Outreach
The Ulster Youth Orchestra offers a broad range of education and outreach activities and opportunities throughout the year.
The Outreach Series consolidates the Ulster Youth Orchestra’s position within the Northern Irish youth arts infrastructure by increasing the regional visibility of its work and encouraging young musicians to continue to develop their musical skills. The UYO Outreach Series strengthens links with the regional Education Authority Music Services and schools.
The UYO acknowledges the key role that is played by the Music Services of Northern Ireland and schools in providing excellent education for young musicians. However, these services are often cash-strapped and cannot afford to deliver enhancements to their regular programme of activity. The UYO supports the work of the Music Services and engages in sectoral forums every year with the Heads of the Music Services and senior staff to discuss and plan special, additional music projects in their area boards. On the premise that the UYO and the regional Music Services can work together effectively, and having the mutual desire to equip and enable young musicians to realize their artistic ambitions, UYO crafts and resources relevant Outreach Series projects which deliver the highest quality tuition. Our tutors are professional musicians from the UK’s finest orchestras or professors from UK music colleges. The Outreach Series is FREE to all who attend and is continually welcomed and acclaimed by its users. The enthusiasm and buzz on the day, and post-event evaluations, strongly affirm that the UYO helps to sustain and even awaken new vibrant interest in instrumental studies among Northern Ireland’s young musicians.
The UYO is a youth music provider which delivers high quality projects and offers professional development and training opportunities for teachers and tutors. Consequently, we find that our Outreach Series projects have invariably an added dimension. Our guest artists are always highly-esteemed experts with huge professional experience, gifted teachers and exceptionally talented exponents of their chosen instruments. While our Outreach Series programmes are directed specifically to young people, we find that many local teachers attend and benefit from the shared experience and the opportunity to learn from musicians of this calibre.