2025 Irish Heritage Bursary Winners

Warm wishes to everyone. I choose the word warm hoping that we will soon have left the cold of winter behind. This year has been a particularly uncomfortable one with low temperatures for such long periods.

During the month of February we had great success running our annual Bursary Day at Wigmore Hall. The privilege of having the prestigious Wigmore Hall hosting our annual event is such a marvellous benefit for us and for our bursary contestants. We are so grateful to John Golhooly CBE, Joe Duer, Annabel Astridge and the staff at Wigmore for their kindness, care and hospitality on the day.

For those who might be interested, we had 28 applicants at the outset vying for three of our four bursaries along with a special award. Initially we have three separate adjudicators who, over a period of some 4 weeks, look at all 28 contestants and narrow the field down to ten finalists for the actual bursary day.

Three other adjudicators then chose the winners from those finalists who performed at Wigmore Hall. The bursaries available are: The Irish Heritage Bursary for Performance and the winner this year was Dida Condria on piano. The Homan Potterton Bursary for String Instruments was won by Eve Quigley on viola, while The Brackaville Bursary for Vocal Studies was won by Emily Hogarty, mezzo-soprano. The Special Award was given to Thomas Kelly for his performance on percussion. We should tell you that Thomas was the first ever entrant on percussion and it was delightful to see and hear his performance adding to the variety of music on the day.

Irish Heritage is so lucky to have these bursary awards sponsored each year and we acknowledge and thank Alex Heusen for the Homan Potterton String Instrument section, Michael and Loret O’Brien for the Brackaville Vocal Studies and Michael and Gianni Alen-Buckley for the special award and also for their kindness in sponsoring winners to the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in Lismore, Co. Waterford this summer.

The one bursary not done on the day is The Bursary for Composition. This has been sponsored by the Ireland Funds of Great Britain for several years. This bursary is completed over time and awarded in May. At this point as well, we would like to say that the IFGB will become more collaboratively involved with us this year and we will make an announcement on this soon and lay it all out in our next newsletter.

News

We have great pleasure in announcing that Alex Heusen has agreed to become a Patron of Irish Heritage. Alex, as mentioned, has for several years sponsored the Homan Potterton String Instrument Bursary. Both Homan and Alex and their friends were and are strong supporters of the work of Irish Heritage. Homan was active in the art world and was a director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Sadly he passed away some time back but Alex, his life partner, has kept his memory alive through supporting the bursary. Alex will now join Seamus and Anette McGarry, Mary, Lady Clancy-Hatch, John Gilhooly CBE with Michael and Gianni Alen-Buckley as Patrons. We are very proud to have them all.

All charitable organisations need funding and we are no exception. Funding is a tough business and it is a constant thought in the minds of our volunteer board of trustees and very active committee to pursue enough funds every year to sustain our efforts. Whilst the Bursaries are a known amount, the running costs which involve paying performers, renting prestigious venues for our concerts and recitals, programme printing and refreshments all have to be found. Door ticket prices certainly help but they in no way cover operating costs. Our gratitude to the Irish Government via the Embassy in London for their annual grant is something that helps those costs in a big way. So many of our followers, whom we call our friends, are so generous, but we must always ask everyone who supports what we do to further support us whenever possible. We have our ‘donate now’ button below which we would love to see used but also please do get in touch if you have ideas or thoughts on donating in a substantial or long-term way. Thank you again for your kindness.

Our next event will be our annual visit to the Royal Overseas Leagues House in St James’s, just off Piccadilly. We promise that you will not be disappointed with the variety of both performers and music on the night. Do buy your tickets soon via the website.

All our events are listed below as always with some more detail on our October joint venture with the London Yeats Society as mentioned in the last newsletter.We really appreciate all of you joining us at our concerts to support the aspiring, young musicians, providing them with much needed exposure and opportunity to play before an audience in prestigious locations.

A reminder of our online donation facility: Donate now

We ask that you help us continue by making a donation and opt for gift aid if you qualify for it. We are incredibly grateful for your support.

Upcoming Events

Irish Heritage Spring Concert
Royal Over-Seas League
Wednesday 7th May, 7.30pm

We are delighted to announce our Spring Concert on 7th May at the prestigious Royal Over-Seas League in London. This will be both our first concert of the year and the first time our bursary winners will perform. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Book now

Irish Heritage Summer Concert
Leighton House
Wednesday 2nd July, 7.00pm

Our annual Summer Concert will once again take place at the beautiful Leighton House in Kensington. Featuring performances from previous and current Irish Heritage bursary winners. Doors will open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Be sure to purchase your tickets soon as this concert has sold out in previous years. Book now

Save the date: Bedford Park and W.B.Yeats
St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park
Wednesday 22nd October, 7:30pm

This will be a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Bedford Park and W.B.Yeats. Irish Heritage performers will bring music to the presentation of Yeats poetry and other Irish poets, read by well known Irish actors in what promises to be a superb evening.

Wider Community News

Our Friends Accademia dell’Opera Italiana are presenting three operatic events in April Find out more

The West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival returns for its flagship festival from Thursday 8th - Sunday 18th May 2025 Find out more

Ros Scanlon, Culture Director at the Irish Culture Centre in Hammersmith sends us the latest link to the fabulous radio ’Talk Show’ “Bright Side of the Road’ Listen to it here

Our friends at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival have opened their bookings for their Summer Opera festival from Monday 27th May - Tuesday 2nd June at Lismore Castle, Waterford. 

We have the most wonderful collaboration with Blackwater Valley Opera Festival as we have said so often. They provide great support to our Bursary programme enabling some of our winners to go to the festival and perform each year. Tara McKeown, Marketing Director sends the following, very clear and concise information on the event, thus:

Blackwater Valley Opera Festival would like to invite Irish Heritage members to book tickets to this year’s Irish Heritage Recital, set to take place in the historic Salterbridge House, Cappoquin,
County Waterford on Friday, 30th May 12:00pm.

This recital will feature 2025 Bursary Award Winners and offers a wonderful opportunity to support these talented artists in a remarkable setting. Your attendance would be highly valued, and Blackwater Valley Opera Festival appreciates your continued support for the Irish Heritage Recital and BVOF 2025.

Ireland’s Summer Opera Festival, hosts 23 events at 12 venues across the Blackwater Valley. The headline opera is A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten, directed by Patrick Mason, conducted by David Brophy, and performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra at Lismore Castle on 28 May, 30 May, 31 May, and 1 June. 

New for 2025: Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, with Paula Murrihy, Dean Murphy, Kelli-Ann Masterson, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan at St Carthage’s Cathedral Lismore on 27 and 29 May.

Dromore Yard Concerts include When Birds Do Sing – with mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan and Gary Beecher, on 1 June. Baroque Hits with mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy and the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, on 2 June. Find out more