Leggiadro Quartet

Julieanne Forrest, Shane Quinn [violins]
Kevin O’Loughlin [viola]
Catherine Cotter [cello]

Julieanne studies at MUK Vienna under Pavel Vernikov. She won the Young Musician of the Year for Strings by NCH, 1st Prize at the Fr Frank Maher Classical Music Awards, multiple first prizes at Feis Ceoil and the John Pollard Bursary for Violin. Julieanne was Concertmaster of NYO and RIAMSO. She has had solo debuts with RTE Concert Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall with the New York Concerti Sinfonietta.

Shane studies at RIAM with Sarah Sew in the Young Scholar Programme and at Schola Cantorum, St Finian’s. He plays with NYO, is co-leader of DYO and leader of Julianstown Youth Orchestra. Shane is a prize-winner in multiple Feis Ceoils for violin, piano and organ.

Kevin O’Loughlin is a violist currently studying in UCD, where he is on an Ad Astra Performing Arts Scholarship. He studies viola with Simon Aspell at the RIAM. He has won many awards and prizes at the Feis Ceoil, RIAM, Newry and Newpark festivals, such as the Arthur Catterall Cup at the Feis Ceoil Dublin and the John Pollard Bursary at the RIAM. He has performed in orchestras and chamber groups both at home and abroad, including leading the viola sections of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra in Switzerland and participating in the “MusicWorks” chamber music course in England. This year, he is giving a recital as “Rising Star” at the Killaloe Music Festival.

Catherine Cotter studies cello in the Royal Irish Academy of Music with Christopher Marwood, where she began her studies with Aisling Drury-Byrne in 2009. She has performed many times in the ESB Feis Ceoil, where she is a multiple first-prize winner. She is the former principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. Catherine was awarded the Dublin Philharmonic Junior Solo Competition in the RIAM, as well as being awarded the Stephen Vernon Bursary for Outstanding Cellist or Double Bassist, in December 2020. She  was named Music for Galway’s inaugural  “Cellissimo” Ambassador in September 2021, and currently performs on the “Galway Cello”, an instrument which was commissioned for the festival.