Junior RIAM Cellist Anna Varga was announced as the winner of the Dublin Philharmonic Society Junior Solo Competition on Tuesday 12 December 2023 in the Whyte Recital Hall. Anna performed Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85, 4th Movement
Anna Varga is an 18 year old cellist from Hungary. She began learning the cello at age 5, and has been studying in the Royal Irish Academy of Music since 2018. In RIAM, she has studied with Aisling Drury Byrne, Martin Johnson, and she has been a student of Ailbhe McDonagh since 2021. She has been a finalist at RIAM competitions such as the Junior Solo Competition and the John Pollard Cup and has been a prize winner in Feis Ceoil and Castleknock Music Festival competitions. Anna has been a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and has been section leader for the RIAM Symphony Orchestra and the DYO Symphony Orchestra. She has also taken part in projects with the RIAM Philharmonia with guest conductors Mihhail Gerts and Killian Farrell. She has also played with the RTE Concert Orchestra. In 2021, Anna was selected to play a movement of a concerto with the DYO Symphony Orchestra, for which she played the the 1st movement of the Saint Saens A minor Cello Concerto. This was recorded and later premiered in the Lighthouse Cinema. Anna is a RIAM Young Artist and has therefore participated in many masterclasses with remarkable musicians such as Iagoba Fanlo and Clive Greensmith. She has also taken part in masterclasses with Dóra Kokas, David Edmonds and Christian Pierre la Marca. Anna played at the RIAM Young Artist Concert in March 2023 which took place in Farmleigh House. Anna has also been part of a Clarinet Trio as part of the Young Artist Programme, and they performed at a masterclass with Akamus Berlin. She is currently a member of the 'Lanuaria Quartet' formed in 2023 as part of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. Anna currently plays on the Elizabeth Barrett cello by N. Darche which was awarded to her on loan in 2022.
Junior RIAM musicians performed a movement from a concerto/work written for solo instrument/voice and orchestra for the chance to win €600 and a public recital presented by the Dublin Philharmonic Society in memory of Vincent O’Neill. The Dublin Philharmonic Society is a voluntary non-profit-making society established in 1985 by Vincent O’Neill and a group of like-minded, music-loving friends to give talented young musicians the valuable opportunity to perform to a live audience and develop their presentation skills.
The other 2023 finalists included Adam Joyce (cello), Simon Carey (clarinet), Christina Troup (french horn), Aidan Keane (piano) and Iris Stoicescu (piano).
The jury consisted of Ross Lyness (Chair), Aliye Cornish-Moore (CEO Irish Baroque Orchestra), Diane Daly (Head of Strings, RIAM), and Tanya Gabrielian (Head of Keyboard Studies, RIAM).