Junior RIAM students Thibaud Empey (percussion) and Aran Cahalan (flute) were declared winners of the Dr. Marie McCormack Bursary for Wind, Brass and Percussion 2025.
After a tough-fought preliminary round earlier this month, there were five finalists chosen to battle it out for the two separate bursaries of €1,000 awarded at the discretion of the jury.
Thibaud performed Rich O Meara - Restless, N.J. Zivkovic - Der Wanderer, Keiko Abe – Frogs and G.H. Green - Rainbow Ripples while Aran performed Debussy - Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune for Flute and Piano, Reinecke - Flute Concerto Op. 283 II. Lento e Mesto, and Poulenc - Sonata for Flute and Piano, Mvt. 3.
There was also an additional spot prize on the night that was awarded to Ciara Breslin, who performed music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Johann Ernst Galliard and Matos Rodriguez.
Other finalists were Michael Healy (alto saxophone), Joshua Lynch (french horn) and Ciara Breslin (trombone)
Thanks to our 2024 Dr. Marie McCormack winner Matthew Whyte (trombone) who performed Ropartz - Andante et Allegro and Joseph Kosma - Autumn Leaves during hte all important jury deliberations.
Our jury consisted of Ross Lyness, Head of Wind, Brass & Percussion at RIAM, Macdara Ó Seireadáin, Clarinet, RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Caitríona Frost, Orchestra and solo percussionist.
Thibaud Empey
Thibaud Empey is a 4th year scholarship student at Sandford Park School in Ranelagh. At the RIAM in Dublin, he is also a scholarship student, studying percussion with Jonathan Herbert and piano with Ray Keary. In June of this year, Thibaud won the Feis Ceoil Junior Percussion competition at TU Dublin with his performance of Der Wanderer by Nebojša Jovan Živkovič.
Thibaud is a keen orchestral musician and has been a member of the NYOI since 2024. In the same year he won the Seamas Delaney Cup for solo piano at the Arklow Music Festival and a month later had a distinction in Grade 8 on the same instrument. He has performed the marimba for sold out audiences at the John Field Room, the Mermaid Theatre in Bray, and at Killruddery House in Wicklow. Outside of music, Thibaud enjoys sailing, hockey and pumping iron!
Aran Cahalan
Aran Cahalan, age 16, has been a student of William Dowdall at RIAM since 2019. He currently holds a RIAM scholarship and is the principal flute with the RIAM Symphony Orchestra. This year he took part in a masterclass with Italian flute professor Daniela Troiani. Aran has been selected for the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland for the forthcoming 25/26 season, he is looking forward to performing Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.2 in the New Year. It is his third year with NYOI, having played principal flute for 24/25 programme of Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony and the summer tour of Stravinsky’s Petrushka.
In 2025 Aran played as soloist in Mozart Flute Concerto with the Castleknock Festival Orchestra under the direction of Andrew Synnott. He was offered this opportunity as the winner of the overall Wind and Brass award at the Castleknock Music Festival. Aran is a previous winner of the Doris Keogh Cup at the Feis Ceol. For the upcoming year, Aran anticipates auditioning for Ulster Youth Orchestra and the European Youth Orchestra Academy as well as taking part in European competitions to add to his 2025 experience of the Euritmia APS Concorso Internazionale Giovani Strumentisti in Udine, Italy.