In 1980 he studied in the University of Western Ontario, Canada with the British pianist Peter Katin.
He performed the complete sonatas for piano and violin by Beethoven with Alan Smale,[2] the leader of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.
Byrne most important work has been in the promotion and performing of Irish contemporary piano music.
Irish works performed: First performances marked (1st) Elain Agnew:[3] Gerald Barry:[3] Brian Beckett:[3] Seóirse Bodley:[3] Brian Boydell:[3] John Buckley:[3] Rhona Clarke:[8][3] Jerome de Bromhead:[3] Raymond Deane:[3] Benjamin Dwyer:[3] Hormoz Farhat[3] (Persian composer living in Ireland): John Gibson[3] Fergus Johnston:[3] John Kinsella:[3] Eibhlis Farrell:[3] Philip Flood:[3] Bernard Geary:[3] Marion Ingoldsby:[3] Philip Martin:[3] Colman Pearce:[3] Eric Sweeney:[3] James Wilson:[3] Byrne is an Associate of the Royal College of Music, London and in 1993 was honoured in Japan with the Ishibashi Zogoro Memorial Scholarship for his work in Contemporary Irish Music.
Byrne has been a Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music[22] since 1991.