Rosanne Philippens / Finghin Collins

Violin / Piano

Rosanne Philippens violin Finghin Collins piano

Date & Time: Saturday 15th November 2025, 5pm
Venue: The Manor House, Tulfarris
Ticket Info: Tickets €35 / €17.5 student concession
(+ booking fee)

For group bookings or for those having any issues booking, please contact westwicklowfestival@gmail.com
Artists: Rosanne Philippens violin
Finghin Collins piano
Programme: W.A.Mozart Sonata in E minor, K. 304
I.Stravinsky Suite Italienne
B.Bartók Romanian Dances Sz.56
Interval
J.Brahms Scherzo from FAE Sonata
Siobhán Cleary The Whitening
J.Brahms Sonata for violin and piano No.3 in D minor, Op.108

Saturday afternoon’s concert on 15th November pairs leading Dutch violinist of her generation, Rosanne Philippens with celebrated Irish pianist Finghin Collins. Rosanne performed beautifully in the festival's online offering in 2021 and it is a pleasure for the festival to finally welcome her to Wicklow this November. Finghin Collins is no stranger to any music lover on this island, a dream-team pairing!

The duo's programme commences with Mozart’s iconic Sonata for violin and piano in E minor, written in Paris at the time his beloved mother passed away. From this greatly nostalgic work the duo move to the brio and charm of Stravinsky’s dance inspired Suite Italienne, depicting his ballet Pulcinella. The first half concludes with Bartók’s energetic Romanian Dances, full of spirited folk tunes.

In the second half Brahms’ lively Scherzo from the FAE Sonata is juxtaposed with The Whitening by Siobhán Cleary, inspired by W.B.Yeats’ poem Cap and Bell. To finish, arguably the greatest of Brahms’ violin sonatas, the monumental Sonata No. 3 in D minor.

Book Now BOOK FOR MULTIPLE CONCERTS

Handel-Halvorsen: Passacaglia in G minor

Rosanne Philippens & Gautier Capuçon (Podium Witteman)

Dvorak: Piano Quintet No. 2, Op. 81 (Scherzo)

Finghin Collins & Quatuor Terpsycordes

“Rosanne Philippens’s brilliantly focused, expressive sound is coupled with an inspired programme of music by and for virtuoso violinists of the Romantic period. An absolute joy from start to finish.”
BBC Music Magazine (on Rosanne Philippens)

“He was both a subtle tonal aesthete and a thundering piano lion, and in between he reigned over the entire range of pianistic expression.”
Ostsee Zeitung (on Finghin Collins)

Rosanne Philippens is an extraordinary communicator, with an innate musicality and an infectiously joyful yet sincere approach to music-making. Her playing is refined, exuberant and profound, and was described by the Dutch daily paper De Telegraaf as “energetic, sensitive and flawless.” She performs widely across Europe with a particular focus on twentieth century concerti. A strong believer in breaking down barriers in classical music, she is the founder of ‘The Amsterdam Salon’, which presents high-quality concerts in Amsterdam in carefully sought-out and unusual locations in an intimate salon atmosphere.

In 24/25 highlights include debuts with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in the Elbphilharmonie, the Halle Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and returns to BBC Scottish and Ulster Orchestras. Play/direct programmes will include her debut in Canada with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and a return to Japan to appear with the Kobe City Chamber Orchestra. Highlights of Philippens’ recent seasons have included performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall., City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Norrkoping Symphony, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Música as part of the Mozart Festival 2021, in Stuttgart and Munich with the Munich Symphony Orchestra and on tour across Germany with the SWR Konstanz. She has play/directed programmes with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre d’Auvergne and the Orchestre National d’Ile de France on a national tour including a performance at the Paris Philharmonie.

In her native Netherlands, Philippens has performed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic at De Doelen, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in the prestigious Zaterdag Matinee series and the Residentie Orkest both in The Hague and at the Concertgebouw Hall, Amsterdam. Conductors with whom she has worked include Nézet-Séguin, Foster, Tausk, de Vriend, Wigglesworth, Hermus, Brönnimann, Weilerstein, Collon, Equilbey and Edusei. During the darkest moments of the Covid pandemic, Philippens channelled her energies into the creation of a new ensemble, the Vondel Strings, with whom she worked intensely and which led to a performance at the Concertgebouw and a recording of Haydn and Stravinsky, which was very warmly critiqued by Gramophone magazine amongst others.

In recital and chamber music, Philippens plays regularly with artists such as Kian Soltani, István Vardai, Vilde Frang, Julien Quentin, Vikingúr Olafsson, Amihai Grosz,Camille Thomas and Zoltán Fejérvári in halls and festivals across Europe. In 24, she made her recital debut in Tokyo in a performance which was televised by NHK. Alongside Fejérvári, Philippens will make her Wigmore Hall debut in June 2025.

Philippens records exclusively for Channel Classics and all her recordings have received glowing praise. The Strad described her Insight CD as being “both softly spoken and intensely powerful” and Philippens as a “dazzling performer”. Earlier albums include Dedications, featuring works by Kreisler, Fauré and Ysaye, and a recording of Prokofiev’s 2nd Concerto, described by BBC Magazine as “a triumph”.

Taught from an early age by Anneke Schilt at the Amstelveen music school, she continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Vera Beths, Anner Bylsma and Ulf Wallin, receiving the highest distinction from both institutes. Philippens won first prize at the Dutch National Violin Competition in 2009 and the Freiburg International Violin Competition in 2014. Philippens plays on the 1727 Barrere Stradivarius, thanks to the generous support of the Elise Mathilde Foundation.

Rosanne's website

One of Ireland's most successful musicians, Finghin Collins was born in Dublin in 1977 and, following initial lessons with his sister Mary, studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O'Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. Winner of the RTÉ Musician of the Future Competition in 1994 and the Classical Category at the National Entertainment Awards in Ireland in 1998, he went on to take first prize at the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland in 1999. Since then, he has continued to enjoy a flourishing international career that takes him all over Europe and the United States, as well to the Far East and Australia.

Collins has performed with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, garnering consistent praise from critics and public alike. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Frans Brüggen, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Hans Graf, Emmanuel Krivine, Nicholas McGegan, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, Tadaaki Otaka, Heinrich Schiff, Vassily Sinaisky, Leonard Slatkin and Gábor Tákacs-Nagy.

Performances across Europe have included such prestigious venues as Symphony Hall Birmingham, Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, The Barbican and Cadogan Hall, London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (both halls), De Doelen Rotterdam (both halls), Théâtre du Châtelet and Salle Cortot Paris, Salle Molière Lyon, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Palao de la Musica Valencia, Gulbenkian Hall Lisbon, Sala Verdi Milan, Teatro Manzoni Bologna, Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Vienna, Franz Liszt Academy Budapest, Philharmonic Hall Warsaw and the Auditorium Stravinski Montreux. He has also performed at Carnegie Hall, New York and the Kennedy Center, Washington DC, as well as at both Ravinia and Gilmore Festivals in the USA. Further festival appearances include the Piano Festival at La Roque d’Anthéron (France), Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany), Lockenhaus Festival (Austria), Delft International Chamber Music Festival and Storioni Festival (The Netherlands), Chopin Festival (Poland), Musical Olympus Festival (Russia), Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad (Switzerland), the Wuhan International Piano Festival (China) as well as the Mostly Mozart Festival and Ryedale Festival (UK).

Chamber music plays a significant role in his musical life and he has collaborated with London Winds and the Aviv, Callino, Chilingirian, ConTempo, Cremona, Ebène, Goldner, Navarra, Shanghai, Skampa, St Petersburg, Vanbrugh, Vertavo and Vogler String Quartets. Chamber music partners have included violinists Tasmin Little, Kristóf Bárati and Ilya Gringolts, cellists Han-Na Chang, Marc Coppey, István Várdai, Miklós Perényi, clarinettists
Emma Johnson, Michael Collins, Sharon Kam and Romain Guyot, sopranos Ailish Tynan and Lenneke Ruiten, tenor James Gilchrist and baritone Jochen Kupfer as well as his sister pianist Dearbhla Collins and many others.

In July 2022 Collins made his début at the Verbier Festival, replacing András Schiff at short notice. During the 2022/23 season he performs at the Piano aux Jacobins Festival in Toulouse, the Festival de Zermatt, the Piano Biennale in the Netherlands, the National Concert Hall in Dublin with the Quatuor Ebène and at the Seoul Arts Center in Korea with cellist Mikós Perényi. He also performs concertos with the National Symphony Orchestra in Galway and Dublin, with the Nexus Orchestra in Lausanne, Switzerland and with the Philharmonisches Orchester Vorpommern in Germany. In November 2022 he undertook a ten-concert tour of Ireland with Sharon Carty (mezzo-soprano) and John Finucane (clarinet).

Over the past two decades Collins has developed a close relationship with Claves Records in Switzerland, recording two double CDs of Schumann’s piano music (which won numerous awards including Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice in 2006), followed by a recording of works for piano and orchestra by Charles V. Stanford with the RTÉ NSO / Kenneth Montgomery (Editor's Choice, May 2011). In May 2013 RTÉ lyric fm launched his latest recording of four Mozart piano concertos directed from the keyboard with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. A Chopin recital CD was released in 2017, a co-production between RTÉ lyric fm and Claves Records, while in spring 2020 Claves released Collins’ latest release: a recording of the Mozart Piano Quartets with Rosanne Philippens (violin), Máté Szücs (viola) and István Várdai (cello). In September 2022 a new solo CD “The Bright Day is Done” was released, featuring a variety of works inspired by different times of the day.

Finghin Collins makes a significant contribution to the musical landscape of his native Ireland, where he resides. Since 2013, he has been Artistic Director of Music for Galway, while he is also the founding Artistic Director, since 2006, of the New Ross Piano Festival in Wexford. In March 2023 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Dublin International Piano Competition.

Collins was a member of the jury of the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland in 2021. He will chair the jury of the Clara Haskil Competition in 2023 and 2025. In 2017, the National University of Ireland conferred on him an honorary Degree of Doctor of Music.

Finghin's website