Festival 13 - 16 March 2025
Finghin Collins
Gerard McChrystal
Hellas Ensemble
Cathal Breslin
Kristīne Balanas
Creviston Duo
Linda Buckley
Sabrina Hu
Co-Artistic Directors: Cathal Breslin & Sabrina Hu
© Kristīne Balanas
Welcome
We are delighted to welcome you to the 17th Walled City Music Festival in 2025, where we are celebrating new adventures, collaborations and local connections in a series of concerts and events based at Ulster University, Magee.
Our wonderful guest artists this year include leading Irish pianist Finghin Collins, the exciting young Latvian violinist Kristīne Balanas, Derry-born saxophonist Gerard McChrystal and the Creviston Duo from USA, along with the Derry based ensemble, Hellas, whose performances centre around the poetry of one of Derry’s most famous sons, Seamus Heaney
A new feature for 2025 will be Ireland’s first ever saxophone day, with music events celebrating the saxophone taking place across the city, including a massed sax play in Derry’s Foyleside shopping centre, and an evening concert celebrating the very best music for this versatile instrument. We are also very excited to welcome to Derry Linda Buckley as our Composer in Residence.
One of Ireland’s leading creators, Linda will mentor a group of young composers as they develop new works for our resident saxophonists.
We would not have been able to bring together such an exciting festival programme without the kind financial support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Ulster University and KPMG
A special thanks to our Executive Director, Matthew Greenall, General Manager, Fiona Crosbie, Digital Marketing Officer, Rob Egan, our wonderful Board and our volunteers for making the 17th Festival one that is not to be missed!
We are dedicated to filling the Derry air with the very best of the world’s music, and we are delighted to be able to continue to place our city firmly on the international cultural map.
Thank you all for your support!
Cathal Breslin & Sabrina Hu WCMF Co-Artistic Directors
Programme of Events
Thursday 13 March
19:30 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Beyond the Stars: A Musical Odyssey with Two Pianos
Finghin Collins/Cathal Breslin
Tickets £15/£10
Friday 14 March
19:30 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Kaleidosax: From the Americas to Europe
Gerard McChrystal/Creviston Duo/ Sabrina Hu
Tickets £15/£10
Saturday 15 March
13:00 | Foyleside Shopping Centre
Staxophones Come and Play Free entry
19:30 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Strings of Spring and Fire: Passion, Elegance and Folk Rhapsodies
Kristīne Balanas/Cathal Breslin
Tickets £15/£10
Sunday 16 March
14:00 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Scan QR code for tickets
Harmonies of Heaney: Music and Poetry in Conversation
Hellas Ensemble
Tickets £12/£8
Thu 13 March 19:30 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Beyond the Stars: A Musical Odyssey with Two Pianos
Finghin Collins piano
Cathal Breslin piano / co-artistic director
Programme
Get ready for lift-off as the 2025 Walled City Music Festival launches in style. Enjoy an evening with two of Ireland’s most extraordinary pianists: the internationally acclaimed Finghin Collins and WCMF Co-Artistic Director, Cathal Breslin.
This dazzling two-piano programme will transport you through a universe of musical masterpieces by the likes of Mozart, Rachmaninov, Milhaud, AND a celestial journey with movements from Gustav Holst’s The Planets – a masterpiece that’s sure to leave you starstruck.
Mozart: Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K448
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Andante
III. Molto allegro
Milhaud: Scaramouche, Op.165b
I. Vif
II. Modéré
III. Brazileira
Rachmaninov: Suite No.2 Op.17
I. Introduction, Alla marcia
II. Valse, Presto
III. Romance, Andantino
IV. Tarantelle, Presto
Holst: The Planets, Op.32
I. Mars
VII. Neptune
IV. Jupiter
Pictured L-R: Finghin Collins, Cathal Breslin
Fri 14 March 19:30 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Kaleidosax:
Sabrina Hu flute / co-artistic director
Gerard McChrystal saxophone
Creviston Duo saxophone & piano
From the Americas to Europe Programme
Prepare to be mesmerised as two of the world’s finest saxophonists – Derry’s own Gerard McChrystal and the acclaimed Christopher Creviston from the USA – take to the stage for an unforgettable journey of sound. Joining them will be the exceptional Hannah Creviston on piano and WCMF Co-Artistic Director Sabrina Hu on flute.
This concert guarantees a musical journey across the continents, with an incredibly vibrant programme featuring works by Jean-Baptiste Singelée, Charles Koechlin, Carter Pann, and Andy Scott, PLUS Irish gems from Linda Buckley and Michael McGlynn.
Jean-Baptiste Singelée (18121975): Duo Concertant, Op. 55
Charles Koechlin (1867-1950): Epitaph for Jean Harlow
Carter Pann (b. 1972): Concerto (2019) I. The Old Line
II.Aria: Injurious Graffito
III. Jump!
IV. Hymn: A Love Supreme
Andre Waignein (1942-2015): Rhapsody first movement
Andy Scott (b. 1966): Paquito
Linda Buckley (b. 1979): Sólás I. Marginalia (Foraois Gan Faobhar)/Marginalia (Impossible Forest)
II. Sólás / Solace
III. Faoi Shamhain / In November
Tania León (b. 1943): Alma (2007)
Michael McGlynn (b. 1964): Visions, mvnt. 3 Rithim
Linda Buckley (b. 1979): Brightening for Two Saxophones and Electronics
Ennio Morricone (1928 – 2020): Cinema Paradiso
Pictured: Gerard McChrystal
Sat 15 March 19:30 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Strings of Spring and Fire: Passion, Elegance and Folk Rhapsodies
Kristīne Balanas violin
Cathal Breslin piano / co-artistic director
“...savage, bold, dramatic playing” - The Strad
Join us as internationally renowned violinist Kristīne Balanas takes to the stage alongside WCMF Co-Artistic Director Cathal Breslin on piano. Kristīne’s remarkable journey from street musician and rock singer in Latvia to one of the world’s most captivating performers is as unique as her artistry.
Performing on her exquisite Antonio Gragnani 1778
violin, kindly loaned by The Little Butterfly Foundation, Kristīne is sure to enchant audiences with a programme of timeless masterpieces by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Ravel.
This unmissable concert promises a night of unforgettable musical storytelling from a truly world-class violinist.
Programme
J.S. Bach: Partita for solo violin No.3 in E major
I. Preludio
II. Loure
III. Gavotte en Rondeau
IV. Menuets (I and II)
V. Bourrée
VI. Gigue
Beethoven: Sonata No.5 in F major, Op.24 “Spring”
I. Allegro
II. Adagio molto espressivo
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto
IV. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
Brahms: Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Un poco presto e con sentiment
IV. Presto agitato
Ravel: Tzigane
Pictured: Kristīne Balanas
Sun 16 March 14:00 | Great Hall, Ulster University
Harmonies of Heaney: Music and Poetry in Conversation
Hellas Ensemble
Ruairi Conaghan narrator
Programme
Junior Traditional Players
Excerpt from Colum Cille’s Greeting to Ireland
Taras Na Farraige Back to Bellaghy
The Waves of Paxos Mixing Paths Waltz with Dad
Sonnets from Hellas Into Arcadia Conkers
Pylos
The Augean Stables Castalian Spring Desfina
Experience the beauty of music and poetry intertwined in this captivating lunchtime performance inspired by Seamus Heaney’s Sonnets from Hellas.
The Hellas Ensemble, founded by Greek and Irish bouzouki players and composers Nikos Petsakos and Martin Coyle, celebrate
Heaney’s love of Greece and its profound influence on his work.
The performance will bring to life six companion pieces composed in response to Heaney’s vivid explorations of Greek and Irish landscapes and mythology in the Sonnets from Hellas
Each sonnet will be narrated by the award-winning Derryborn actor Ruairi Conaghan, leading the audience on a unique journey through words and music, and celebrating the poetic brilliance of one of Northern Ireland’s most beloved writers.
Hellas Ensemble
Nikos Petsakos (Greek Tri-chordo Bouzouki), Martin Coyle (Irish flat-back Bouzouki), Robert Peoples (Viola and Violin), Lucia McGinnis (Irish Harp), Marc Forbes (Double Bass), Paul Cutliffe (Uilleann Pipes, Clarinet, Whistle), Amanda Koser (Flute)
Outreach Events
Friday 14 March
11:00 - 16:00 | Various Venues
Saxophone Trail with Quay Quartet (Cork)
11:00 Culmore Manor Care Home
12:00 The Sandwich Co. Bishop St.
13:00 Richmond Centre
15:00 The Ebrington Hotel
16:00 Guildhall Square
Saturday 15 March
13:00 | Foyleside Shopping Centre
Staxophones Come and Play
An open call for saxophone players to join guest artists Gerard McChrystal and Christopher Creviston for a fun jam session in the middle of the city’s biggest shopping centre.
Saturday 15 March
14:00 | Foyle Arts Building, Ulster University Composers Workshop with Composer-in-Residence, Linda Buckley
Six composers will join one of Ireland’s leading composers to workshop brand-new music for saxophone and piano with premiere performances of their works by Gerard McChrystal and the Creviston Duo.
© Visit Derry
Biography Cathal Breslin
Co-Artistic Director | Piano
“...an incredibly accomplished performer”
- Tampa Oracle
Dr. Cathal Breslin has been praised worldwide as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation with critical acclaim such as “energized and energizing” (Belfast Telegraph) and “noble poetry and perfumed pianissimo” (The Independent, London).
Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, he has performed solo recitals in major concert halls throughout the world, such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Kumho Hall in Seoul, and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.
Recent solo concerto performances have included Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Mozart, Takemitsu, Poulenc and Liszt Concerti with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Ulster Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony, Jackson Symphony, Turin
Philharmonic, Memphis Symphony, RTE Concert Orchestra, and the Arizona Music Fest Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Dr. Breslin has performed extensively with flutist Sir James Galway, soprano Measha Brueggergosman, violinists Augustin Dumay, Anne Akiko Meyers, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, cellists Jan Vogler, Jeffrey Zeigler, Raphael Wallfisch, the Houston Symphony Winds, and the Brodsky and Coull Quartets. He is a regular member of Trio Festivale, a flute-cello-piano ensemble that tours and commissions new works internationally.
Dr. Breslin is currently an Associate Professor of Piano at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
Sabrina Hu
Co-Artistic Director | Flute
“...warm, sensitively balanced and flexible” - Irish Times
Dr. Sabrina Hu enjoys a versatile career as a performer, educator, and director. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City, the National Concert Hall in Ireland, and recitals throughout major halls in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Sabrina’s performances have been broadcast live on BBC, RTE and RTHK television and radio, and they have been described as “warm, sensitively balanced and flexible” with “emotional engagement…expressive depth” by the Irish Times. She has collaborated with artists such as the Brodsky Quartet, soprano Measha Brueggergosman, harpist Sylvain Blassel, percussionist Andy Akiho, pianist Cathal Breslin, and as a concerto soloist with conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the Ulster Orchestra.
Sabrina is also an avid chamber musician. She is a founding member of Trio Festivale and has toured internationally and commissioned many new works for flute, cello, and piano. She is a member of the Woodwind Quintet, Mill Avenue Chamber Players. Sabrina currently teaches at Phoenix College in Arizona.
Finghin Collins
Piano
Introducing one of Ireland’s most celebrated musicians
Finghin Collins was born in Dublin in 1977 and, following initial lessons with his sister Mary, studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O’Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. His international career was launched by winning first prize at the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland in 1999.
Over the past two decades
Finghin has developed a close relationship with Claves Records in Switzerland, recording two double CDs of Schumann’s piano music (which won numerous awards including Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice in 2006), followed by a recording of works for piano and orchestra by Charles V. Stanford with the RTÉ NSO / Kenneth Montgomery (Editor’s Choice, May 2011).
In November 2022 a new solo CD “The Bright Day is Done” was released, featuring a variety of works inspired by different times of the day.
Finghin makes a significant contribution to the musical landscape of his native Ireland, where he resides. Since 2013, he has been Artistic Director of Music for Galway, while he is also the founding Artistic Director, since 2006, of the New Ross Piano Festival in Wexford. In March 2023 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Dublin International Piano Competition. In 2023 and 2025 he chairs the international jury of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland, and in 2017, the National University of Ireland conferred on Finghin Collins an honorary Degree of Doctor of Music.
Gerard McChrystal
Saxophone
A musical ambassador for Derry~Londonderry
Gerard McChrystal’s UK debut was with The Philharmonia premiering Dave Heath’s ‘Out of the Cool’ in 1989 at St. John Smith’s Square. Gerard has performed in over 40 countries including China, USA, New Zealand, Korea, South Africa and Azerbaijan.
Collaborations include composer Philip Glass, The Soweto String Quartet, Rambert Dance Co., London Musici, The Smith Quartet, Classical guitarist Craig Ogden, vocal group Anuna, Saxophone quartets Saxtet and The Bros Quartet.
He has made 15 CDs with orchestras including BBC NOW, Ulster Orchestra and London Musici. In 2020 he released an album with organist Christian Wilson that was recorded in The Royal Chapel, Tower of London.
In 2021 Gerard performed with Bros Quartet at the Spoleto Festival, Italy and the Choir of Santa Cecilia, Rome. He leads an annual masterclass for LMFL (Language and Music for Life) in Florence, Italy. Along with solo work, Gerard plays saxophone with BBCNOW and has also worked with The Orchestra of La Scala, Milan and Daniel Barenboim.
Gerard is Professor of Saxophone at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London and also teaches at RWCMD, Cardiff. He is a Buffet & Vandoren Artist. His latest CD will be released in June 2025 on the Divine Art label with music by Edward Cowie, all dedicated to Gerard.
Gerard was an ambassador for Derry~Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013.
Christopher Creviston
Saxophone
“One of the world’s top saxophone artists.” - Audiophile Audition
Saxophonist Christopher Creviston has performed in Carnegie Hall, Paisley Park and the Apollo Theater. As soloist and with the Capitol Quartet, Creviston has been showcased internationally with outstanding ensembles, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Czechoslovakian National Symphony Orchestra, and others. As a recitalist and clinician, he tours globally with the Capitol Quartet, and with pianist Hannah Creviston.
Creviston is featured on premiere recordings of the Soprano Saxophone Concerto by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Carter Pann, and the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Band by Pulitzer Prize Winner William Bolcom.
Now at Arizona State University, Creviston has been faculty at the Crane School of Music, Greenwich House of Arts, the University of Windsor, and the University of Michigan, and he serves as faculty for the Great Plains Saxophone Workshop.
His students have won top prizes at some of the world’s most prestigious competitions, including The Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the American Prize, the MTNA National Competitions, the Coltman Chamber Music Competition, and many others. In addition to maintaining performing careers, many of Creviston’s former students hold positions in US military bands and at international universities. Creviston is formerly president of the North American Saxophone Alliance.
Hannah Creviston
Piano
“Engrossing...impressive and expressive...”- Fanfare
Magazine
Hannah Creviston is Clinical Associate Professor at Arizona State University where she is Keyboard Area Coordinator, Director of Piano Pedagogy and the ASU Community Music School, and Coordinator for Class Piano.
Frequent workshop topics include Music Learning Theory, teaching music to children with special needs, the importance of movement in teaching rhythm, and music by composers killed in the Holocaust. Her articles and compositions appear in Piano Pedagogy Forum, Clavier Companion, Music Play II, ECMMA’s Perspectives and others. Prior to joining the ASU faculty in 2012, Creviston was on the faculty at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam.
As a collaborative pianist, she has performed in festivals and competitions around
the world, and she performs regularly in a duo with her husband, saxophonist Christopher Creviston. Together, they have recorded Snell Sessions and Columbia Sessions, both on the Albany Records label; Sunday Afternoon and Breaking available through CD Baby; and Phoenix Rising on the Blue Griffin label.
Their recordings have been described as “engrossing” (Fanfare Magazine), “highly imaginative and expressive” (composer Denis Bédard), “a good blend of the standard and the new” (American Record Guide), and “sensitive, transparent, powerful music making that causes one to hold their breath often” (Donald Sinta). A new CD, reminiscences, which features music about the Holocaust will be available through Blue Griffin in Spring 2025.
Linda Buckley
Composer-in-Residence
“...here is somebody really special.” - Iggy Pop
Linda Buckley is a composer who creates electronic and acoustic music, with a particular interest in working across many disciplines.
Her NMC record From Ocean’s Floor was featured by Iggy Pop on BBC Radio 6 as “beautiful music – here is somebody really special”.
Her work has been described as “sublime and brilliant” (BBC Radio 3), “engaging with an area of experience that new music is generally shy of, which, simplified and reduced to a single word, I’d call ecstasy” (Journal of Music).
She has worked in many collaborative contexts including scoring film by Kathryn Ferguson (Nothing Compares co-composed with Irene Buckley, nominated for Best Score at the IFTA Awards), Mark Cousins (A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper
Things), Pat Collins (That He May Face the Rising Sun cocomposed with Irene Buckley, Henry Glassie: Field Work) and Tadhg O’Sullivan (To The Moon).
Recent collaborations include new work for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Iarla O’Lionáird and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Crash Ensemble and piper Brìghde Chaimbeul.
She was elected to Aosdána in 2021 and is Associate Artist with Chamber Music Scotland.
Kristīne Balanas
Violin
“Savage, bold, dramatic playing”
- The Strad
Kristīne’s head-turning transformation from a street musician and rock singer in Latvia to a graduate with honours from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied under György Pauk, and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler under Kolja Blacher, marks her as an entirely idiosyncratic presence on stage.
Recent highlights have included the Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria Tokyo with Trevor Pinnock, Orchestre National de Montpellier directed by Ainars Rubikis, Latvian National Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Concerto Budapest, George Enescu Philharmonic and returns to Philharmonie Merck and Risør Chamber Music Festival with Tine Thing Helseth.
Kristīne recently made her Japanese debut with a solo recital and concerto engagement with the Kioi Hall
Chamber Orchestra and was
joined by her sister Margarita Balanas at “Night of the Young Stars”, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, at the invitation of Jan Vogler.
Kristīne’s many successes in previous seasons include her debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Andris Poga at the Cadogan Hall, remarkable performances of the Brahms Double Concerto alongside her sister Margarita with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, appearances with the Saarbrücken Symphony Orchestra under Sebastian Rouland and with the OrquestaClasica Santa Cecilia with conductor Lavard Skou Larsen.
Kristīne performs on an Antonio Gragnani 1778 violin, kindly loaned by The Little Butterfly Foundation.
Biography Hellas Ensemble
Music & Poetry
A unique collaboration of Greek & Irish culture and poetry
Hellas Ensemble is the brainchild of the Greek and Irish bouzouki players and composers, Nikos Petsakos and Martin Coyle. It was formed during a collaboration with the Northern Irish author, journalist and Hellenophile, Bruce Clark, who, for his services to Greece, has recently had the rare distinction of being awarded the Order of the Phoenix by the Greek government.
Bruce, speaking on Seamus Heaney and Greece at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace, thought that Seamus Heaney’s ‘Sonnets from Hellas’ would illustrate the poet’s love of Greece and its influence on his writing.
He approached Nikos Petsakos and Martin Coyle, who had been collaborating on music drawing from the cultures and traditions of both Ireland and Greece.
Together they set about composing pieces which would reflect the spirit of the poems in all their moving detail and vivid imagery.
Since the inception of the ensemble it has evolved over time, headlining at Irish Wings Festival, Paxos, to the stage of the Abby Theatre, Dublin and performing a sold out collaborative show with The Ulster Orchestra presenting the works on a much grander scale.
Ruairi Conaghan
Actor
“Conaghan is an engaging performer...”
- West End Best Friend
Ruairi Conaghan has worked on Broadway and in the West End in productions such as Beckett’s All That Fall and Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come. He has also worked at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in Owen Mc Caffertys Fire Below, and appeared in many different productions at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast, including playing Reverend Hale in The Crucible, which re-opened the theatre and most recently as David Trimble in Owen McCafferty’s Agreement, which also played to huge acclaim at The Irish Arts centre in New York and The Gate Theatre, Dublin.
Ruairi’s acclaimed one-person play, Lies Where It Falls, has played in Belfast, Edinburgh and most recently at The Finborough Theatre in London, where it was nominated for an Off West End Theatre award. In TV and film, Ruairi has been in Downton Abbey,
Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, The Bill, An Officer in France, Best: His Mother’s Son, Murphy’s Law, Doctors, Supergrass and The Catherine Tate Show.
On Radio, Juno and the Paycock, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne and An Angel At My Table.
Ruairi has won 3 Earphones Awards for his work on audio books and was nominated for a British Theatre/ Sunday Times award for Philadephia, Here I Come.
Thank You
Funders
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Derry City and Strabane District Council
Sponsor
KPMG
Partner
Ulster University
Festival Team
Cathal Breslin | Artistic Director
Sabrina Hu | Artistic Director
Matthew Greenall | Executive Director
Fiona Crosbie | General Manager
Rob Egan | Digital Marketing & Graphic Design
Volunteers
Betty Beattie
Gabriela Cushenan
Rose Donaghey
Toni Forrester
Paul McLaughlin
Don McSwiney
Special Thanks To
PS Audio | Lighting and Sound
Anne Bergin, EA
Piano Plus Dublin
