Ulster Hall concert for community choirs

Lisburn Community Choir and Lisburn Children’s Community Choir will be performing in the historic venue on Saturday May 7 and they will be joined by a host of very special guests, including the Northern Ireland Concert Band.

The Children’s Choir began in June 2013 when music teacher Julie Harper was inspired to bring together young people, aged P2-P7, from schools across the city.

Such was the popularity of the Children’s Choir that Julie gave into demands from parents and friends and created the adult choir, which now has some ninety members, later the same year.

The two choirs sing pieces across a wide variety of genres, including musical theatre, gospel and world music. And their varied repertoire is certain to delight the audience at their biggest and most ambitious concert to date at the Ulster Hall next month.

The two choirs will be accompanied by the Northern Ireland Concert Band , which was originally formed in 2005 as Band of The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, under the direction of Mr Warnock Patterson.

In 2009 Mr Martin Wall took up the baton and in 2013 the band decided to become independent and was renamed ‘The Northern Ireland Concert Band’. The Band is made up of members from all sections of the community and all parts of Northern Ireland.

The choirs will be joined on the night by two amazingly talented young musicians. Rowel Friers is already an award winning concert pianist at the age of just thirteen.

He has taken part in piano competitions for eight years and has scooped the prestigious EPTA UK National Piano competition for the last two years in a row.

Also performing will be Cathryn Lynch, a xylophone soloist who was crowned Young Musician of the Year last year.

There will also be performances by Irish Dancing champions Alana Smyth, Laoise Murphy and Aoife Newbury.

Proceeds from the concert will be divided between two charities - the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children and Field of Life.

Tickets, priced £15/£10 conc, are available by contacting the Ulster Hall Box Office on 028 90 334400.