Fergus McCreadie - Flight Pass

Fergus McCreadie brings Flight Pass to The Black Box on Thursday 22 October, as part of a tour that takes the piece across the UK this autumn. It's a new work for classical piano trio, co-commissioned by Kings Place and Chamber Music Scotland, and it marks a shift in direction for McCreadie.

He's known as a pianist, but here he's writing for a trio — piano, violin, and cello — and moving his music into a chamber setting. He describes it as an evolution of his writing, taking his musical language into a new format while keeping the melodic clarity, rhythmic lift and storytelling that have come to define his work. The title comes from one of his favourite photographs: a mid-air black-winged kite and its offspring fighting over their prey. The piece itself draws on the landscapes and narratives at the heart of his musical world.

McCreadie first came to wider attention with Forest Floor, the 2022 album that earned him a Mercury Prize nomination. Since then, his music has been featured in recent work by filmmaker Spike Lee. Flight Pass premiered at this year's Loch Shiel Festival and was performed at the Glasgow Jazz Festival before the trio set off on this tour, which takes in Gateshead, Birmingham, Bradford-on-Avon, Poole and London.

Doors open at 7.30pm at The Black Box, 18-22 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA. Tickets are £20, with a £18 concession.