Crescendo celebrates with end-of-year concert

On Wednesday 10 June 2026, P3 and P7 pupils from our Crescendo partner schools took to the Ulster Hall stage at a special event which saw them perform alongside the full Ulster Orchestra, marking the end of the teaching year.

P1 and P2 pupils from each school also performed at gala events on 2 and 3 June with an ensemble of musicians from the orchestra.

Crescendo is an innovative and inspiring partnership programme that reaches children from four Primary Schools in North and West Belfast. Led by Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, Greater Shankill Partnership 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 schools are Good Shepherd, Malvern, Holy Evangelists’ and Wheatfield Primary Schools, which all lie within areas of marked social deprivation. Over 1,000 pupils across Years 1 to 7 participated in the project this year and the impact on both their music skills and personal development has been wonderful to experience.

Lucy McCullagh, Ulster Orchestra’s Head of Community Engagement, explained,“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, added, “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.”

One of the participant’s 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.”

Nora Douds, Chair at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, attended the event and said, “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 the fantastic Crescendo 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.”

The Crescendo Orchestra was conducted by Jonathan Simmance and the Ulster Orchestra was conducted by Philip Walton. Special thanks to our Crescendo Associates Róisín Whyte, Catherine Dalzell, Cecily Smith-Nesbitt and Crescendo Peripatetic Tutors Aisling Agnew, Ciara Jackson, Chloe Hanna, Sarah Smith, George Sandford, Laura Salt, Lauren Ward, Scott Foster, Naomi Hill, Rosalind Hickinson, Clifford Lowry, Cheylene Murphy, Feargal Ó Dornáin and Ricky Matson.

Find out more about Crescendo.

The Ulster Orchestra’s Learning and Community Engagement programme aims to enrich the lives of everyone in Northern Ireland by creating opportunities for them to experience the joy of live music. Each year, the Orchestra works with over 45,000 people of all ages through 5,600 workshops, sustained projects, community events and performances. Education plays a major role in this activity and the impact is most apparent through Crescendo, our community-led flagship project.

Crescendo 2025/26 was supported by: The Executive Office, Urban Villages, Dept of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund, Ulster Orchestra Foundation, Belfast Harbour, The McClay Foundation, LFT Charitable Trust, Lord and Lady Lurgan Charitable Trust, Radcliffe Trust, Samuel Gardiner Memorial Trust, Brian and Susan Dickie Charitable Fund, A&O Shearman, Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, Souter Charitable Trust and Belfast City Council Music Matters.