director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 1994. An acknowledged passionate advocate of music education in Ireland, his tenure has seen the appointment of many of Ireland’s finest musicians to the Teaching Staff of the RIAM including singer Veronica Dunne, pianist Hugh Tinney and violinist Fionnuala Hunt, in addition to many principal members of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. This has in turn ensured the RIAM’s ability to offer the finest musical training to students from all corners of the world with current students travelling from the United Kingdom, United States, Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, France, Poland, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Romania and Greece to study at the institution.
On the international stage he has been at the forefront of creating numerous performance opportunities for RIAM ensembles abroad including high profile orchestral tours to the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, North and South America, Korea, China and Japan, in such prestigious venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Seoul Arts Center and Symphony Hall, Birmingham. As a result of his major international reputation, past and present students of the RIAM have been invited to participate in renowned international festivals, competitions and masterclasses including the Ravinia and Aspen festivals in the United States and the Chopin, Hamamatsu, Leeds and the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competitions, amongst others.
On the academic front, he spearheaded the introduction of the Doctoral and Masters programmes in performance and a specialised undergraduate degree in composition, in addition to the highly successful pre-instrumental programme for young children.
Significant programmes initiated under his directorship include the annual Trios @ 3 chamber music series for the Teaching Staff of the RIAM at the National Gallery of Ireland, the permanent tsb High Achiever Awards, which has seen over 5000 music and drama students from all over Ireland perform to audiences in excess of 20,000 throughout the country, and the annual fully-staged opera production at the RIAM, as well as concert series and orchestral performances for Academy students at venues including the National Concert Hall and the National Gallery of Ireland.
He was at the helm when the RIAM received a significant grant from the Department of the Education in 1999, resulting in a major building programme at the Academy, and was responsible for procuring a major donation from Lewis Glucksman and Loretta Brennan Glucksman for the refurbishment of the Katherine Brennan Hall (formerly Dagg Hall). He has also sourced major funding for annual student bursaries including the Lucien and Maura Teissier Award, the Irene Sandford Award for Singers, the Charles and Carol Acton Travel Bursary and the Gaiety Bursary, in addition to sponsorship partnerships with a number of organisations including permanent tsb, Án Post, PMPA Insurance, Glen Dimplex, Bank of Ireland and Royal Liver Assurance.
The Royal Irish Academy of Music Chairman, Dr Brian Aylward, has acknowledged John O’Conor’s major contribution to the Royal Irish Academy of Music over the past 16 years stating that his “energy, enthusiasm and above all artistic vision have ensured that the Royal Irish Academy of Music can now confidently take its place amongst the best music conservatories in the world”.
In addition to his teaching commitments at the Academy, and his international performing career and jury work, John O’Conor will be taking an appointment as Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
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