Regarded as one of Ireland’s most exciting young chamber ensembles, the Royal Irish Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1997 by Elizabeth Csibi. Bringing together some of the Academy’s finest young string players, the Orchestra usually performs standing up, without a conductor and soloists are generally drawn from within the orchestra.
Its wide-ranging repertoire of music has been heard in some of Ireland’s finest performance spaces including the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, the National Gallery of Ireland and the National Concert Hall. In April 2000 the Orchestra performed a series of highly acclaimed concerts in Paris with Finghin Collins, winner of the 1999 Clara Haskil International Piano Competition and in 2001 the Orchestra travelled to the United States for a four-city tour with the distinguished Irish pianist John O’Conor where their performances were described by The New York Times as “zesty and superbly unified” and the Boston Globe as “lively and elegant”. In recent seasons, the Orchestra broadcast Michael Holohan’s The Road to Lough Swilly with Irish actor Stephen Rea, participated in the Festival Culturel Européen in Rouen with French violinist Gilles Apap and appeared at the French Senate in Paris during Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union. Most recently it returned to the United States with pianist John O’Conor for a number of concerts culminating in an appearance at the Weill recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. This stylish and vibrant group of musicians is directed by Elizabeth Csibi, Head of Strings at the RIAM