PIANIST Rowel Elesio Friers, from Holywood in Co. Down, has been thrilling audiences since the age of five.
Recognised as being a piano prodigy, at the age of 14 he made his debut in New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Today, Friers - who is the grandson of the late famous cartoonist, illustrator, painter and lithographer of the same name - is one of Ireland’s most talented up-and-coming pianists.
In 2023 he won the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year competition, which came with a €8k prize pot, plus a range of opportunities to perform solos in Ireland and internationally.
Pianist Rowel Elesio Friers won the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2023 title
What are you up to?
Having won the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2023 (The next one will be taking place on October 10 and 12 this year), I shall be performing in Monkstown and Warsaw.
In addition to this, following my concerto performance with the National Symphony Orchestra in July, I have been invited by Liz Nolan to perform in Castleconnell for RTÉ’s Autumn Concert Series, before returning to the Royal Irish Academy of Music soon for the final year of my Bachelor of Music degree.
Which piece of music always sends a shiver down your spine?
Saint-Saens', Liszt's and Horowitz's Danse Macabre - arranged and made more difficult with each person, this Halloween dance with death is sure to make anybody's spine tingle.
One needs such immense mental and physical energy to be able to properly convey the full magnitude of this mighty and exquisitely extravagant work.
Which musician has most influenced you?
Horowitz; I've always loved his interpretations of music, the way he played and how he managed to keep playing right into his old age.
How did you get started in music?
When I was 18 months old and we had just moved downstairs, to where my grandmother used to run her nursery school, I found a little electric keyboard built into a book with nursery rhymes in it.
My parents then found me playing it behind the door to my bedroom, and from then on sought out piano teachers, music schools, anywhere that would teach me.
My parents purchased me a keyboard shortly after so I could continue my passion until we found a suitable teacher. When I was FIVE years old, my grandmother eventually found, through the church, my first piano teacher, Mrs Christine Isdell.
She informed my parents that I would never be able to learn properly until I had a real piano of my own, and kindly sold her beautiful Kemble upright piano to us.
You’re from Holywood, Co. Down? Where else have you lived?
Nowhere else so far, Holywood has been my home since I was born. Unfortunately, we'll be moving out of our home in Holywood soon and looking elsewhere. However, I have been studying in Dublin since 2016 and RIAM, 36 Westland Row feels like my second home.
Your grandfather, the cartoonist said that he wasn’t on any side in Northern Ireland: “The only side I’m on is sanity.” Is that something that you would echo, or — and without putting words in your mouth — are you on the side of art?
My aim in life is to give my audiences, through music, the most magnificent experience of the emotions through music. Music is universal; there's something for someone somewhere. Everywhere.
Have you a favourite all-time composer?
Franz Liszt. I absolutely adore his compositions and arrangements; he always manages to put such bravado and excitement into every single piece alongside the most beautiful melodies and harmonies that make your ears wag with joy. Liszt was also considered a pop star back in his day, with the ladies paid to faint in the front row to make it all the more exciting.
What other instruments do you play aside from the piano?
I can play an assortment of other instruments, but I don't, as I prefer the piano; which is an entire orchestra in its own right. I used to play violin, tin whistle, recorder and guitar at school and I was a pipe organ scholar.
Do you compose music yourself?
Yes, I do compose music. At some stage I hope to put a lot more time towards exploring the creation of new and exciting pieces of music.
What’s on your smartphone playlist at the minute?
All sorts of music, from videogame soundtracks and movie scores to classics and jazz. I love all music, there's something in every genre for everyone, you just have to find it.
What is your favourite place in Ireland?
There are lots of beautiful places in Ireland, however, I really liked Cork from the times I've been there, for performances and masterclasses.
Have you a book that has been a major influence on you?
Lang Lang's book, Journey of a Thousand Miles, which tells the story of him and his family and how he became the legend he is today.
Which living person do you most admire?
Frank King, my second piano teacher. He always had a story for every piece of music, and inspired me to think more of the stories in music rather than just the notes on the page and the fingers on the keys.
Which person from the past do you most admire?
Robin Williams, a wonderful, kind and very funny man with a heart of gold. It was very sad to see him go.
Which trait in others do you most admire?
Reliability - I like to be able to put my trust in someone and know that they will deliver whatever it is they may need to deliver.
Opera or pantomime?
If I had to choose, I would go for Opera. Operas have beautiful stories and all kinds of amazing music, overtures and arias and recitatives, much of it transcribed for piano in beautiful works encompassing the entire opera within a single piece - the substance of all that emotion condensed into a single bar of chocolate.
Mozart or Martin Hayes?
Both. I always enjoyed traditional music when I was at school accompanying the traditional groups, but my focus is still, as it was then, much more widespread.
Art galleries or football stadiums?
I enjoy perusing museums and art galleries, soaking up the atmosphere from past, present and future as inspiration for my music and it's very good for striking up conversations. Whether it be by voice or with my music.
What would be your motto?
"For you? I'll do it for only a million pounds."
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given?
Buy Crypto.
In terms of inanimate objects, what is your most precious possession?
I would say my piano, but I can't be sure it's so inanimate as we think. Many adjudicators have described the piano being an extension of my body, so I can't be too sure.
What’s best thing about where you live?
The tremendously huge reception rooms where I could hold great parties and musical evenings and the beautiful Georgian cornicing.
. . . . and the worst?
That we are selling the house that I have grown to love and have known all my life.
What’s the greatest lesson life has taught you?
You can't please everybody, so although you've got to find a pathway to not offend others, you've got to please yourself. You have to be comfortable with one's own choices.
What do you believe in?
I believe that there's nothing in this life that I cannot overcome.
What do you consider the greatest work of art?
The lengths and breadths of the emotional integrity of music.
Who/what is the greatest love of your life?
The ability to entertain, to bring emotion to people's lives and that they enjoy it.
