From Killaloe to Carnegie Hall

A young, talented musician, 16-year-old Ruby McKenna from Ogonnelloe, is currently playing with the 130-strong Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland (CBOI) at a sell-out 17-concert series that started in Limerick on January 21, 22, 28, 29 and will move to Dublin, Waterford and Belfast before flying to New York for a landmark concert in Carnegie Hall on St Patrick’s Day.

This concert series celebrates their work and achievements in promoting peace, unity and tolerance on the island of Ireland since their foundation in 1995. Significantly, the concerts will also mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Ruby is daughter of Nigel and Denise (née Sheridan) and is a TY student at St Anne’s Community College. She is one of the nine orchestra members from Clare and Limerick that undertake the six-hour round trip to Dundalk every Sunday for rehearsals.

Ruby’s music journey started in Killaloe when, at the age of six years, she was introduced to the violin by Diane Daly and traditional fiddle by Deirdre Scanlan. She also studies piano with Sarah King in the local Munster Music Academy and currently studies violin, virtually, with her Hungarian teacher Noei Szentimreia, who is a graduate from the Classical Strings Performance Masters, led by Diane Daly at the Irish World Academy of music and Dance in UL. Ruby is also a member of the Irish Chamber Youth Orchestra directed by Katherine Barnecutt and conductor Jose Scolaria.

The Cross Border Orchestra is best known in Ireland for the nationwide Peace Proms programme, which is a free resource and choral education initiative for primary schools. Up to 35,000 primary school children from 700 schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland form their Children’s Peace Choirs and perform with the orchestra at the concerts held across the island from January to March. Last month, young boys and girls from Ballina and Boher primary schools took part in the Peace Choirs performance in Limerick and were most impressed by the orchestra and the music and felt privileged to be involved. How delighted they were to hear that one of the musicians in the orchestra was Ruby McKenna from Ogonnelloe, Killaloe!

We wish Ruby and her fellow musicians continued success in the current concert series and of course, a great experience in Carnegie Hall on March 17.