Finghin Collins

Pianist

One of Ireland’s most celebrated musicians and significant musical ambassadors, Finghin Collins was born in Dublin in 1977 and, following initial lessons with his sister Mary, studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O’Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. . 

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

Each season brings a mix of solo recitals and concerto appearances as well as a busy schedule of chamber music engagements with a diverse range of colleagues.  A particular focus of his activities in 2024 was the centenary of the death of the Irish composer Charles V. Stanford.  This gave rise to performances of Stanford’s music in Ireland, Germany and Switzerland as well as the recording of a new CD of Stanford’s Irish songs with mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty and baritone Benjamin Russell, released by SOMM Recordings in the UK.  

During the 2024-25 season, performances are scheduled in Armenia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland and throughout Ireland. 

Over the past two decades Collins has developed a close relationship with Claves Records in Switzerland, recording two double CDs of Schumann’s piano music (which won numerous awards including Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice in 2006), followed by a recording of works for piano and orchestra by Charles V. Stanford with the RTÉ NSO / Kenneth Montgomery (Editor’s Choice, May 2011). In May 2013 RTÉ lyric fm launched a recording of four Mozart piano concertos directed from the keyboard with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. A Chopin recital CD was released in 2017, a co-production between RTÉ lyric fm and Claves Records, while in spring 2020 Claves released a recording of the Mozart Piano Quartets with Rosanne Philippens (violin), Máté Szücs (viola) and István Várdai (cello).   In November 2022 a new solo CD “The Bright Day is Done” was released, featuring a variety of works inspired by different times of the day.  In 2025, Collins recorded a programme of solo piano works on a Pleyel concert grand piano dating from 1937; this CD will be launched later in the year. 

Finghin Collins makes a significant contribution to the musical landscape of his native Ireland, where he resides. Since 2013, he has been Artistic Director of Music for Galway, while he is also the founding Artistic Director, since 2006, of the New Ross Piano Festival in Wexford. In March 2023 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Dublin International Piano Competition.  In 2023 he chaired the international jury of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland, and will do so again this year, 2025. 

 In 2017, the National University of Ireland conferred on Finghin Collins an honorary Degree of Doctor of Music. 

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