TOGETHERNESS

Acclaimed Galway Soprano Helen Hancock returns to Ennis to celebrate the launch of her album TOGETHERNESS with her pianist Paul Cibis

With a lead role in the opera Lady Gregory in America, numerous sold out performances and her first nationwide tour with her German pianist Paul Cibis under her belt, 2025 has been a wonderful year for Helen. Renowned for her expressive artistry and for the warm atmosphere and rapport she generates with the audience, she is delighted to welcome Paul back to Ireland for her first performance of 2026. This enchanting programme on the theme of love in the atmospheric setting of St. Columba's Church promises to be an unforgettable evening that will uplift your soul.

This rich programme explores many facets of love: from the ecstasy of early love to engagement and marriage, the birth of children, the pain of loss and the experience of love that continues beyond the grave. The programme includes:

✨ Frauenliebe und -leben (a woman's love and life). This very famous and moving song cycle will feature a mix of settings by Robert Schumann and Carl Loewe as featured on the album

✨ Stunning folksongs from Greece (Ravel) will bring exotic places to mind and lift the winter blues

✨ Irish songs by Ina Boyle, Thomas Moore and Criostóir Ó Loingsigh

✨Audience favourites from Porgy and Bess and West Side Story

🎶 Concert Details

🎫 Tickets €20 (plus booking fee) and €8 (plus booking fee) for children u18 with accompanying adult

*this programme is primarily for adults but could be of interest to young pianists, with a suggested minimum age of 12

🎵 Concert: 7.30pm sharp

🚪 Doors open at 7pm

🪑 Free seating
⏳ Duration: 1 hr 50 minutes (including interval)

Free on site parking available at the church

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This TOGETHERNESS 2026 tour continues on to Galway's Hardiman Hotel (February 1st) and The Goethe-Institut in Dublin (February 5th).

Background on Helen and Paul's collaboration

The programme of music on the album TOGETHERNESS was originally entitled Zweisamkeit (Two Togetherness) and was performed by the duo in Germany as part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, a season of Irish arts events curated by Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland, Germany. The album, recorded in Berlin, launched on Parma Recordings Navona Records in September 2025. The album can be streamed or purchased as a download and all links are here. Helen and Paul toured another recital programme Under the Light of (that same) Moon in March 2025 to Galway city, Kylemore Abbey and St Ann's, Dawson Street, Dublin and Helen is delighted to welcome him back to introduce him to more Irish audiences!

Helen Hancock

Irish soprano Helen Hancock has performed in recital, baroque and chamber music concerts in venues and festivals all over Ireland and internationally. Helen has premiered and made first recordings of new music works by Irish composers, including Criostóir Ó Loingsigh, Anne Marie O’Farrell and Christopher Moriarty.

Helen performed the role of Molly in Lady Gregory in America, an opera by Alberto Caruso/Colm Toibín at the annual Gregory - Yeats Autumn Gathering in Gort, Co. Galway in September 2025 to great acclaim. This was produced and directed by Lelia Doolan in association with The Abbey Theatre with musical direction by composer Alberto Caruso.

Helen recently formed The Triskel Ensemble with Galway based musicians José Scolaro, violin, Thomas Murphy, violin, Seán Hancock, viola and Eszter Cetinceviz, cello. Their informal salon style concerts combine light hearted, popular classics with opera arias, sometimes even with audience partipication. Their 2025 Christmas concerts in Galway city and county are proving to be very popular and they will perform in Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin in March 2026.

Helen performed at the Embassy of Ireland, Germany for the James Joyce Centenary in 2022 and again with Paul Cibis in 2024. Other notable appearances include The Yeats Tower 60th Anniversary Gala concert and an opera salon evening at Claregalway Castle in 2025 (read review here), Galway Culture Night 2025 and 2024, The Galway Early Music Festival (2020, 2021 and 2023), Castleknock Music Festival, Clifden Arts Festival, Farmleigh House, Dublin and The Mick Lally Theatre, Galway, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin.

Helen has previously performed at St Columba's with pianists Francis Kelleher and Mark Keane. She sang at Ennis Cathedral in December 2024 with the Coole Music Youth Orchestra and is delighted to return to Ennis for this very special occasion.

Paul Cibis

Starting his career in Germany and the UK, pianist Paul Cibis has performed on five continents, establishing an international presence. Paul is the co-creater of the PIANO BATTLE concert brand with its long-lasting success of over 400 performances worldwide. He has played solo & duo recitals across Europe and Asia, and has been featured on CD recordings in Germany, Ireland, Taiwan and New Zealand. Being equally passionate about education, Paul also gives workshops and masterclasses, mentoring selected talents internationally. He is also a founding member and current chairman of the international Peter Feuchtwanger Society e.V., a non-profit organisation dedicated to education & research on piano technique and pianists' health, and the host of a yearly piano symposium in Germany.Paul has appeared in TV and radio broadcasts around the world, including the BBC, WDR, 3Sat, ORB, HR, RTHK and CCTV.

PIANO BATTLE was born out of the interest to present classical music in a more unique and innovative way. Together with fellow pianist Andreas Kern, he created and developed this project to intermational acclaim, with their shows being performed at major venues and festivals in Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada, the US and Australia, including the Beethovenfest Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Rheingau Musik Festival, the Prinzregententheater Munich, Berlin Philharmonie, Melbourne Recital Hall, Seoul Arts Center and the National Concert Hall Taipei.As a passionate Lieder & Art Song enthusiast, Paul Cibis has performed together with various singers around the globe, among them British baritone Roderick Williams, German soprano Barbara Senator, and in over 100 recitals with the literary chanson singer Eva Meier.

His CD recordings include an album of French mélodies and piano works by Berlioz, Fauré and Debussy, with German mezzo-soprano Barbara Senator, and a solo album featuring the Taiwanese composer Kai-nan Huang. 2025 saw the release "Zweisamkeit" / "Togetherness", an album with Irish soprano Helen Hancock, released by Navona Records. Paul Cibis regularily conducts solo piano and Lieder workshops at universities and academies in the US, Hong Kong (HKAPA), Taiwan, China, South Korea and Singapore (NAFA). For over a decade he was a resident pianist and coach at the Oxford Cello School summer festival and is the co-director of the annual Philomel Music Academy summer course. Paul is also a founding member and current chairman of the international Peter Feuchtwanger Society.Paul was involved in various film projects. He penned the music scores for several short films, and was the initiator as well as music supervisor of the international award-winning documentary PIANOMANIA. Paul Cibis studied piano with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling (HMTM Hanover), Peter Feuchtwanger (London), Eugene Asti and Graham Johnson (GSMD). Furthermore he read musicology and philosophy in Berlin and at the Royal Holloway, University of London. From 2005 to 2009, Paul taught at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.