The award winning Irish singer-songwriter Christine Tobin is one of the UK's most richly expressive and original voices. Accompanied by guitarist Phil Robson and pianist Liam Noble she brings to life the lyrical magic of the poetry of Irish poet W.B. Yeats with her own euphonic and sensitive settings of twelve poems.

'Sailing to Byzantium' features a special guest, the renowned actor Gabriel Byrne, who reads three of the poems. Byrne's presence on the album is of special significance as he was her teacher when he led drama classes at the secondary school she attended in Dublin.

Poetry and music have always been of equal importance to Tobin, both as singer and composer. She was particularly drawn to the love poems such as When You Are Old, and also his poems that celebrate the transformative power of art and his desire to find a deeper spiritual truth, as in Sailing to Byzantium.

In the booklet of the CD there's a link to two bonus videos which are exclusively available to purchasers of 'Sailing to Byzantium.' In one video, Christine Tobin gives an intimate performance of 'When You are Old', the first track on the CD, accompanied by Phil Robson on guitar and Dave Whitford on double bass. The other video features Tobin and artist Pat Mac Allister discussing the poetry and music of the album as they visit the grave of W.B. Yeats' brother, the artist Jack Butler Yeats.

Christine debuted the album at the Southbank Centre during last year's London Jazz Festival and the reviewer on the London Jazz Blog said: "? every note felt inspired. With this Yeats material she really does deserve fulsome bouquets and acclaim."