Greenisland PS and Carrick Grammar Choir of Year success

Over the course of the next seven weeks, 60 choirs from across Northern Ireland will be singing to impress as they battle it out for a place in the final of the BBC Radio Ulster School Choir Of The Year.

Presented by John Toal and Kerry McLean, the series is recorded at seven venues across Northern Ireland, with the first programme being broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster on Sunday.

The series, part of BBC Music NI, will culminate in a live final from the Ulster Hall, Belfast, on April 30.

Competing for a place in the final in the first round recorded at Friends’ School, Lisburn with presenter Kerry McLean, were, in the Junior category: Greenisland Primary School; Clough Primary School, Ballymena; Carrickfergus Model Primary School; Harding Memorial Primary School, Belfast and St Patrick’s Primary School, Holywood.

In the Senior category, the schools competing for a place in the grand final were: Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast; Ballycastle High School; Victoria College, Belfast; Carrickfergus Grammar School, and Bangor Grammar School.

It was Greenisland Primary (junior category) and Carrickfergus Grammar (senior category) who impressed the judging panel, made up of Richard Yarr, Senior Producer Classical Music, BBC Radio Ulster; Ciaran Scullion, Head of Music, Arts Council for Northern Ireland and Rebekah Coffey, soprano and vocal coach.

The winning choirs will feature across a range of BBC Radio Ulster’s programming during this year. If you missed the programme, catch it on BBC Radio iPlayer by logging on to: bbc.co.uk/radio and follow the links to Radio Ulster.