Mairéad Hickey
Kronberg Academy Bachelor
Kronberg Academy Master
Kronberg Academy Professional Studies Studies with Mihaela Martin funded by the Hilmar Kopper patronage
Kronberg Festival, workshop
Chamber Music Connects the World, junior
Kronberg Festival, concert
Geigen Meisterkurse, concert
Mit Musik - Miteinander, tutor
Mairéad Hickey was born in Ireland in 1996 and began playing the violin at the age of three. From 2003 to 2014 she studied at the CIT Cork School of Music, Ireland, with Adrian Petcu. When she was 15 she spent a year in France studying at the Conservatoire de Nantes with Constantin Serban. She has attended masterclasses with Adelina Oprean, Dora Schwarzberg, Mariana Sirbu, Tatiana Liberova, Adrian Pinzaru, Yossi Zivoni and Adrian Butterfield.
Apart from winning prizes at renowned Irish competitions, Mairéad Hickey also won the Jeunesses Musicales International Violin Competition in Romania in 2012 and the Antonio Salieri prize in Italy in 2010. She also won third prize at the Spohr Competition in 2016. In 2017 she was awarded a Special Prize in the Berliner International Music Competition and the Manhattan International Music Competition. In addition, she was the Irish National Concert Hall Young Musician of the Year 2010 -12. For her interpretation of traditional Irish music she was awarded eight All-Ireland Fiddle Champion titles.
At the age of 14, Mairéad Hickey recorded the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy. She has performed at the National Concert Hall in Dublin several times as well as at other venues in Ireland and Europe. In 2013 she was invited to give a recital at the Westport Festival of Chamber Music and she has played classical and traditional Irish music for the President of Ireland. Mairéad Hickey is also an active chamber musician and spent a number of years taking part in international masterclasses and festivals with the Cairde Quartet. She has participated in the West Cork Chamber Music Festival and the Westport Festival of Chamber Music numerous times. Mairéad Hickey founded the Ortús Chamber Music Festival which took place in Ireland in February 2016 for the first time.
Mairéad was the concertmaster of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire from 2021 to 2023. She is frequently invited to perform as guest concertmaster in orchestras including Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre de Paris and Orquesta Simfónica del Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Mairéad currently plays a 1702 Tononi violin, kindly loaned to her by a generous sponsor through the Beares International Violin Society.
From 2014 until 2021 she has studied at Kronberg Academy with Mihaela Martin. These studies were funded by the Hilmar Kopper Scholarship.