Máire Carroll

Dr Máire Carroll is a pianist, composer and collaborator who has performed throughout Europe, Asia, United States and Canada including performances at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, National Opera House in Tallinn, Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Princess Grace Library in Monaco, the Barbican, Royal Over-Seas League, St. John’s Smith Square in London and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Máire is the Artistic Director of Hidden Pianos, which she launched in 2018 with the aim of sharing classical and contemporary music in site-specific locations. Hidden Pianos is an intimate performance experience bringing the piano to exciting venues and has been featured on RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Lyric FM, RTÉ Culture and The Irish Times. Venues so far have included Dublin Port, Waterways Ireland, 14 Henrietta Street, Lighthouse Cinema, MoLI and the National Gallery of Ireland. In 2020 Máire was delighted to take part in a residency at the Banff Centre of the Arts, Canada for Hidden Pianos. Her recent Hidden Pianos commission ‘Lavinia Fontana’ was commissioned by the National Gallery of Ireland in celebration of their current exhibition, Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rulebreaker which opened in May 2023.

Driven by a passion for contemporary music and adventurous collaboration, Máire regularly works with composers at home and abroad. In 2021 Máire was awarded a Bank of Ireland, Begin Together Arts Fund Award, for her project SUDDEN CHANGES in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland. SUDDEN CHANGES will feature the work of David Coonan, Amanda Feery, Anna Murray, Sam Perkin and Nick Roth with each of these composers composing a solo piano piece for Máire. She gave the world premiere of Jonathan Nangles ‘Surface Patterns’ at the National Gallery of Ireland as part of New Music Dublin Festival in 2020. In 2018 Bill Whelan composed ‘Educo’ for Máire, guitarist Shane Hennessy and Crash Ensemble. Máire has worked with the London Sinfonietta and Crash Ensemble and she was a former fellow at Bang on a Can festival, at Mass MoCa, USA. She has performed with Crash Ensemble at New Music Dublin, GAIDA contemporary festival, Lithuania, the Homecoming Festival in Ohio, USA, CrashLands series across Ireland and most recently at Huddersfield Festival UK in 2022. Máire has featured on recent Crash Ensemble album releases including Wingform, CrashLands and Grey Area.

Máire is the 2018 winner of the RDS Collins Memorial Prize and is the recipient of the Jim McNaughton/Tilestyle Artist Bursary (Allianz Business to Arts Awards, 2015). She is the winner of the 2012 RDS Music Bursary, the first pianist to have won this prestigious award. Her debut album ROADS (2018) and the Hidden Pianos (2021) album are available on all major streaming platforms. Máire performed as part of Culture Ireland’s #IrelandPerforms campaign in 2020 and she collaborated with RTÉ2FM to create Classical Collision, a fusion of classical and pop music at Body and Soul Festival, 2019.  

Máire graduated from her MMus degree with distinction, at the Royal Academy of Music, London where she studied on scholarship with Christopher Elton. She was awarded an LRAM degree and she is the 2016 winner of the Royal Academy of Music, London, Franz Reizenstein Award, awarded for outstanding achievement. Máire began her studies at the age of four at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin with Gillian Smith later studying with Dr. John O’Conor, Ray Keary and Hugh Tinney. Máire completed her Doctorate at Trinity College Dublin and Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM), where her area of research focused on twentieth- and twenty-first-century piano études. Máire has worked as a piano teacher and accompanist at RIAM where she particularly enjoys teaching music students.

In November 2022, Máire performed all twenty Philip Glass Piano Études across two sold out evenings at the NCH, Dublin as part of their International Chamber Music Series. In late 2022, Máire performed at Quiet Lights Festival in Cork, Princess Grace Library in Monaco, Huddersfield Festival in the UK, and she performed with Crash Ensemble at the NCH Dublin as part of Crash Ensemble’s 25th birthday celebrations. Highlight performances of summer 2023 include ‘Yeats in Music’ recital at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival with tenor Andrew Gavin and actor Barry McGovern, a four-hand world premiere of Gráinne Mulvey’s work ‘Remembrance’ with pianist Finghin Collins at Kilmainham Gaol as part of the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival, a duo recital with violinist Larissa O’Grady at the Hugh Lane Gallery and a duo recital with cellist Ailbhe McDonagh at Castleknock Music Festival.