On the Town: The National Concert Hall (NCH) sold out for Cathal Breslin's debut piano recital in Dublin this week. Music-lovers dashed in to take their seats before the performance by the young Derry pianist, who was nominated last year as the NCH Rising Star of 2005 and invited to give a debut recital there.
He played a selection of works by Beethoven, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Chopin and Liszt, as well as a new piece by Irish composer John McNamara.
"He's an outstanding success and going from strength to strength," said Róisín Grimley, of the Axa Dublin International Piano Competition, at which Breslin won the Brennan Prize and the Field Prize in 2003.
Also at the recital were Judge Ann Ryan and her husband, Dr John Ryan; Joe Brennan, of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and his uncle, Anraí Ó Braonáin; Maureen Smith; Katherine Meenan; pianist Hugh Tinney; and Ciara Higgins, of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Brian Ward, CEO of Merc Partners, who sponsored the concert, was also present.
Breslin's mother, Gloria Breslin, a former organist and choirmaster, and his father, Liam Breslin, a retired A-level history teacher, both travelled from Derry to attend the event. The former TD and MEP, Mary Banotti, and her friend, Senator Mary Henry, also turned up to hear Breslin play.
The pianist himself travelled home from Madrid, where he is studying at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, to play.
The Rising Star award concert is "a marvellous opportunity for young artists to have a top venue", said art historian Rosemarie Mulcahy, who was at the NCH with her husband, artist Seán Mulcahy.
"It's very gratifying that the Irish public are coming out to fill the house this evening to hear this young man from Derry," said Judith Woodworth, director of the NCH.