“[one] of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene.”

— The New York Times

For Your GRAMMY® Consideration:

COCTEAU

- Best Classical Instrumental Solo

- Best Contemporary Classical Composition

- Best Album Notes

Isabelle O’Connell, piano

Music by Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Georges Auric, Germaine Tailleferre, Louis Durey, Rhona Clarke

Label: Divine Art Records

Producer: Isabelle O’Connell

Engineering and Mastering: Ben Rawlins

Click to view ALBUM LINER NOTES

Critical Acclaim for the album:

“It doesn't surprise that the album's a delight. O'Connell's playing is never less than terrific, and the programme she assembled engages. The pianist's decision to augment Clarke's new composition with others indirectly associated with it was a smart and artistically rewarding decision. The dynamic and stylistic range of the material also allowed her to show how effectively she operates within different contexts.” – Textura

“Exquisite”…“an intriguing programme of some familiar and some unfamiliar pieces”…. “Cocteau is a carefully put-together programme, with an excellent booklet and striking cover image, reflecting a successful composer-performer collaboration.” - The Arts Desk

“Isabelle O'Connell eschews the 'curio' character of these pieces in favor of their inherent musical inventiveness and imagination, and in doing so sheds a different light on these misfits of the classical music world.” — Classical Music Sentinel

“O’Connell has the right touch for the music of earlier composers as well as that of Rhona Clarke. She plays with great verve, an excellent sense of rhythm, but also with a sense of color, accent, and poetry. The interpretations are characterized by the necessary subtlety and humor that breathes life into many of these compositions. An all-around delightful album!” – Pizzicato

“Cocteau is an imaginatively planned album by Isabelle O’Connell of music connected with or inspired by Jean Cocteau… it’s great to have a fine performance of it here. All of this is worth hearing, and there’s an important non-French addition: the Irish composer Rhona Clarke’s Cocteau… atmospheric and always engaging, and her music is given splendid advocacy by O’Connell, who commissioned the set. Captured in warm sound (recorded at St Peter’s Church, Drogheda), this is a thoroughly worthwhile issue. - International Piano – Autumn 2026

“an imaginative program of music by composers associated with Cocteau…. O’Connell an accomplished, sensitive pianist whose performances on this CD leave nothing to be desired. She is to be congratulated for putting together a unique, thought-provoking program (she is also listed as the producer). If this era of music interests you—as well it should, considering the fascinating musical personalities that emerged from it—then waste no time in procuring this disc. Warmly recommended.” - Fanfare

ABOUT

Since her Carnegie Hall debut recital in 2002, Dublin-born pianist Isabelle O'Connell has been described by the New York Times as one of “the finest, busiest pianists active in New York's contemporary-classical scene” and her international career as soloist and chamber musician has taken her around the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, to venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Chicago Cultural Center, Cleveland Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Art, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Die Stadthalle Wuppertal, St David’s Hall, Cardiff and the National Concert Hall, Ireland.

Isabelle has performed as concerto soloist with the RTE Concert Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra, and in 2025 gave the New York premiere of Viet Cuong’s concerto Stargazer with the QUO and conductor David Bloom. A tremendous advocate for living composers, Isabelle has worked with many of today’s leading composers including John Adams, John Luther Adams, Linda Buckley, Donnacha Dennehy, Michael Gordon, Georg Friedrich Haas, Meredith Monk, Missy Mazzoli, Morton Subotnick, Joan Tower, Kevin Volans and Julia Wolfe. She has recorded on the Divine Art, Diatribe, Innova, Métier, NMC and Lyric labels, and has appeared on television and radio on both sides of the Atlantic, with performances and interviews broadcast on WNYC, WQXR, WFMT Chicago, CNN, BBC3, RTE, TV3 and Lyric FM radio.

As curator, Isabelle has produced concerts from Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, to the National Concert Hall and National Gallery in Ireland. Isabelle has been Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), and at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris.

Isabelle is pianist with Evlana ensemble and co-founder of Grand Band, a piano sextet described by the New York Times as: "six of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York's contemporary-classical scene”. She has also performed with Crash ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Da Capo Chamber Players, Klangforum Wien, the ConTempo and New Zealand String Quartets.

A Fulbright scholar, Isabelle holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She is currently on the piano faculty as Artist-in-Residence at Bard College, New York, and regularly enjoys giving masterclasses and workshops around the world. READ FULL BIO HERE