Ruth McGinley: Glass and Beyond

Derry-born pianist Ruth McGinley returns home with a remarkable new repertoire entitled Glass and Beyond.

Ruth McGinley is one of Ireland’s most distinctive and celebrated pianists. She came to prominence as a classical concert pianist when she was very young, winning the piano final of the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year at the age of 16. She went on to perform with the BBC Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra.

However, at a certain point, she fell out of love with the piano and with music. For many years, she only performed as an accompanist for others but avoided solo performances. It wasn’t until 2013, and Derry’s tenure of the UK City of Culture, that Ruth began to experience a musical reawakening. In the summer of that year, she performed the minimalist piano piece “Opening for Glassworks” by American composer Philip Glass in Derry’s Glassworks for a special BBC broadcast, Electric Mainline Live, alongside And So I Watch You From Afar, Ryan Vail, September Girls and more.

This introduction to the music of Philip Glass proved to be significant. Ruth began to explore his music in much greater detail. It was radically different to the music she had trained in and it opened up a sea of other composers whose approach resonated with her. Since then, she has toured the complete Glassworks album with the Crash Ensemble and has performed in-depth repertoires on artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto. On Thursday, 12th of February, Ruth returns home to Derry to perform in the New Gate Arts & Culture Centre. Her repertoire, which she has entitled Glass and Beyond, will feature Philip Glass, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, and jazz composers Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans. These artists have had a profound impact on music outside the world of classical music and their fingerprints can be found on the work of Aphex Twin, Bjork, Radiohead, PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, to name but a few. Ruth joins Stephen to discuss the concert.