2024 Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition

Waltons New School of Music and RTÉ lyric fm

Deadline: Friday, 23 February 2024, 5pm

After four long years without it, Waltons New School of Music and RTÉ lyric fm have announced the launch of the 2024 Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition!

Founded in 2012, the Music for Schools Competition is a non-profit national event celebrating and supporting music in Irish schools.

The Competition is open to all primary and post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland, and hundreds of schools from all 26 counties have participated in previous years. Music groups of up to 40 members formed by schools will work together to produce a piece or song in response to this year’s Competition theme, Music Moves.

Groups can be made up of any combination of instrumentalists and singers that schools choose, and all music genres are welcome. (Past entries have included classical, Irish traditional, jazz, pop, rock, rap and folk). Schools are also encouraged to promote diversity and inclusiveness in their groups.

Twelve Finalist groups (six primary and six post-primary) will be selected to perform before their peers and a distinguished panel of adjudicators in the National Concert Hall on 8 April 2024. And at the end of the concert, the adjudicators will announce this year’s six winning groups (three primary and three post-primary), which will win awards totalling €7,000 worth of vouchers for musical instruments and equipment from Waltons Music to expand and enhance their schools’ music programmes. The entire concert will be streamed live by RTÉ lyric fm and can be watched from anywhere in Ireland or around the world.

The Music for Schools Competition offers schools the opportunity to think and work creatively with any combination of students, developing a creative and original musical project that has learning potential at every stage of the process.

Important Dates

Friday, 23 February 2024, 5 pm • Entry Deadline
Friday, 1 March • Announcement of Finalists on RTÉ lyric fm
Monday, 8 April • Finalists Concert, National Concert Hall

For more information and entry forms. go to www.newschool.ie/musicforschools.