Caoimhe de Paor (recorders)

Caoimhe de Paor, a past fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, recently completed her Masters in Performance (distinction) studying recorder with Ian Wilson. As well as receiving tuition from Pamela Thorby and Robert Ehrlich, she has participated in masterclasses with Dan Laurin, Eric Bosgraaf, Karel Van Steenhoven.

Caoimhe began her musical studies in Limerick’s Municipal School of Music, Ireland, where she was taught by Maria O’Brien. She continued her studies on recorder and clarinet under Elizabeth Jones in the Cork School of Music. She played clarinet with CSM Symphony Orchestra and Wind Band, and the Boherbuoy Brass and Reed Band in Limerick. Having graduated with a First Class Honours BMus, and achieving top of her class, Caoimhe was named student of the year by the Cork School of Music and also received an award from the Governing body of Cork Institute of Technology.

Competition successes include numerous Irish competitions, as well being a semi-finalist in the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2011 and 2012 in Dublin, and a finalist in the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarships 2012. More recently, Caoimhe was one of four finalists in the Needle Makers Woodwind competition 2013 in GSMD, and was awarded first prize in the Solo Recorder Conservatoire competition of the North London Festival of Music.

Caoimhe has performed as a chamber musician (with Bagatino, Palisander and Woodwork) and soloist in prominent events and venues, including London Handel Festival, Christ Church Spitalfields, Curtis Auditorium Cork School of Music, St. Mary’s Cathedral, The Place Theatre, The Karamel Club, The Courtauld Gallery; Somerset House, Charlie Wrights Music Lounge, Wigmore Hall (chamber tots series), Royal Greenwich International Early Music Festival, East Cork Early Music Festival, Southwark Cathedral, Tel-Aviv Early Music Seminar (Israel), and the World Forum on Music Opening Ceremony 2013 (Brisbane).

Caoimhe teaches with Waltham Forest Music Service in London as a peripatetic woodwind and theory teacher. She also teaches privately. Caoimhe has a keen interest in creative collaboration with other art forms and most recently she has worked with storyteller, Alys Torrance on her show My Dad Sucked Lemons with Béla Bartók.