Ella O’Neill is increasingly in demand across the UK and Europe as a collaborative pianist specialising in song. She was recently announced as the 2024 winner of the biennial Royal Philharmonic Society Gerald Moore Award for outstanding piano accompanists. Ella also won the Accompanist’s Prize in the 2019 Kathleen Ferrier Awards at Wigmore Hall, where she recently returned for her recital debut with regular duo partner Laurence Kilsby. Last summer saw the release of the duo’s debut album, Awakenings, co-produced by Deutsche Grammophon, Avi Music and SWR Kultur. The album was longlisted for a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics' Award) as one of seven albums in the 'Lieder and Vocal Recital' category, and described in the American Record Guide as 'one of the most imaginative and thought-provoking song programs [I've] heard'.

Besides Wigmore Hall, recital venues for Ella have included the Zankel and Weill Recital Halls at Carnegie Hall as a SongStudio artist, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Cadogan Hall, the Royal Opera House Crush Room, Cedars Hall, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Heidelberger Frühling Lied Festival, Oxford International Song Festival (formerly Oxford Lieder), Leeds Lieder Festival and Brighton Festival. It was in the Brighton Festival that Ella first collaborated with Roderick Williams, with whom she later reunited to perform Schubert’s Winterreise at Opera Holland Park. Ella also regularly performs live on BBC Radio 3 InTune.

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      Ella is a Samling artist and works regularly as a staff pianist with Samling Institute for Young Artists, as well as Oxenfoord International Summer School and her alma mater the Royal College of Music, where she was the Lord and Lady Lurgan Collaborative Piano Fellow 2022-24. As a répétiteur, Ella has worked with companies including Grange Park Opera, English Touring Opera and the Tête à Tête Festival. She also enjoys a long-standing professional relationship with voice teacher Rosa Mannion, which has enabled Ella to develop a thorough understanding of vocal technique and how best to support singers as a vocal coach. During her studies at the RCM, Ella studied predominantly with Simon Lepper, alongside Kathron Sturrock and Roger Vignoles. Prior to that, she studied as an undergraduate at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, to which she returns as a visiting coach this autumn.

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