TARA QUARTET
Estella Fischer, violin
Eva Paturyan, violin
Katie Ní Mhaoláin, viola
Aobhín Keogh Daly, cello
Formed in September 2025 in Dublin, the Tara Quartet is based at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Since its formation, the ensemble has been dedicated to developing a strong and unified artistic identity, with a particular focus on the core string quartet repertoire.
The quartet has received valuable artistic guidance from leading chamber musicians, including a masterclass with Corina Belcea of the Belcea Quartet. Further inspiration has come through work with Ruth Gibson and Donald Grant, as well as coachings with David Kenny and Sarah Sew, all of which have contributed significantly to the ensemble’s musical depth and interpretative clarity. The quartet will play at the Killaloe Music Festival and the West Cork Chamber Music Festival this summer.
Maria-Estella Fischer, violin
Maria-Estella Fischer completed her Bachelor’s degree in 2023 at the University of Music, Drama and Media in Hannover, where she studied with Prof. Meike Bertram and Hans-Christian Euler. She continued her studies at the MTU Cork School of Music, graduating in 2025 with a Master’s degree in Music Performance with first class honours, under the guidance of Patrick Rafter. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, studying with Mia Cooper. Her musical education was further shaped through masterclasses with musicians including Maestro Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Prof. Michael Foyle (Royal Academy of Music London), and Oliver Kipp (NDR-Radiophilharmonie).
Maria-Estella has performed with several orchestras including the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Irish National Opera, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Her achievements include multiple scholarships and awards, including several prizes at the German Music Competition “Jugend Musiziert” in both solo and chamber music categories.
In 2023, she received the Faculty of Business and Humanities Postgraduate Scholarship from MTU. In 2025, she was awarded an Arts Office Bursary by MTU in recognition of her artistic work and future development. Her artistic interests focus on repertoire that encourages dialogue between performers, audiences, and historical contexts.
Eva Paturyan, violin
Eva has recently completed her Bachelor of Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin with first class honours, studying with Prof. Sebastian Liebig. She is currently undertaking the Professional Mentorship programme at RIAM under Prof. Sarah Sew.
From a young age she has enjoyed playing in various ensembles, orchestras and chamber music groups and with these groups has performed as part of ChamberFest Dublin as well as concerts abroad including Sweden and Belgium.
As a soloist Eva has taken part in masterclasses and lessons with many renowned violinists such as Ilya Gringolts and Hyeyoon Park. In June 2025 she received Very Highly Commended in the Arthur Catterall Cup in the Feis Ceoil playing the Khachaturian Violin Concerto which she spent the last year of her degree researching. She hopes to continue her research into the blending and fusion of classical and folk music and is always trying to find a way to incorporate what she has learnt so far into her playing and into her work.
Katie Ní Mhaoláin, viola
Katie Ní Mhaoláin is an Irish violist currently studying on the MMus at the Royal Irish Academy of Music under the guidance of David Kenny and Andreea Banciu. She graduated from her BMusPerf at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2025 with a first class honours.
Katie was a 2025 young artist at Chamber Music on Valentia. She had played at West Cork Chamber Music Festival on two occasions. Katie has played in the NSO, RTÉ CO, Ulster Orchestra and NI Opera Orchestra. She has played in masterclasses for Jennifer Stumm, Lars Anders Tomter, Maxim Rysanov, Tatjana Masurenko, William Coleman, Garth Knox, Neasa Ní Bhraoin and Ruth Gibson and in chamber music masterclasses for members of the Belcea, Signum, Marmen and Navarra Quartets. One of the highlights of her chamber music career to date was playing Enescu Octet alongside Mihaela Martin and Frans Helmerson in the NCH.
Aoibhín Keogh Daly, cello
Aoibhín Keogh Daly is an Irish cellist from Limerick who is currently studying with Ailbhe Mc Donagh at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She graduated in May 2025 from her Bachelors degree at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague studying with Michel Strauss and Jan Ype Nota. Prior to that she was a pupil of Christopher Marwood at MTU Cork School of Music and had many competition successes around Ireland. These included winning the senior recital bursary at Feile Luimnigh and being a finalist in the NCH Young musicians competition in 2019. She has had masterclasses with Raphael Wallfisch, Zlatimir Fung, Johan van Iersal, Clément Peigné, Arto Noras and Peter Wispelwey. In 2020 Aoibhín was awarded the Trench ‘Musical Futures’ bursary and in 2021 she became the winner of the Trench Bursary, a competition for emerging instrumentalists and singers. She was invited back to play at the Birr Arts Festival in April 2023, giving solo and chamber music performances in Oxmantown Hall and Birr Castle.
She was one of two Irish people selected in 2019 for the inaugural RCO Young programme, a training orchestra for young European musicians run by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The programme culminated in performances in the Royal Concertgebouw Hall, Amsterdam and Flagey Hall Brussels under Pablo Herras Cassado with soloist Julian Rachlin.
Aoibhín is an avid chamber musician and has been a member of the Aradia quartet where they took part in the West Cork Chamber Music Festival from 2022-2024. She was also a member of the Dalia quartet from 2021-2023, made up of members from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Most recently in April, Aoibhín was the recipient of the new Music Network Loan Scheme where she received the O’Neil Cello by Conor Russel and a Robert Pierce bow.
Aoibhín is also a composer and recently had one of her compositions, ‘Cois Farraige’ performed and recorded by the Ceol na Mara Youth Orchestra.