Orchestra
Our school orchestra is a collaborative group of both junior and senior students of all abilities.
Every Friday the girls practice under the baton of Mr. Reilly along with Ms. Daniels and Ms. Diskin. Our repertoire ranges from classical to modern music, including music written by Mr. Reilly.
There is a wide variety of instruments in our orchestra from trumpet and marimba, to saxophone and strings. Everyone is welcome as it is a friendly environment where anyone can come and make music.
Some students are taking violin lessons and participate in orchestra to advance and strengthen their new skills. It is a great opportunity for beginners to experience the camaraderie of being with a large group of musicians and playing together.
The orchestra has reached huge milestones in the past few years. This includes the wonderful carol service in the Augustinian Church in 2018 with our special guests, the esteemed Dr Dónal Lunny and Zoë Conway. It was a wonderful evening of music, festivity and good craic. The Augustinian was packed to capacity as the students and guests brought the roof down with a highly professional performance.
Other performances include our performance at the Fleadh Cheoil in Drogheda in August 2019. We played on the main stage in the Dome, alongside stars of the music business including Cherish the Ladies and Nathan Carter. We played Riverdance, Falling Slowly and Curra Road, receiving a standing ovation from the overflowing venue.
We also performed for Ireland’s UN Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason who subsequently invited the orchestra and choir to play in the United Nations Headquarters in New York in the years to come. We will hopefully avail of that amazing opportunity in time!
A focus of the orchestra is to promote friendship and solidarity between the students. In recent years there has been two brilliant trips to Limerick and Cork where the school collaborated with the Augustinian churches there. We spent a few days seeing the sights and visiting many wonderful places that will remain in our memories for years to come. We concluded both trips with a performance in the Augustinian Churches there.
We will hopefully be going on an international trip in the years to come and we encourage anyone who can play an instrument to join the orchestra and see yourself how much fun and rewarding it is! See our students as they explain the importance that orchestra plays in our school community.
