by Kate Heaney
PERMISSION to practise on the Loreto Letterkenny’s Steinway piano, in advance of a 15-year-old getting ready to sit a Royal Irish Academy of Music exam, changed the life of a Milford teenager from which he has never looked back.
Gerard O’Donnell was practising his pieces on the piano as people milled about the hall setting up for a recital in the convent that evening. He became conscious of someone watching him close by.
To his shock and surprise, the internationally acclaimed pianist John O’Connor told him to keep playing but told him, in a very “posh” Dublin accent, that while he was talented, his technique needed work.
Thus began his mentoring by the famous maestro and an amazing journey, which now sees Gerard living in Spain, playing and composing.
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