Seán Morgan-Rooney is one of Ireland's leading young pianists today. Winner of the Charles J. Brennan Prize at the 10th Dublin International Piano Competition, he has released a début album, performed with many of the country's top orchestras and concertized extensively around Europe as a solo recitalist.
Seán's early studies were with John O'Conor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. He gained a scholarship to study under Professor Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with First Class Honours in 2016. He then went on to study under David Kuyken at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he received his Master's and Artist Certificate. Seán has participated in masterclasses with such preeminent pianists as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Thomas Adès, Stephen Hough, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Phillippe Cassard and Boris Giltburg. He is an alumnus of the IMS Prussia Cove in England, the Banff Centre's Piano Programme in Canada and the Aspen Music Festival and School in the USA.
Winner of several prizes for his playing, as a teenager Seán was a piano finalist of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. He was the recipient of a Young Musicians' Platform Award from BBC Northern Ireland/Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and he is a former winner of the Royal Academy of Music's Else Cross Prize for contemporary music. He was also a finalist of the Dutch Classical Talent Award 2020/21. He is grateful for the support of the Cymbeline Foundation, Fondspodiumkunst and the Leverhulme Trust.
Seán recently made his recital début at Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, performing Liszt's Sonata in b minor. Alongside traditional repertoire, he is deeply involved in more explorative, interdisciplinary performances. He has worked on numerous occasions with silent film, dance and theatre, and has performed in various collaborative settings including Amsterdam Fashion Week, the Eye Film Museum and Splendor Amsterdam. Seán also composes his own music, focusing on live piano with electronics as well as song composition. He has made several song compositions and arrangements for his piano and voice duo "popartsong," a collaboration with Canadian-Bulgarian mezzo soprano Adanya Dunn, which aims to synthesize popular genres with the art song format.
An avid chamber musician, Seán performs regularly in various ensembles. He is a former member of the Hard Rain Ensemble, one of the UK's leading contemporary music groups. He performs regularly in piano trio, piano-and-violin and two-piano ensembles.
Seán currently plays on a 1929 Hamburg Steinway, generously on loan to him from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds of the Netherlands.
