Programme

Johannes Brahms Academic Festival Overture
Benjamin Britten Young Apollo
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 Choral

Performers

Anna Handler Conductor
Senan Sheridan Piano
Eleanor Dennis Soprano
Carolyn Dobbin Mezzo-Soprano
Kieran Carrel Tenor
Padraic Rowan Bass-Baritone
National Youth Choir Of Northern Ireland Senior Choir
Belfast Philharmonic Youth Chamber Choir
Belfast Philharmonic Choir
Methodist College Chapel Choir
Royal Belfast Academical Institution Choir Tenors & Basses
Belfast Royal Academy Chamber Choir

Our 60th anniversary season opens in a burst of excitement and the exuberance of youth, under the baton of Chief Conductor Anna Handler and with a host of guest performers.

Brahms’s irrepressible Academic Festival Overture places the emphasis firmly on the festive and we welcome 2025 Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year Senan Sheridan to perform Britten’s dazzling hymn to the sun god Apollo. To close, we are joined by a host of young singers from across Northern Ireland for Beethoven’s epic Choral Symphony; a symbol of community, unity and most of all, sheer, untrammelled joy.

Pre-Concert Talk

Join us at 7pm in the main auditorium of the Ulster Hall to join our Artistic Director Patrick McCarthy and our Chief Conductor Anna Handler for a pre-concert talk.