Gerard McChrystal comes from Derry, N.Ireland. To date he has performed in over 30 countries including London's Wigmore Hall, San Francisco Opera House and Suttgart Stattshalle. He has performed with Philip Glass, Soweto String Quartet, guitarist Craig Ogden, The Syzmanowski String Quartet, The Smith Quartet, tenorist Tommy Smith, Irish choir Anuna, Ensemble Bash as well as many orchestras including The Philharmonia, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC NOW, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Symphony of Ireland and Stuttgart Statsorchestre. Gerard is a gold endorsee for RICO and an ambassador for Derry-Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013. See Gerard's biography to read more!

News 2012

Gerard will be running saxophone courses in July and August 2012.

Aberystwyth Musicfest, Wales July 21-28th.

http://www.abermusicfest.org/courses/saxophone

At last year’s Musicfest the saxophone group gave four concerts including the museum and a packed foyer gig before one of the evening concerts. This year will also include a focus on solo repertoire and we will have a professional pianist to play for a masterclass every day! Once again in 2012 the ensemble experience will be real gigs to the general public. Gerard will also give a recital during the festival.

LMFL 2012 - July 31st to Aug 13th and Aug 15- 29 August

Between July 31st to August 13th is  the XVI International Summer Music Course at Llandovery College, Llandovery (Wales) UK. Each student gets 10 one hour lessons and ensemble time. Use the contact page for more details on either course. Gerard then goes to Andorra to repeat the course!

http://www.lmfl.com/

Gerard kicks off 2012 with a tour to Milan, Paris and Frankfurt with Filarmonica della Scala/Daniel Barenboim in late January. March sees the debut concert of his new duo with organist David Woodcock, director of music at Harrow School. He will be touring China in July and later that month he premieres a new work in Hereford Cathedral by Joe Cutler for the Three Choirs Festival as part of his Stand Up show. Gerard has been invited to give concerts and masterclasses in Andorra in August. He will be performing at this year's BBC Proms with BBCNOW in August.  More details soon.

It's here!

Gerard's new album Aria is released on First Hand Records on October 10th and can be bought on Amazon and iTunes. Gerard has now got stock and can take orders from Monday 19th September.It has just made the Classic FM playlist and will be RTE Lyric FM's CD of the week in November.

Featuring soprano and alto saxophone with a colourful array of different ensemble accompaniments — string orchestra, choir, guitar, piano, solo, string quartet and electronics. Baroque music blends seamlessly with contemporary; Handel resolves into Michael Nyman, Debussy’s Syrinx morphs into Ravel's Piece en forme de habanera. All the tracks lead to the next by key or by starting and ending on the same note. Other works include Philip Glass Façades, Faure Les Berceaux, Bozza Aria, as well as original works by Billy Cowie, Karen Tanaka, Andy Scott and Michael McGlynn (from the vocal group Anúna who featured in Riverdance). Accompanying Gerard on this album are some of the UK's finest classical musicians including the Smith Quartet and the No. 1 best-selling classical artist, guitarist Craig Ogden.

You can hear samples and buy your copy of Aria now!

Download from Amazon or iTunes. 

Media launch with pianist Simon Mulligan is Thus 29th Sep at 6pm. Check events page for information. 

Aria news

• Aria was named as one of the best classical cds of 2011 by Classic FM. 
•  Aria is featured as InFlight Entertainment for Quantas Airlines in June 2012
• KPFK 90.7FM in Los Angeles USA picked Aria as one of the best of 2011. 
•  Aria was CD of the Week on Ireland's national classical station RTE LyricFM Nov 14-18th at 1030am.
•  Aria was David Mellor's Connoisseurs Choice on Classic FM, Saturday Oct 15th 6-7pm. He said of the album a real unexpected joy…wonderfully well played with extraordinary tone…I love the way Gerard McChrystal sounds…I absolutely love it…well done Gerard McChrystal
• 4 star review of Aria in March's BBC Music Magazine “McChrystal excels in these mainly slow, reflective pieces ” (Terry Blain).

A new promotional video has just been released. 

• Read below a four star review of the CD in the Independent by Andy Gill

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-gerard-mcchrystal-aria-first-hand-recordings-2366477.html 

Legenderry

Gerard is an ambassador for Derry-Londonderry City of Culture 2013. Click below for details of this year's Culture Night.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DerryLondonderry-Culture-Night/237908046259725?sk=app_106171216118819