February 2013 Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland to Perform at NUI Galway

Promoting Peace and Reconciliation and Excellence in Music Education and Performance

2,000 children from schools all over Co. Galway will take part in Galway Peace Proms which will be held in the Kingfisher Hall, NUI Galway this Saturday and Sunday, 9 and 10 February. For the second year in a row, choirs will perform with the internationally acclaimed Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland (CBOI), led by Ireland’s premiere conductor Gearóid Grant. Performances will take place at 2pm and 7pm each day.

Concerts will feature tenor Emmanuel Lawler, renowned Uilleann Piper Patrick Martin, Violinist Patricia Treacy in addition to drummers and pipers from the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Northern Ireland Branch. The programme is packed full of family favourites and showstoppers as well as powerful anthems from the Ulster Scots and Irish traditions. 

The CBOI was established as a peace initiative almost eighteen years ago and is made up of 120 young musicians from all over Ireland including Galway.  The orchestra has just returned from their sell out debut at the Royal Albert Hall London, and has also performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, New York; Chicago Symphony Hall; Boston Symphony Hall, and major venues throughout California and Europe. In 2010 the CBOI won an international award for the “Most Outstanding Performance” and the Shanghai Expo in China. The CBOI will make their London debut at the Royal Albert Hall in October next.

The CBOI has performed for President McAleese at Áras and Uachtaráin; for Queen Elizabeth 11 at Hillsborough Castle; for many special international Ministerial gatherings at Slane Castle and Dublin Castle; for numerous national commemorations including the Battle of the Boyne; the 10^th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement; the 30th anniversary of the twinning of Listowel and Downpatrick, and the 400^th Anniversary of the Flight of the Earls in Rome.

This year over 10,000 children from all over Ireland will participate in “Peace Proms” which is supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and the Department of Education and Skills and is recognised as one of Ireland’s most important Arts Education initiatives, providing outstanding cultural opportunities for young people while promoting peace, unity and tolerance through music.

The CBOI is a registered charity and totally not-for -profit. All funds generated through ticket sales cover the cost of running this programme in which 10,000 children participate annually.

Tickets for the Galway Peace Proms can be purchased from www.cboi.ie and from the Town Hall Theatre, Galway

ENDS