Elizabeth Cooney
violin

Cooney displayed her unbelievable skills confirming the presence of a world class artist
Gerry Quinn, Irish Examiner, 30th May, 2008

It was an outstanding reading which realised all the alternating drama and lyricism of the piece.
Tully Potter, The Strad.

Cooney produces a tone that is easy and fluid. - Michael Dervan, The Irish Times

Plays really beautifully - exceptionally musical. - Martin Lovett, Amadeus Quartet

Elizabeth Cooney's interpretation recalled Ginette Neveu's own playing (from performance in June 07 at Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, Oxford) musicweb-international.com

Elizabeth has been described by Tully Potter of the Strad magazine as 'a talent to watch', by Martin Lovett of the Amadeus Quartet as 'exceptionally musical' and credited for her 'remarkable virtuosity' by Ian Fox for the Sunday Tribune.

She has performed as soloist with a number of orchestras including the Slovenian Philharmonic, the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, the Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Hungary to name but a few and is a regular soloist with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland as well as the Ulster Orchestra.
She has collaborated with conductors Alexander Anissimov, Vladimir Altschuler, Paavo Jarvi, Shlomo Mintz, Laurent Wagner, Howard Shelley among others.

Selected as the National Concert Hall Ireland's 'Rising Star' 2006, Elizabeth has played with many distinguished partners at the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall,London, the Victoria Hall, Geneva, the Weill Hall at Carnegie, New York and festivals including Brighton Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival and most recently Cristina Ortiz' festival in Bordeaux, France.

Elizabeth performs a very wide spectrum of repertoire spanning from the baroque era to contemporary composers of today. She studied at the Royal College of Music, London with Itzhak Rashkovsky following her studies with Adrian Petcu in Cork, Ireland.

She has been awarded many prizes including second prize and audience prize at the Sion-Valais International Competition for Violin in Switzerland as well as awards from the Martin Musical Fund (RFH debut recital), Maisie Lewis Trust (Wigmore Hall recital), the Royal Overseas League, the Seymour Whinyates Prize for Strings and the Ian Stoutzker Prize for Violin at the RCM, London. She was subsequently a Junior Fellow at the RCM for two years.

Elizabeth is passionate about chamber music and in summer of 09 she did a tour of Japan and last year her piano trio, the Syrius Trio performed at the Musica Nova Contemporary Music Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In 2010 there will be two CD releases, firstly a recording for Toccata Classics of the music of Salomon Jadassohn with the Syrius Trio and secondly, a recording of a recital disc featuring Elizabeth and duo partner Redmond O'Toole on Brahms guitar.

In the past year she has given the following premiers
- 5 Pieces for Violin and Piano by Valentyn Silvestrov
- string trio by Alexander Knaifel (collaborations with the Louth Contemporary Music Society)
and
- a piano trio by Czech composer Adam Skoumal.

Elizabeth is due to perform John Tavener's Maya Atma with Patricia Rozario, soprano in King's Place, London in 2010 and also on a tour around Britain in the autumn.
She will also perform a French American programme with Finghin Collins, piano and give concerts with Sally Pryce, harp. She has performed chamber music with John O'Conor, Barry Douglas, Cristina Ortiz, Fionnula Hunt, Andrea Raubadengo, Mei Yi Foo, Siu Chui Li, Richard Harwood among many others.

Last year saw Elizabeth premiere two solo violin works, one by Mark Anthony Turnage and the other by Northern Irish composer Greg Caffrey, both written for her.

Elizabeth was noted as a young exciting talent in Ireland which lead to her being chosen to represent Ireland at the age of fifteen at the European Broadcasting Union's 10th Concert for Young Soloists in Sweden.
Following that, she won the Strings Final of the RTE Millenium Musician of the Future Competition after which she went to the Royal College of Music in London on scholarship to study.
She was invited to perform the Carmen Fantasy (Bizet/Sarasate) with the RTE Concert Orchestra for the occasion of the National Concert Hall Dublin's 20th Anniversary Gala Concert and subsequently performed Ravel's Tzigane and the Carmen Fantasy with the same orchestra on RTE TV's Symphony Sessions with conductor David Brophy.
She appeared this year again with the same orchestra and conductor with a programme in homage to Fritz Kreisler and John McCormack.

Elizabeth performed the Bruch Concerto last year with the Ulster Orchestra and conductor Gavin Maloney and her  CD 'Debut' featuring works for violin and piano by Schumann, Wieniawski and Brahms was critically acclaimed.
She was invited give a five concert tour of Ireland in 08 with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and conductor  Vladimir Altschuler.

Elizabeth has also been supported by Music Network Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland..

Elizabeth performs on a violin made in Venice in 1700 by Matteo Goffriller.

www.rte.ie/tv/symphonysessions/programme1.html

www.rte.ie/tv/symphonysessions/programme3.html

Elizabeth Cooney on RTE programme "The View" on 23 February 2010