I was born in Dublin, Ireland, the youngest of four children, and my mother was the type who sent us to everything to see if we were good at anything. Both my elder sisters played piano well, and they started me off and made it fun, and I had lovely teachers all through my life.
I was invited to join the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School three years ago. For the first two years, I could only come for the second session, but last summer Alan Fletcher, Joan Gordon and Asadour Santourian put serious pressure (i.e. two delicious lunches) on me to come for the whole summer. So here I am. I even canceled a three-week trip to Australia, where I was supposed to go next week.
The highlight of my first season here was playing chamber music with so many of the other faculty members. It was a wonderful way to get to know them. Also, I love playing chamber music, but get little opportunity to do so during the rest of the year.
Besides the festival, the great attraction of coming to Aspen is being able to spend time with my wonderful friends Lisa and David Schiff, who first invited me to Aspen about 12 years ago. Through them I have met the most eclectic bunch of people from all over the States. This is really a party town.
I am most proud of having recorded all the Beethoven Piano Sonatas for Telarc (the box set came out about 12 years ago), and in the last two years I have finished recording all the Beethoven Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra. That box set is due out next year.
John O’Conor has toured the world playing recitals and concerts, and has been decorated with “L’ordre des arts et des lettres” by the French government and the “Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst” by the Austrian government.
