Ingrid Nicola, Junior Orchestra
Ingrid Nicola is the violinist/founding member of ConTempo quartet,a celebrated string quartet that has become RTE's quartet in residence (Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster) in 2014 and is Galway's Ensemble in Residence since 2003. Ingrid has been holding chamber music workshops at the Royal Academy of Music/Dublin,at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1999-2002) ,Gedai University of Music Tokyo/Japan, DIT and Cork School of Music. On the 10th of June 2016, Ingrid was awarded a Degree of Doctor of Music (honoris causa) by the National University of Ireland (NUIG)
Ingrid graduated The University of Music in Bucharest where she studied with Daniel Podlovschi and Ladislau Csendes.She continued her studies at various residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, Royal Academy of Music in London, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, European Academy of Music in Aix-en-Province, Britten - Pierce School for Advanced Music Studies in Aldeburgh and Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid with Rainer Schmidt, Siegmund Nissel, Norbert Brainin, Gunter Pichler, Philip Setzer, Stephanie Gonley, Heime Muller, Christoph Poppen, Howard Davis and Hugh Maguire. Ingrid received her Masters of Arts in Music with First Class Honours at Cork School of Music, in 2005. In 2015 Ingrid was also awarded a Diploma in Child Psychology(O.A.DIP). Since September 2018 Ingrid is a conductor and teacher of Galway Youth Orchestra. Starting with September 2019, Ingrid is a tutor of Music Generation Galway and a conductor of Maynooth's NUI orchestra, collaborating also in coaching Sinfonia Orchestra ( Music Generation Co Offaly and Westmeath Orchestra) along conductors Andrew Synnott and Karen Ni Bhroin. Ingrid has studied with some of the most celebrated string quartets of the world, such as Amadeus, Alban Berg , Tokyo, Emerson and Hagen quartets ,and with musicians as Diemut Poppen, Petra Mullejans, Piero Farulli, David Takeno, Laurence Lesser, Gilbert Kalish. Ingrid has won 14 International Prizes in Chamber Music Competitions-1st Prize at GrosserForderpreise Competition in
Munich-Germany,1st Prize at Valentino Bucchi competition in Rome-Italy, 1st Prize at Tunnel Trust Competition in London-UK, 1st Prize at Mozart competition in Cluj-Romania, 2nd Prize at Johannes Brahms International Competition in Hamburg-Germany, Audience Prize and 3rd Prize at London String Quartet Competition in UK, 3rd Prize at Schubert und die Musik der Moderne Competition in Graz-Austria, 3rd Prize at Max Reger Competition in Weimar-Germany, The Wigmore Award and The Romanian Musical Critics Union Prize in Bucharest. She has performed over 2000 concerts around the world,in 42 countries, including: Carnegie Hall NY, Wigmore Hall London, St. Martin in the Fields and St. John's Smith Square in London; Philharmonic Hall in Berlin; Max Joseph Saal in Munich; Theatre Chatelet in Paris; Opera House in Tel Aviv; Musee de Beaux Arts/Auditorium in Brussels; Gedai University in Tokyo; The National Museum at Queens/The Waterfront Hall in Belfast; Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome; Konserthuset in Stockholm; Athenaeum Hall in Bucharest; National Concert Hall in Dublin, LA Beverly Hilton;The Radio France Festival (Montpellier), Berliner Festwochen, Haydn Fest in Eisenstadt, Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Europa Musicale in Munchen etc. Ingrid had the honour to perform in front of great personalities such as the late Pope John Paul II at Castel Gandolfo in Italy,for Michael D. Higgins,President of Ireland, for Prince Charles in UK (in London and Highgrove) , for Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa and EU Ministers and for Hollywood actors Angelica Houston, Angela Lansbury, Martin Sheen and Merv Griffin.Filmmaker Bob Quinn produced a documentary about ConTempo's residency in Galway, "ConTempo Goes West", which was premiered at the Galway Film Fest. Ingrid participated in numerous television and radio broadcasts in England (recording quartets by Shostakovich, Debussy, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Bartok & Constantinescu for BBC), France ( RFMusic and TV Mezzo), Italy ( RAI), Austria ( ORF), Germany, Romania ( TVR) and Ireland ( RTE Lyric FM, TG4).As violinist of ConTempo Ingrid also recorded the Adagio from Beethoven's Opus 131 for Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks' television drama "Band of Brothers"under the Sony label, and has also arranged and performed the music for the Danish silent film "The Abyss"(1910).She also took part in the documentary "Deutschland, Deutschland".