Ulster Orchestra ends its 2025/26 season with large-scale event to celebrate its community-led Crescendo Programme

This innovative and inspiring partnership programme reaches children from four Primary Schools in North and West Belfast. Led by Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, Shankill Children’s Zone with Queen’s University Innovation Zones, Crescendo is a long-term, immersive collaboration which aims to give pupils access to high quality music education throughout their primary school careers and improve outcomes for children through music. The participating children are P3 and P7 pupils from Good Shepherd, Malvern, Holy Evangelists’ and Wheatfield Primary Schools, and all lie within areas of marked social deprivation.

On Wednesday 10 June, participating pupils took to the Ulster Hall stage at a special gala event which saw them perform alongside the full Ulster Orchestra. Over 1000 pupils across Year 1 to Year 7 participated in the project this year and the impact on both their music skills and personal development has been so wonderful to experience.

Lucy McCullagh, Ulster Orchestra’s Head of Community Engagement, explains; “This has been a particularly exciting year for Crescendo as a record number of P5-P7 pupils have taken part in their ABRSM Music Medal exams and, with support from the Department for Communities secured via The Executive Office, Crescendo was able to deliver a pilot project in 4 new schools in the Colin and Shankill areas for the first time. In addition, the P3 and P7 pupils have been rehearsing with Ulster Orchestra musicians at our cross-community rehearsals and we can’t wait to hear the results on 10 June.”

Hugh McCaughey, Chair of the Crescendo Management Committee and CEO of Ulster Rugby, adds; “The aim of Crescendo is to transform the lives of children through music, and the final event always brings that to life in such a real and tangible way. The positive impact it has for the children, the schools and the local communities is just so visible. The final event is always a very joyous and emotional celebration of the hard work the children, schools and musicians do throughout the year. But, the impact lasts well beyond the concert and that is the great value of Crescendo.”

The Principal Funder of the Ulster Orchestra is the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Nora Douds, Chair at the Arts Council added, "What a wonderful and uplifting concert. I was delighted to see some many young people performing with confidence and enthusiasm, demonstrating the positive impact that music, and this impressive outreach programme, has had on hundreds of primary school children. By giving young people, the opportunity to experience the joy of making music together, this programme is helping to build confidence, creativity and a lasting appreciation of the arts.

The Arts Council is committed to making the arts accessible to everyone and all of our annually funded organisations, like the Ulster Orchestra, have outreach programmes in place designed to reach people who otherwise might not have the opportunity to engage with the arts. It’s crucial that our young people get meaningful opportunities to access and participate in high quality arts and music making, and this fantastic programme, supported with public funding, helps to ensure that more people from all backgrounds can enjoy arts experiences – a key outcome in the Arts Council’s 10-Year Strategic Plan.  Congratulations to the young performers, their teachers, families and the Ulster Orchestra team on such a successful and inspiring programme.

One of the participants parents said; “It’s a great opportunity for the children to try something new that otherwise they would possibly never have had the chance. It brings joy and excitement. The children love having them come into the school and look forward to learning about the instruments….I felt proud as a parent to watch my child perform publicly. His confidence really shone.”