The Sheffield born pianist and composer Ronan Magill, was a founder member of the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied with Marcel Gazelle. After studying with Fanny Waterman, he met Benjamin Britten who became his musical mentor while at school at Ampleforth and later as a student at the Royal College of Music. Britten said of him, "I was amazed at his general musicality and intelligence and his is a remarkable gift".

At the Royal College of Music Ronan Magill studied with David Parkhouse and John Barstow for piano and Philip Cannon for composition. He was awarded all the major prizes for piano and composition, graduating with the Hopkinson Gold Medal and the Cobbett prize for composition. After his acclaimed Wigmore Hall and South Bank debuts in 1974, he moved to Paris to study with Yvonne Lefebure at the Conservatoire Europeen where he won the Premier Prix for piano and appeared many times in recital and on French radio and television. He continued his studies with eminent teachers and performers such as Michelangeli, Pierre Sancan and Nikita Magaloff in Switzerland.

Ronan Magill has won two International Competitions: in 1985 the 1^st Milosz Magin International Piano Competition for Polish Music which led to a triumphant tour of Poland, and in 1994 the 3^rd British Contemporary Piano Competition leading to appearances throughout the country, including the 1995 Huddersfield International Contemporary Music Festival where he performed with the English Northern Philharmonia conducted by Paul Daniel.

Recent engagements have included assisting Rostropovitch in the preparation for his Jubilee concert in 1990, recitals at the South Bank, concertos with the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras and a recitals at the Lichfield and Abbotsbury Festivals and the AL Bustan Festival in Beirut. In 1999 he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto K595 with the Belmont Ensemble at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. He is performing two recitals in Germany in the summer of 1999 and appearing in recital in England and Scotland.

As a composer Ronan Magill has performed many of his compositions in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, South Bank and the Salle Gaveau in Paris where in 1988 he performed the premiere of his work "Titanic 10^th-15^th April 1912". This work is now available on the Athene-Minerva label and Musical Opinion said: "It is an extraordinary piece, one which I found gripping and on occasion quite moving. It is certainly 'atmospheric' in the best sense, and I have returned often to this original and remarkable composition. The recording is excellent. This unusually rewarding CD is strongly recommended". Robert Matthew Walker

The Abbotsbury Music Festival, having heard him perform 'Titanic', commissioned him to write a work for actors and singers and small orchestra to be called 'The Legend of St Catherine of Alexandria' taken from the play 'Tyrannick Love' by John Dryden. This has been done with the help of Millennium funding, the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and a grant from South West Arts. The piece will be premiered in Abbotsbury in May 2000 and performed in several other venues around the Country.