Aimee Banks is a seventeen-year-old soprano from Galway. She is currently studying under the direction of Kathleen Tynan, Head of Opera and Vocal Studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. An award-winning vocalist, Aimee currently holds a number of vocal titles, with some of her most recent achievements being the Overall Junior Vocalist at Sligo Feis Ceoil 2019 and Arklow Music Festival 2019. She was a recipient of the Kitty O’Callaghan Cup for voice & pianoforte duo with Justin O’Hagan at Dublin Feis Ceoil 2019 and Vocal Solo and Junior Vocal Recital winner 2018. Aimee also received a Silver Award in the first Vienna International Music Competition 2019. The last few years have been momentous for Aimee; having had the honour of performing at the Government's launch of the 1916 Commemorations in Dublin’s Convention Centre she has also debuted as the young Giordano Bruno in Roger Doyle’s opera Heresy, where she received commendation from Opera World, the Irish Times and Opera Today. Aimee has performed across Ireland and Europe, as well as in Carnegie Hall in New York, and extensively on radio and television.
Justin O'Hagan is a seventeen-year-old pianist from Ravensdale, County Louth, who has studied with Professor Anthony Byrne since 2016 at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He has been awarded a scholarship at the Academy for the past two years for the piano, and has also been a recipient of the High Achievers Award for both piano and cello. Justin has had much success in the Dublin Feis Ceoil by achieving runner-up in the Claude Biggs competition in 2018 and by winning both the Fritz Brase (sight-reading) and Kitty O'Callaghan cup with Aimee Banks in 2019. He has also been highly commended in the Dorothy Stokes and Junior Concerto competitions. He studied full time in a third-level course in RIAM during his transition year in school, taking classes such as composition and performance. He has participated in Baroque, jazz and orchestral ensembles, performing in the Helix, the National Concert Hall, and Christ Church Cathedral. Last summer, he was invited to play the piano in the National Gallery in Dublin. Justin has attended masterclasses with Teresa Terrisan and John O'Conor.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1781)
Una donna a quindici anni (from Cosi fan tutti)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Nuit d'étoiles
John F. Larchet (1884-1967)
A stóirín bán
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
From sonata no. 23 in F minor (Appassionata), op. 57
Allegro assai
Francesco Durante (1684-1755)
Danza, danza fancuilla gentile
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Kling leise, mein Lied
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Die Forelle
Claude Debussy
L'Isle joyeuse
Traditional
Cruachán na bpáiste
Michael Head
A blackbird singing
Zez Confrey (1895-1971)
Dizzy fingers
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
S'altro che lacrime (from La Clemenza di Tito)
Ina Boyle (1889-1967)
Sleep song
Franz Léhar (1870-1948)
Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiß (from Giuditta)
