Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

The world renowned Brodsky Quartet - which includes Derry-born viola virtuoso Paul Cassidy - will be in the city later this month for a special performance at The Walled City Music Festival.

2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the Quartet and it’s a real coup for the festival to attract such stellar musicians to a local stage.

The string ensemble will perform at the festival’s opening concert in the beautiful surroundings of Christ Church on Thursday, June 23.

Since forming in 1972, the Brodsky Quartet have performed more than 3,000 concerts on the major stages of the world and have released more than 70 recordings.

The Brodsky Quartet with, on left, Paul Cassidy.

Their energy and craftsmanship have attracted numerous awards and accolades worldwide, while their ongoing educational work provides a vehicle to pass on experience and stay in touch with the next generation.

As well as partnering many top classical artists for their performances and recordings, the quartet have made musical history with ground-breaking collaborations with some of the world’s leading artists across many genres and have commissioned and championed many of the world’s most respected composers.

They have played alongside the likes of Paul McCartney, Sting, Elvis Costello and Björk.

To open the 13th Walled City Music Festival, the quartet will perform Shostakovich String Quartet No. 9 and will be joined by Co-Artistic Directors of the Festival, Cathal Breslin (piano) for Dvorak Piano Quintet No. 2 and Sabrina Hu (flute) for Mozart Flute Quartet in G major.

The Quartet have a huge number of concerts in the UK coming up, as part of their 50th tour, but they will also be touring worldwide with dates planned across Europe, China and Australia.

Paul Cassidy - a member of the famous Derry musical family - says he’s looking forward to the Derry performance.

“Our first concert together was actually in Derry in 1982,” he says. “Since then, we have had a close and treasured relationship with the city and it is with great pride and excitement that we make a welcome return there on June 23.

“This visit is enhanced by the fact that we will be joining forces with Sabrina Hu, to play Mozart, and local celeb Cathal Breslin, in Dvorak’s magnificent Piano Quintet.”

Paul - who has released two volumes of memoirs - is also scheduled to talk about the books at an event (6.15pm) in Christ Church prior to the performance (7.30pm).

Brodsky Quartet looking forward to Derry date at Walled City Music Festival