Young musicians from Coláiste Cill Mhantáin performing live at the national final of the Waltons Music for Schools Competition. Image: Seán Laoide-Kemp
A group of 34 young musicians from Coláiste Cill Mhantáin, Burkeen, Wicklow Town won big at the national final of the sixth annual Walton’s Music for Schools Competition yesterday, Tuesday May 2nd 2017. The school picked up second prize in the prestigious competition, which was judged by renowned industry professionals Deborah Kelliher and Bill Whelan. For their remarkable performance, ‘Love Grows with Each Piece’, the ensemble took home a coveted trophy and a €1,500 voucher for instruments from Waltons Music.
The Waltons Music for Schools Competition is a non-profit national event celebrating music in Irish schools. The Competition is presented by Waltons Music and Waltons New School of Music, in association with RTÉ lyric FM and the National Concert Hall.
Coláiste Cill Mhantáin was among 12 schools – six primary and six post-primary – selected from dozens of entrants for the final of this year’s competition. Each finalist group presented their specially-prepared, cross-genre performances live for a jam-packed audience on the main stage of Dublin’s National Concert Hall. In an exciting ‘first’, the concert, which was hosted by Liz Nolan, was also webcast live on RTÉ Lyric FM.
Watch the performance online:
Last year, young musicians from Coláiste Cill Mhantáin participated in a specially curated six-month project with Music Generation Wicklow entitled, ‘Songs from Room 42’. The project, which was funded through the Music Generation/Arts Council Partnership, created an opportunity for the young musicians to write and record their own original compositions with professional composer Brian Irvine. The songs were later premiered by the young musicians live at a public performance at Mermaid Arts Centre.
Find out a little more about the project in this short documentary video:
For this year’s Walton’s Music for Schools Competition all entrants were asked to respond to the theme: Music Has No Borders. The students at Coláiste Chill Mhantáin shared their ideas in the lead up to the event, collaborating and highlighting their diverse talents to enhance the overall performance. Their superb presentation at the Finale Concert featured ballroom dancing, sign language, Irish dancing, choral singing, band performance and more. The ensemble chose to explore issues involving LGBT rights in relation to the competition theme. They foregrounded the idea that music transcends what divides us through the message of one of their selected songs, Macklemore’s ‘Same Love’, and this also inspired the creation of an impressive visual element at the performance close – a jigsaw heart.
In addition to curricular music, Coláiste Chill Mhantáin (Padraig Donohue, Principal) has offered a variety of extra-curricular music activities for its 950 students over the past year, including singing traditional and contemporary singing initiatives, céilí dancing as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge, and an Arts Week during which students participated in a range of music and arts events.
The Walton’s competition prize will be used to add additional instrument’s to the school’s instrument bank, and to support the purchase of recording equipment and a new PA system.
For information about projects and programmes offered through Music Generation Wicklow contact:
Ann Catherine Nolan
Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board Admin Offices, Church St, Wicklow, Co. Wicklow
t: +353 404 60505
e: AnnCatherineNolan@kwetb.ie
www.musicgenerationwicklow.ie
A group of 34 young musicians from Coláiste Cill Mhantáin, Burkeen, Wicklow Town won big at the national final of the sixth annual Walton’s Music for Schools Competition yesterday, Tuesday May 2nd 2017. The school picked up second prize in the prestigious competition, which was judged by renowned industry professionals Deborah Kelliher and Bill Whelan. For their remarkable performance, ‘Love Grows with Each Piece’, the ensemble took home a coveted trophy and a €1,500 voucher for instruments from Waltons Music.
The Waltons Music for Schools Competition is a non-profit national event celebrating music in Irish schools. The Competition is presented by Waltons Music and Waltons New School of Music, in association with RTÉ lyric FM and the National Concert Hall.
Coláiste Cill Mhantáin was among 12 schools – six primary and six post-primary – selected from dozens of entrants for the final of this year’s competition. Each finalist group presented their specially-prepared, cross-genre performances live for a jam-packed audience on the main stage of Dublin’s National Concert Hall. In an exciting ‘first’, the concert, which was hosted by Liz Nolan, was also webcast live on RTÉ Lyric FM.
Watch the performance online:
Last year, young musicians from Coláiste Cill Mhantáin participated in a specially curated six-month project with Music Generation Wicklow entitled, ‘Songs from Room 42’. The project, which was funded through the Music Generation/Arts Council Partnership, created an opportunity for the young musicians to write and record their own original compositions with professional composer Brian Irvine. The songs were later premiered by the young musicians live at a public performance at Mermaid Arts Centre.
Find out a little more about the project in this short documentary video:
For this year’s Walton’s Music for Schools Competition all entrants were asked to respond to the theme: Music Has No Borders. The students at Coláiste Chill Mhantáin shared their ideas in the lead up to the event, collaborating and highlighting their diverse talents to enhance the overall performance. Their superb presentation at the Finale Concert featured ballroom dancing, sign language, Irish dancing, choral singing, band performance and more. The ensemble chose to explore issues involving LGBT rights in relation to the competition theme. They foregrounded the idea that music transcends what divides us through the message of one of their selected songs, Macklemore’s ‘Same Love’, and this also inspired the creation of an impressive visual element at the performance close – a jigsaw heart.
In addition to curricular music, Coláiste Chill Mhantáin (Padraig Donohue, Principal) has offered a variety of extra-curricular music activities for its 950 students over the past year, including singing traditional and contemporary singing initiatives, céilí dancing as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge, and an Arts Week during which students participated in a range of music and arts events.
The Walton’s competition prize will be used to add additional instrument’s to the school’s instrument bank, and to support the purchase of recording equipment and a new PA system.
For information about projects and programmes offered through Music Generation Wicklow contact:
Ann Catherine Nolan
Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board Admin Offices, Church St, Wicklow, Co. Wicklow
t: +353 404 60505
e: AnnCatherineNolan@kwetb.ie
www.musicgenerationwicklow.ie