Tipp features in Festival of Youth Orchestras
The 40-piece Co Tipperary Youth Orchestra, directed and conducted by Michael John Ryan, will be performing at the Annual Festival of Youth Orchestras at the National Concert Hall on February 8. This will be their sixth time performing at the festival since its inception.
The 2025 festival will see over 470 young players from across Ireland take to the stage, for two concerts, performing an eclectic programme of classical works and modern arrangements. This will be the 29th edition of the festival and there will be two performances on Saturday, February 8, at 1pm and 7.30pm. The participating orchestras this year represent various regions of the country and include: Cork ETB Junior Orchestra, St Louis Orchestra, County Tipperary Ryan Youth Orchestra, Athenry Youth Orchestra and voices of Athenry Project Choir, Limerick School of Music Senior Orchestra, Julianstown Youth Orchestra, Irish Midlands Youth Orchestra and Irish Youth Wind Ensemble.
Michael John, who hails from Tipperary Town, will be joined by his son Daniel who will also conduct some of the programme and his daughter, Ellen, who is the leader of the orchestra. Daniel is a Second year BMus student at the MTU Cork School of Music is a member of the World Youth Choir having just returned from a concert tour in Europe. Ellen is a Fifth Year leaving cert student, who plays violin, plays concert flute and also sings with the Irish Youth Choir.
The Co Tipperary Ryan Youth Orchestra is the only Youth Orchestra in Tipperary that caters for young musicians from the ages of 11 up to 20 years of age from all over Co Tipperary and its neighbouring counties of Limerick, and Cork. Members, who attend different schools and colleges, come together every week for orchestra rehearsals. These like-minded young musicians build friendships through their common interest in music. Michael John says: “For a musician to play in the National Concert Hall, the premier stage in the country, it is the same as a hurler or footballer playing in Croke Park. It is such a momentous occasion for the orchestra and one that we are all looking forward to very much.”
The Festival of Youth Orchestras is the annual celebration of Irish Youth Orchestras, and their talented members, with a great variety of music played by young people for young people. The 2025 programme features iconic works such as Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite and Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King, music from the screen including Mission Impossible and Pirates of the Caribbean, pop and rock anthems including music by the Cranberries and U2, original compositions and premieres from Irish composers and much more.
Tickets are now on sale from www.nch.ie.