6 Music THE PIANIST WHO PLAYS WITH ONE HAND ONLY Freya Terris is the first pianist to pass their Grade 8 piano exam playing solely with their left hand ByJohnOConnor L ike countless other young musicians, Freya Terris discovered her love of music at the piano stool. Yet her journey has been anything but ordinary. It all started with my sister. My sister is a phenomenal pianist and I grew up hearing her practising and annoying her while she practised, says 17-year-old Terris, who attends Friends School in Lisburn, Co Antrim. When Terris was four, her sister Chloe reached her breaking point and their parents decided to allow Terris begin piano lessons. I loved listening to my sister play so I thought I might as well learn how to do it for myself and give her some peace. Ive been playing ever since, I just love music, she says. Terris worked her way up the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) grades until she reached Grade 7 for piano. In 2024, a long-term injury and surgery left Terris unable to play with her right hand and what once brought her so much joy now seemed like a daunting task. I unfortunately came to the conclusion that the time wouldnt come to pass where I would pass my Grade 8 exam, Terris says. It was my teachers idea to see how open the board would be for me to play a repertoire specifically for one hand. I believe I was the first to get Grade 8 with one hand. The board agreed, surprisingly. Terris still had to push herself to pass the exam and had to effectively relearn the instrument that first made her fall in love with music with only her left hand. While learning a repertoire strictly limited to one hand, Terris says the whole situation felt like a small drop in a big ocean. It was one of the many things that I was coming to the realisation that I wouldnt be able to do any more. It almost felt like it was another restriction that I didnt need. I thought if I can do something about this then I will. Terris succeeded and became the first student in ABRSM history to pass their Grade 8 piano exam with a repertoire solely for the left hand. The Board has since added a one-handed repertoire to its 2027-28 syllabus. Initially launched in 2023 for Grades 1-5, the collection expanded to include Piano Music for One Hand in the advanced Grades 6-8 since Terriss achievement. I was very relieved when I got the results, Terris says with a laugh. But the overwhelming feeling I felt was just relief. You know, I just wanted to do everyone proud. My parents and my piano teacher, and my music teachers in school who have been so supportive and have put so much time and energy into making me think that doing this is possible. Its almost for their sake Im glad I could do this and do this well in a way that Im proud of. Terris says its way more mentally challenging playing with one hand and that everything is more complicated. THE IRISH TIMES Weekend Saturday, August 1, 2026 FreyaTerris atherhomein Lisburn.She passedherGrade 8pianoexams withtheuseofonly herlefthand. Right:Leon Fleisherplaying attheSeattle Symphony Orchestrain1963 beforelosingthe useofhisright hand Photograph: ChrisMaddaloni It takes a bit more time to sort out the score before you even get to playing. Technically, it is harder. Physically I feel like Im about to fall off the pedestal when Im performing because it is so quick. There is a lot of movement involved in it. Before passing her Grade 8, Terris says she was coming to a stage where she was no longer enjoying her long-time hobby of playing the piano. It was difficult practising and looking down and seeing my useless right hand sitting in my lap. But in the end, I know it is a positive thing sometimes I look down and Im like, look at what I can still do. Freya is an extremely conscien- PhysicallyI feellikeIm abouttofall offthe pedestal whenIm performing becauseitis soquick. Thereis alotof movement involvedinit tious student, says Rory Dowse, a fellow Lisburn native and Freyas piano teacher. She had to undergo the operation and had to relearn the instrument in about the space of a year and then became the first person to pass it with one hand in the ABRSMs 137-year history, says Dowse. Its really incredible. Dowse learned the piano under Peter Tuite, the Head of Keyboard at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, who in turn was taught by Leon Fleisher. The renowned American pianist Fleisher lost the use of his right hand due to focal dystonia at the height of his career. Fleisher built much of his career DavidSedarisontheseriousbusinessofcomedy.Page8 WalledtownsofIreland:RositaBolandvisitsWexford.Page10 PatrickFreyne:GlenHansardwasIrelandsbandleader.Page5 WEEKEND THE IRISH TIMES Saturday, August 1st, 2026 A WOUND IS HEALED Afterdecadesofheartbreakandnearmisses, Mayofinallyhasitsmomentinthesun By 2 Cover story A HOUSE OF PAIN NO MORE MayosAll-Irelandtriumphreleased75yearsof pent-upemotioninoneunforgettableafternoon ByKeithDuggan M acHale Park in Castlebar has always been best suited to those Saturday-night matches in winter, when the season is young and the promise uncontained. An ideal Cover story meme, the jokes came thick and fast. Through all that, Mayo footballers and supporters never shied away from speaking about it, nor returning to All-Ireland finals. Maybe we make too much of the football, Fr Leo Morahan, the former county board executive, said back in 2007. Mayo has the 4 Cover story 2004, when he was beginning his sec- ond term as Mayo manager. By September, he had the county back in an All-Ireland final, when Kerry defeated his young team. Like most GAA counties, the network of names and connections within Mayo football are impossibly dense: you could fill the People GLEN HANSARD WAS OUR NATIONAL BARD TheFramesfrontmanwasIrelandsbandleader, anditfeltlikehewouldbedoingthejobfor alongtime ByPatrickFreyne I n the 1990s, I wasnt convinced by The Frames. They felt a bit mainstream. A bit major label. I was a young idiot. Later, a friend convinced me that I 6 Music THE PIANIST WHO PLAYS WITH ONE HAND ONLY Freya Terris is the first pianist to pass their Grade 8 piano exam playing solely with their left hand ByJohnOConnor L ike countless other young musicians, Freya Terris discovered her love of music at the piano stool. Yet her journey has been anyt People 7 Fearkeptmefrom doingwhatIreally wantedtodoorsay Q&ARevJanetBroderick The Donegal-based priest on childhood games with her brother actor Matthew Broderick, how people react when she preaches sermons, and who could play her in a biopic Howagreeableareyou? I think life has made me agreeable 8 Interview I DONT LIKE EXTREMISTS. BUT I FIND THEM THRILLING AS CHARACTERS TheUSwriterandhumouristtalksabouttheseriousbusinessofbeingfunny onthepageandathislivereadings ByPatrickFreyne WEEKEND INTERVIEW DAVID SEDARIS A few days after I interview David Sedaris, I receive a thank-you postcard fe Interview 9 I just tried to get through my days [at school] without being found out as gay. Im 69, so no one even really imagined then that anyone could be anything that awful back then DavidSedaris: Idontknowhow tobuyaplane ticket.Idontopen anymailthat doesntlooklike fanmail. Photograph: Leonardo 10 Feature HISTORY EMBRACES US EVERY DAY IN WEXFORD In the first of a four-part series on Irelands walled towns, we visit Wexford, where history is quite literally in peoples back gardens ByRositaBoland I f Billy Colfer talked to you about history, youd sit up and listen, Paul Walsh tells me. W Feature field. We discovered that Sparrow was a surname of ship owners back in the 1830s, Hussey says. Hussey brings me out into their back garden to show me where, more than a century ago, a house was built against the other side of their wall. The medieval wall thus became a party wall. It towers 12 Photo essay Formedtotacklethe siltingissueintheriver Liffey,thereservenow extendstotheentirety ofthebay WILD AT HEART Photographs: DaraMacDónaill andEndaODowd Words: EndaODowd O f the 797 Unesco biosphere reserves across 147 countries, Dublin Bay is the only one to include a national capital Photo essay DublinsNorth BullIsland,partof theDublinBay Unescobiosphere reserve,isnow hometo180 differentspeciesof bird.However, conservationists warnthat,asworks tostopcoastal erosionareerected alongthecoastline, theirlong-term impactonthe ecologyand landscapemaybe difficulttopredict. Photographs: 14 Feature TWINS PEAK WERE PROBABLY MIRROR IMAGES OF EACH OTHER Whetheritsthehighsofalwayshavingcompanyor thelowsofsensingtheotherspain,thebestpartof beingatwinisneverbeingstuckforafriend ByJenHogan I relands birth rate may be falling, but the incidence of twin births continues to rise, with al Feature 15 Its sometimes fun and its sometimes not, because they could steal your stuff had a friend beside you. In fact, the twins only really went their separate ways when they went to college and that was a major shock, Emma says. Rebecca says there are lots of upsides to being a twin, but the T 16 Essay he vintage front page shows a street full of Dublin holidaymakers smiling at the camera, sitting on the kerb, waiting for the bus in the sun. But these early queues soon dissipated. Bank holiday spoiled by weather, announces the reusable headline. The citys thoroughfares were WEEKEND E Essay 17 Governments might fancy deploying bank holidays to foster cohesion and goodwill, but that doesnt mean everybody has to play along crashing out of the Fifa World Cup was that Friday, July 24th, became the bank holiday that never was. Would Keir Starmers mooted last act have applied across 18 Feature BE LIKE JOHN LENNON AND BUY AN IRISH ISLAND Four islands for sale off Mayo, Donegal, Tipperary and Galway, with bidding starting at 299,000 ByJessicaDoyle W hen you attract screaming fans everywhere you go, what do you do to get some peace and quiet? You buy an island, of course. Tha People 19 SARAH MOSS Teenage dieting made me an expert in mental arithmetic I bofin. It is suitable for grazing and features two natural freshwater lakes. The island measures 1.2km by 0.4km and rises to a maximum height of 63.3m above sea level. It is a Special Protection Area under the EU Bird 20 Environment TOMAÍ Ó CONGHAILE Our beautiful, troubled planet needs a skilled reconciler T he World Cup may be over but the fallout continues: Trumps unwanted interventions; Germanys early exit; football not coming home; Argentinas post-final petulance. Not to mention, of course, that banner. Environment 21 British navy, spent several days imprisoned in the Tower of London on corruption charges, and died of smallpox before reaching 40. Initially, a strait running between the two main islands was named after him and, by 1765, the Falkland Islands had become the English name for the entire 22 Obituaries FIRST WOMAN DIRECTOR OF A NATIONAL INSTITUTION, LIBRARIAN AND ACADEMIC Patricia (Pat, Patsy) Donlon Born: January 28th, 1943 Died: July 23rd, 2026 Patricia (Pat, Patsy) Donlon, who has died peacefully aged 83 at Blackrock Hospice, Dublin, was a leading light in that remarkable generat Obituaries 23 RENOWNED ORNITHOLOGIST AND COMIC ACTOR WHO STARRED IN THE GOODIES Bill Oddie BillOddiewasamemberofcomedy trioTheGoodies,whoseanarchicTV sketchshowairedinthe1970sand 1980s.Photograph:IanGavan/Getty Born: July 7th, 1941 Died: July 25th, 2026 Bill Oddie, who has died aged 85, was a mul 24 Last word DAVID McWILLIAMS ThefirstvictimofAI? Theeconomy W e are in an era of great technological advances, or so say all the tech bros who are championing not just AI, but a whole host of technological innovations from finance and healthcare to supply chain management and communications. In