The 25th Festival of Youth Orchestras, presented by the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras (IAYO), will take place on Saturday, February 8th, 2020, in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. It is a significant milestone for the IAYO and to mark this special occasion they will establish a Festival Orchestra which will have young musicians from across Ireland, in addition to featuring Youth Orchestras from around the country.

The IAYO Festival of Youth Orchestras is the annual celebration of youth orchestras in Ireland, and their members, with a diverse variety of music played by young people, for young people, from the standard classical repertoire to music from the movies, pop tunes arranged for orchestra, Irish traditional, and new music by Irish Composers. The 25th Festival will feature classics such as Ravel’s Boléro, Greig’s In the Hall of the Mountain Kings, two movements of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6 ‘Pathétique’ and the lively Lord of the Dance by Ronan Hardiman, along with performances of music from The Avengers, pop classics such as Shallow from A Star is Born, When I’m 64 by The Beatles and modern Irish works by Sam Perkin and Vincent Kennedy.

The orchestras selected to perform at the 25th Festival of Youth Orchestras are:

3pm Concert

Dublin Youth Orchestra Junior Strings
Athlone Youth Orchestra
Carlow Youth Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra of Ireland

8pm Concert

IAYO Festival Orchestra
Young Dublin Symphonia
Symphonic Waves Youth Orchestra
UCD Symphony Orchestra

Tickets will be on sale from the National Concert Hall on 01 417 0000 and www.nch.ie Group discounts and family tickets available.

Funded by The Arts Council and supported by RTÉ Supporting the Arts