Frasier Hickland
Praised in recital for being ‘dramatically sensitive’ (OperaWire) and for his ‘flair and dexterity’ (Seen and Heard International), Irish pianist Frasier Hickland is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, London, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and the Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti”. He has performed in many prestigious venues in Europe and America, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall, London, the Oxford International Song Festival, the Leeds Lieder Festival, the Willard InterContinental, Washington DC, the Yacht Club de Monaco, Monte-Carlo, the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and at the BMS International Festival of Chamber Music. He has also been featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Ulster, RTE Lyric FM and has performed for dignitaries such as HM King Charles III and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. Alongside his duo partner, flutist Amy Gillen, he was selected as a ‘Rising Star’ at the West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival.
A finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, other competition successes include winning the Danone Young Outstanding Artist Award at Wexford Festival Opera, the John Kerr Award for English Song, the Brooks-van der Pump English Song Competition, and the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Bursary Award. As a répétiteur he has collaborated with Northern Ireland Opera, Irish National Opera, Opera Holland Park, Wexford Festival Opera, Teatro Verdi di Pisa, Festival della Valle d’Itria, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and Opera Collective Ireland on works including Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Verdi’s La traviata/Macbeth, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Puccini’s La bohème/Tosca, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onégin, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream/The Turn of the Screw, Jonathan Dove’s The Walk from the Garden and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. Upcoming engagements include Bizet’s Carmen with NI Opera and Caruso’s The First Festival with Wexford Festival Opera.
He debuted as music director for the Irish premiere of Philip Glass/Robert Moran’s opera The Juniper Tree in the Grand Opera House, Belfast to great acclaim (“Looks as delicious as it sounds” – The Stage, Four Stars). Last year, he worked on the award-winning Italian premiere of Britten’s Owen Wingrave at the Festival della Valle d’Itria and conducted an offstage ensemble with members of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala. Orchestral piano appearances include with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and the Orchestra La Corelli.