Presto Players took part in the IAYO Festival of Youth Orchestras in February 2023. It was a great experience for our young players to perform on the national stage along with other youth orchestras from all around Ireland.
IAYO Article - Presto Project Pivots
Check out the article on the IAYO website and IAYO Issue 95 about successes of Presto Project during the Coronavirus pandemic.
We are proud to have adapted and continued our lessons and other activities all online last year and had many fantastic results given the circumstances!
You can find the article, written by the director Mairead Deiseach here:
St Ultan's and St Catherine's joint concert
On Thursday 30th of May Presto Players joined St Catherine’s Orchestra in a joint concert in St. Catherine’s Church, Thomas Street.
We were delighted to be involved in such a great event to round up a year of hard work and continued success
St Ultan's with the National Children's Choir
On Friday 29th of March 2019, students from St Ultan’s and Presto Project took part in the 4th Dublin Regional concert of the National Children’s Choir at the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght.
All of the students had an amazing time singing with the 5 other choirs and wonderful orchestra.
More photos from the concert can be found here:
Presto Players in Wesley
On Saturday 2nd of March, Presto Players played in the Wesley Music Festival Primary School Orchestra competition. They were awarded a very respectable 82%. Congratulations all!
The brass department expands again
We’ve started lessons in French Horn this week. Often regarded as the most difficult orchestral instrument to play, the French Horn is 20 feet of wrapped up tubing and can be heard in many of the most famous film scores (Superman, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings)
Samba Sounds
We are very gracious for the kind donation of Samba Drums from a parent of one of our students. Samba workshops will be in place throughout the term for our students
RIAM Exam Success
We’ve had a great start to 2019 here in Presto Project
Three of our students entered RIAM exams before Christmas and were all awarded distinctions
Congratulations all round!
Presto Calendar
Our wonderful calendars for 2019 are now available for purchase from reception in St Ultans between 9am and 1pm and at any time from the Presto Office (Prefab)
Included are pictures that span the entire project from Wobblers and Toddlers right up to our teens in Presto Youth
They are priced at €10 each or 2 for €15
Please come and have a look and help support the wonderful work here in Presto Project
Thank you to all involved in the making of these works of art!
Presto Project on Nationwide
On the 5th of December 2018 Presto Project featured on RTE’s Nationwide
The programme was about Ballyfermot’s 70th birthday celebrations and the ongoing success of the music project here in St. Ultans
Watch the video clip here:
New year, new instruments
We're proud to have launched Trumpet lessons this year. There are now 12 different instruments on offer within Presto Project
Our new students are getting on excellently and are already playing with the orchestra after only 3 months!
Primary Ensemble Project Workshop
Tomorrow we welcome the RIAM to St Ultans for the second workshop of the Primary Ensembles Project. The kids are really looking forward to this one and are eager to show off all that they've learned and have been practicing since the first workshop in November! After 3 workshops; Presto Players will have the opportunity to play in a collaboration concert in the National Concert Hall on the 16th of April and it promises to be quite the spectacle! St Ultans and Presto Project have had the luxury of performing in the National Concert Hall on a number of occassions over the years and it's always a really special day for all the children, staff and families. This promises to be no different! Stay tuned for a report on how our preparations are going!
Junior Christmas Concert
What a concert the junior Christmas concert was! Presto Players, Presto Harmony, senior infants violin show and our management team in action all supported by the Presto tutors! Such an incredible day of festive cheer and celebration. Music truly is alive and well in St Ultans! Check out the little video below of our team rocking out to Slade supported by all music team! The show continues with the senior concert on Friday the 15th at 11am! Merry Christmas everyone!
Kilcoole Festival 2017
Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th saw the Presto Players orchestra and the Presto Harmony choir take to the stage to perform at the Kilcoole Festival 2017 in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow. Presto Players performed in the Junior Orchestra competition coming in second place with a score of 90% from the adjudicator! What a result!
The orchestra in action!
On Sunday, Vocal Harmony performed in the Mary Kiernan Perpetual Trophy under 12's competition coming in 3rd place and taking home a well deserved medal. Their rendition of "Fionnghuala" went down a storm and brought some critical acclaim from both parents and judges alike!
"Fionnghuala!
It's onwards and upwards for Presto!
Junior Infants Showcase for Parents
This week in Presto Project our junior infants groups are showcasing what they've been learning as part of the Presto Project Pre-Instrumental Music Programme. Our junior infants groups will be graduating into class violin lessons next year in senior infants. The kids have been having a ball all year learning new musical games and songs. Múinteoir Sarah's class got an opportunity to showcase that to some of their parents yesterday! We're looking forward to some more brilliant music making with Múinteoir Emer and Múinteoir Claire's classes later this week too!
Pre-instrumental music plays a significant role in learning and integrating key musical concepts into young learners lives. This programme facilitates the transition from early years education into musical instrumental tuition very well by making music fun, engaging and easy to remember via games and songs.
Presto Youth and the Cherry Orchard Young Leaders Programme
On April 29th some members of Presto Youth, our teenager programme, took part in phase 1 of the Cherry Orchard Young Leaders Programme. This programme, similar in rationale to the GAISCE awards, aims to equip young people with leadership, teamwork and communication skills. It was a really fun day! There were lots of activities involving trust, teamwork and communication. It was also really great to meet some of our peers from the Cherry Orchard Equine Centre and the St Ultan's Care Unit also. Everyone agree that it was an inspiring and worthwhile day. We look forward to phase two of the programme in Cavan on June 9th!
Official Opening of The Orchard at St. Ultans
On April 28th members of our Senior Strings Orchestra and Vocal Harmony group played some music for the official opening ceremony of The Orchard; St Ultan's state of the art dedicated ASD unit. It was a fantastic occasion and we were delighted to be asked by The Orchard coordinator Maria McGarrell to be involved with the event. We would like to congratulate Maria and all The Orchard staff on a hugely successful event and on all their incredible hard work in making The Orchard such a success. Best of luck in future guys!
The Passion Project D10
We were delighted to be invited to take part in the Passion Project last weekend. This was a secular retelling of the Passion of the Christ within the context of the Cherry Orchard/Ballyfermot community. It was a raw and powerful account of the lack of humanity sometimes shown towards working class communities. Our Senior Strings members were involved in the opening scene at the Aspect Hotel in Parkwest where they provided some entertaining interval music for a corporate conference.
All ready to go!
The kids were absolutely enthralled by the intensity of the opening scene so credit to all the actors involved for delivering such an engaging performance! On day two our very own Múniteoir Danny was involved in leading the precession down from Ballyfermot College of Further Education to the Assumption Church for the protagonists 'trial'.
Múinteoir Danny leading the way!
Danny then led the congregation down to Markievicz Park for the sentence to be passed. What an intense and emotional scene! All in all it was an exciting and successful two day event. We would like to congratulate Gary, Feidlim and Joyce on an incredible production. And a huge well done to all the cast, crew and local community organisations who done such an amazing job making it all happen. D10 has passion!
Irish Association of Youth Orchestras Festival 2017
On Saturday our Senior Strings performed at the IAYO Festival 2017 in the National Concert Hall. We had such an incredible time! We got the chance to perform with some amazing youth ensembles from all around the country. Thanks again to IAYO for such an incredible opportunity!
