Two young musicians from Kilkenny to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York

Two young Kilkenny women will be travelling to New York to take part in the St Patrick’s Day parade and perform in Carnegie Hall.

They will play to a host of invited guests from the Irish American diaspora.

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The local women are Laura O’Neill (Dunmore) and Cáit Whelan (Shellumsrath).

Both are currently attending college in DCU and UCC respectively, and have been members of the Kilkenny Youth Orchestra in their school years.

The renowned Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland has begun a sell-out 17-concert series, starting in Limerick and moving to Dublin, Waterford and Belfast before flying to New York for the landmark concert at the world’s most iconic music mecca, Carnegie Hall, on St Patrick’s Day.

The concert series celebrates their work and achievements in promoting peace, unity and tolerance on the island of Ireland since their foundation in 1995. Significantly, the concerts will also mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The CBOI is now composed of over 130 exceptionally talented young musicians from all over Ireland and Northern Ireland who travel to Coláiste Chu Chulainn, Dundalk for weekly rehearsals.

A further 200 children and teens receive free music tuition through the CBOI’s extraordinary music education programmes. CBOI recently won a ‘National Rural Impact Award’ for their work.

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Performances in Ireland and the US will showcase some of the most talented young musicians on our island.

Under the direction of internationally-acclaimed conductor Maestro Greg Beardsell, the orchestra, led by Dundalk violinist Richie Dunne, will be joined by the massed ‘Children’s Peace Choirs’.

The concert in Carnegie Hall will feature many of the above along with Irish dancers from Rockland county, New York, the multi-award winning 100-strong Fairfield County Children’s Choir from Connecticut, and the Pipe Corps from Xavarian High School, Brooklyn.