The Donegal man mentored by acclaimed pianist

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, pictured right, 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.

This week he released a magnificent, evocative piece of music he created entitled ‘Solstice’ in which he seeks to capture the essence of the spirit of Irish story telling.

Speaking to the Donegal News from his home in Madrid earlier this week, where he has been living for 12 years, Gerard told of his amazing journey and early love of the piano.

He is son of Bernadette and Michael and is one of ten children who were all sent to piano and elocution lessons as children. Gerard recalled that even before he was old enough to start piano lessons he used to listen to his older siblings practising.

“I suppose they were preparing my brain. When I started lessons with Mary Sheridan in Rathmullan I just loved it straight away. The piano teacher who had the most impact on me was the late Derek Fleming. He was a fantastic guy. We also had lessons with Mary Kelly and Joe McGlinchey,” Gerard said.

“After those surprising and amazing comments from John O’Connor he told me to come and see him after his recital and off course I stayed to hear him play.

“He became my mentor and I went to Dublin once a month for lessons at his home which would have lasted four hours or more. I couldn’t believe how I was just in the right place at the right time to get this amazing opportunity. It was such a privilege,” Gerard said.

With such wonderful tuition and guidance it is not surprising that Gerard then went from Loreto Milford to Trinity College to study music. He finished his degree then taught in DIT.

“I had this burning desire to create music. It was an itch that needed to be scratched. At home we grew up steeped in music of all sorts and my Mum’s family the Coyles, were great story tellers. I wanted to combine these two things and blend them into my music.

“’Solstice’ is part of a bigger body of work, a series of 12 pieces entitled ‘Henna on the Lawns’, all available on Spotify and other streaming services. I aim to root my compositions in the rich tradition of Irish storytelling, blending classical elegance with pagan fervour to create a sound that is both timeless and transcendent,” he said.

One critic described ‘Solstice’ as “at once devastatingly delicate and emotionally unbridled, O’Donnell brings us through a classical cannon to something primal, alive and immense. It is real piano for unreal times”.

The incredibly talented Milford man will travel home next week and plans to spend at least a month here with family and friends.

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