RIAM is committed to expanding access to exceptional music education. ’Play It Forward – Expanding Music Access’ is a new initiative supporting young people aged 9–14 through free instrumental tuition and access to instruments. Delivered on the RIAM campus through RIAM’s Junior Conservatoire, it fosters the next generation of musicians in a high-quality, inclusive learning environment.
This new programme builds on the success of Strings Attached—an existing programme delivered in partnership with 4 DEIS schools (generally located in disadvantaged areas). RIAM has demonstrated a strong, scalable model through which 24 students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds receive 3-year scholarships, including weekly one-to-one lessons, musicianship classes and ensemble training.
With this Movement for Good grant, RIAM can now grow and scale this impact by integrating Strings Attached with a new instrumental programme developed in collaboration with Dublin Youth Choir (DYC), creating a unified, expandable, access pathway for young musicians across Ireland.
NO REPRO FEE 12/1/2025 For the first time the music of an inclusive ensemble of musicians and composers of differing abilities will form part of the National Collections at the National Library of Ireland (NLI). Led by composer Karen Power (left), the ensemble is made up of a group of ten musicians - five living with intellectual disabilities and five students of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM). The composition incorporates sounds that capture the distinctive atmosphere of the National Library. An inclusive ensemble is built on a shared process-based approach to music-making. The process is open, unbiased and offers equal opportunities for genuine exchange between all the musicians. ‘Sounding the hidden at the NLI’ pairs acoustic instruments, iPads as digital instruments, and field recordings. PHOTO: Mark Stedman
NO REPRO FEE Early Years and Junior Brass Students from the Royal Irish Academy of Music’s Junior Academy welcome world-renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to Dublin with performances of 'Oh When The Saints Go Marching In' and 'Ode to Joy' in the National Concert Hall. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis played in Dublin on the first stop of an 11-city European tour. PHOTO: Mark Stedman
