Classical Review: Sinéad O’Halloran & Conor Palliser Crawford Gallery, Cork

5/5

Witnessing the emergence of special talent is always an exciting pleasure. So it was at the final concert of this year’s Crawford Gallery Summer Lunchtime Concerts. The spontaneous standing ovation accorded the duo by the capacity audience was richly deserved. We had experienced something very special indeed — a young lady, brilliantly sharing her joy in making music alongside one of the latest generation of superb piano accompanists to emerge from Cork School of Music.

O’Halloran, 20, began with a thoughtful, mature, interpretation of the 3rd of Bach’s Suites for unaccompanied cello. I was captivated, right from the first bars of the Prelude, by her phrasing.