Oklahoma City Community College will present Michael McHale, one of Ireland’s leading pianists Oct. 10 at the OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center, 7777 S. May Ave.
A performer of McHale’s magnitude is a rare opportunity for Oklahoma City music aficionados. He has established an international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, performing with a broad range of orchestras, including the Minnesota, Hallé and Moscow Symphony. McHale has also performed at the Sinfonia of London and all five of the major Irish orchestras, as well as the Tanglewood and Tokyo Spring Festivals. Other notable appearances include London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Konzerthaus, New York’s Lincoln Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall and Pesti Vigadó in Budapest.
McHale’s début solo album, “The Irish Piano,†was released in 2012 and was immediately selected as CD of the Week by the British critic Norman Lebrecht. More recent solo releases include “Schubert: Four Impromptus on Ergodos, Miniatures and Modulations on Grand Piano,†and a first orchestral album, “Irish Piano Concertos†featuring works by John Field and Philip Hammond with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Courtney Lewis.
McHale studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music. In 2018 he was appointed as a part-time professor of piano for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Cork School of Music in Ireland.
Winner of the Terence Judd/Hallé Award in 2009, Michael was also awarded the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, the 2005 Camerata Ireland/Accenture Award, and in 2016 a Major Individual Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
To purchase tickets, go online to tickets.occc.edu or call the OCCC Box Office at (405) 682-7579. The Box Office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Tickets for the performance are $15 and may be purchased at the door the day of the performance. Doors and concessions will open one hour before start time at 7:30 a.m. The OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center is located at 7777 S. May Ave., Oklahoma City.
McHale’s performance is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Oklahoma and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Oklahoma Arts Council is the official state agency for the support and development of the arts. The agency’s mission is to lead in the advancement of Oklahoma’s thriving arts industry. The Oklahoma Arts Council provides more than 400 grants to nearly 225 organizations in communities statewide each year, organizes professional development opportunities for the state’s arts and cultural industry and manages works of art in the Oklahoma Public Art Collection and the public spaces of the state Capitol. Additional information is available at arts.ok.gov.
