Lucien and Maura Teissier Award for Pianists 2023

The final of the Lucien & Maura Teissier Award for Pianists took place in the Vernon Studio of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Five finalists competed for one of Ireland's most substantial music awards. The jury for the evening consisted of RIAM's director Deborah Kelleher, RIAM's Head of Keyboard, Colma Brioscú, and Professor of Piano at TU Dublin Mary Lennon. Together all three were tasked with the difficult decision of the winner of the Lucien & Maura Tessier Award for Pianists 2023.

Laoise McMullin & David Vesey were both awarded the coveted scholarship prize of €7,500 each!

David Vesey is an 1848 scholar at the Royal Irish Academy of Music studying with Hugh Tinney, David has won national prizes for both classical and traditional Irish music. David graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2021 from the MTU Cork School of Music, graduating as the highest placed student with First Class Honours. While in Cork, David won the Advanced Recital competition in the conservatoire and has since been a recipient of an MTU Arts Office Bursary to support his professional development. In 2021, David won the Audrey Chisholm award at the Birr Festival of Music and the John A. Piggott Cup at Feis Ceoil. In 2022, he won the Hamilton Harty Concerto Cup at the Feis Ceoil and the Fidelio Cup at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He performed at the National Concert Hall in September 2022 as part of the Feis Ceoil Young Artist Platform concerts and in August performed in Salzburg as part of the International Sommerakademie at the Universität Mozarteum. In October of 2022, David presented a debut solo piano recital at the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise. He received funding from Laois Arts Office to support this concert, and the concert was a huge success with a full attendance on the night. In February 2023, David represented the Royal Irish Academy of Music on scholarship at the Saline Royale Academy in France. David also won the Audrey Chisholm Cup for Sonata playing at the RIAM PianoFest in 2023. Aside from performing, David teaches piano and is committed to promoting classical and traditional Irish music.

Laoise McMullin is currently in her first year of her Master’s Degree in Music Performance and Composition in RIAM, under the tuition of Professor Thérèse Fahy. She graduated with a First Class Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from RIAM in 2022. In 2022, Laoise was selected as one of RIAM’s four semi-finalists in the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year Award, the sole pianist in the selection. She was the only RIAM student to progress to the finals, achieving 4th place in the competition. Laoise participates regularly in masterclasses with renowned educators such as Noriko Ogawa, Barry Douglas and Jonathan Plowright. She was invited to participate in masterclasses in the New Ross Piano Festival and the Music in Monkstown Festival in September 2022, and also attended the Walled City Festival in Derry in June 2022. With her keen interest in early music, Laoise has been selected to travel to England in April 2023 for a concert in Hatchlands Park, Surrey, the home of the Cobbe Collection of keyboard instruments. She is also looking forward to performing as part of one of the student quartets at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in June 2023, performing as a harpsichordist. Laoise has a passion for 20th century and contemporary works, both in performing and composing. She often performs newly composed works by other students and has had some of her own compositions premiered by RIAM students in concerts.