Flute
2023
Catriona Ryan was a scholarship student with Doris Keogh at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under renowned teachers and flautists Trevor Wye, Richard Davis (Principal Flute, BBC Philharmonic) & Patricia Morris (Principal Piccolo, BBC Symphony Orchestra).
Catriona is Flute Section Leader of the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Ireland and has performed with the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Hallé, undertaking Guest Principal Flute engagements when her orchestra schedule allows.
She is a founding member of Cassiopeia Winds who feature in many concert series and music festivals around Ireland, including the Vogler Quartet’s International Festival of Chamber Music, New Ross Piano Festival, NCH Sounding The Feminists and NCH Chamber Music Series, Wood Quay Summer Sessions and Music for Galway’s Midwinter Festival. Cassiopeia Winds regularly receive touring awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, and particularly enjoy regional performances. Keen performers of contemporary music, they have collaborated with emerging composers from the Irish Composers Collective, Masters students from Maynooth University and are actively involved in commissioning partnerships with composers from the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin. Their world premiere performances have included works by Adele O’Dwyer and Philip Hammond, and Wind Quintets have been written for them by eminent composers such as John Buckley, Jonathan Nangle and Raymond Deane.
Catriona particularly enjoys chamber music collaborations, recently forming the Amici Trio with her NSO Principal Cellist colleague Martin Johnson and pianist Aileen Cahill. She appears regularly as soloist with various ensembles including frequent concerto appearances with her own orchestra, the NSO. She has given recitals with celebrated pianists Finghin Collins and Fiachra Garvey as well as collaborating with Melvyn Tan and the Con Tempo Quartet. On top of her busy performance schedule, she has an active career tutoring, teaching, giving masterclasses, examining and adjudicating for bodies such as the Royal Irish Academy of Music, EUYO, MTU Cork School of Music, TU Conservatoire Dublin, National Youth Orchestra, the National Concert Hall and Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London.
Catriona hosts occasional pre-concerts talks with conductors and soloists for the NSO and enjoys the opportunity it affords her to meet the audience up close. Indeed, in 2019 she had the pleasure of hosting a conversation with Daragh Morgan and Mary Dullea before the Fidelio Trio’s performance of Beethoven’s epic Triple Concerto with the NSO. More recently, Catriona took on the role of presenter for a live-streamed concert on the NSO YouTube channel.
“melliflous flute-playing”
Irish Independent
The Irish Times
“strongly memorable……exquisite solo playing by lead flautist Catriona Ryan.”