Cork Orchestral Society continues its innovative series of online concerts for 2021 with a performance from renowned Irish pianist, Finghin Collins, from the Curtis Auditorium on Saturday April 17.

Following performances from 13 Strings in January and Brendan Garde with Gary Beecher in February, Collins’ performance will mark the halfway point in the series with more concerts to follow in May, June and July.

One of Ireland's most successful musicians and significant musical ambassadors, Finghin Collins has made a significant contribution to Ireland’s musical landscape as Artistic Director of Music for Galway, the founding Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival, as well as the founding co-Artistic Director of the International Master Course at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

"It is lovely to have the opportunity to perform again for the Cork Orchestral Society, and to be back in the Curtis Auditorium with its beautiful Steinway piano," says Collins ahead of the performance. "Of course it is not the same without a live audience. That difference cannot be understated. I am grateful, however, that we can bring streamed performances to the regular Cork audience and to audiences around the globe, thanks to the miracle that is the internet."

Collins' international career was launched by winning first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1999. He has performed in concert and with major orchestras throughout Europe and the United States, as well as in the Far East and Australia.

"At the centre of today’s concert programme are the four late impromptus of Schubert," he explains. "These are substantial works that have a huge emotional range, from the the dark melancholy of the opening movement to florid lines of the theme and variations third movement. I open the recital with one of Haydn’s most immediately appealing sonatas with its jaunty first movement and cheeky finale. We also hear Alban Berg’s astonishing Opus 1 Sonata, a student work that was to be the only piece he ever wrote for solo piano. The recital finishes with the dramatic flourishes of Chopin’s Second Scherzo."

Chairperson of Cork Orchestral Society, Tom Crowley, promised a treat for audiences with Collins' upcoming recital: "I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Finghin Collins back to Cork. His concerts have always been immensely popular with our audience. The combination of his artistry and one of the Steinway Model D Grand Pianos in the Curtis Auditorium really is something to behold - a beautiful marriage of power and finesse."

The concert will be available to view from 6.30pm on Saturday April 17 on www.corkorchestralsociety.ie and will remain online for a month. The concert is also free to view for the public.