Announcing 2025 Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition
The Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition is a national competition and celebration of music in Irish schools.
We invite primary and post-primary school music groups to enter and compete for the chance to perform on stage in the National Concert Hall, in a special gala event that will be streamed live by RTÉ lyric fm.
Since the Music for Schools Competition was founded in 2011, this nationwide event has been supporting young musicians and music education in Irish schools; celebrating music as a cornerstone of Irish education; and promoting confidence, creativity and collaboration from an early age.
The Competition is open to all primary and post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland, and hundreds of schools from all 26 counties have participated in previous years.
How It Works
Music groups formed by the schools work together to produce a piece or song in response to this year's Competition theme, The Key of Life. Groups can be made up of any combination of instrumentalists and singers that schools choose, and all music genres are welcome. (Past entries have included classical, Irish traditional, jazz, pop, rock, rap and folk.)
Twelve Finalist groups (six primary and six post-primary) will be selected to perform before their peers and a distinguished panel of adjudicators in the National Concert Hall on 24 March 2025. And at the end of the concert, the adjudicators will announce this year’s six winning groups (three primary and three post-primary), which will win awards totalling €7,000 worth of vouchers for musical instruments and equipment from Waltons Music. The entire concert will be streamed live by RTÉ lyric fm and can be watched from anywhere in Ireland or around the world.
This Year's Theme: 'The Key of Life’
This Year’s Calendar:
- Entry Deadline: Wednesday, 12 February 2025 at 5 pm
- Announcement of Finalists: Friday, 28 February 2025
- Finalists Concert: Monday, 24 March 2025
Links:
More information and entry forms
Questions about the Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition? Contact us
