More than one hundred and fifty pupils took to the stage in the Assembly Hall on Thursday 23 April for the Music Department’s annual Spring Concert, drawing to a close a school year that has seen St Paul’s choirs, ensembles and soloists achieve at the highest level. The evening ran to twelve items, moving from Strauss and Jay Ungar in the hands of the Orchestra through a first public outing for the Year 8 Pathways Wind Ensemble, on through the samba, steel pan and African drums of the Ethnic Percussion Groups, the jigs, slip jigs and polkas of the Traditional Group, the Inclusion Choir, the Brass Ensemble, the Boys’ Choir, the Junior and Senior Girls’ Choirs, and two soloists, Niamh Noade and Conor Sands, before the Senior Mixed Choir closed the evening with All My Trials and Dies Irae.

The concert marked the final event of a season in which St Paul’s Music has carried itself well beyond the school walls. At the recent Newry Musical Feis, the school’s choirs and ensembles returned with three cups and two third places. The Senior Mixed Choir won the Secondary School Choir Class and was presented with the Mary Collins Rose Bowl. The Junior Girls’ Choir won the High School Choir Class and received the Rafferty Family Cup. The Senior Girls’ Choir won the Girls’ Choir Under 18 Class and took home the Newry Musical Feis Challenge Cup. The Orchestra and the Traditional Group each came third in their classes.

The individual story of the Feis was Conor Sands. A Year 14 vocalist, Conor was presented with the Mary Delargy Spirit of the Feis Cup, the Most Memorable Moment of Musical Theatre Cup and the Charlie Smyth Perpetual Trophy. He came first in the Irish Composer Class, the Over 18 Folk Song, the Ballad, the Gilbert and Sullivan and the Interpretation Classes, and was placed in the top ten at the inaugural Newry Feis Singer of the Year, a new international competition. His rendering of Bring Him Home on Thursday evening brought the Assembly Hall to its feet.

A particular word too for Niamh Noade, another of the school’s choristers and a pupil whose talent has begun to carry her well beyond the Assembly Hall. Known on stage as the Girl with the Harp, Niamh has been making her way through this year’s Britain’s Got Talent on ITV, bringing the same poise to a national television audience that she has shown week in, week out in school. Her Spring Concert turn was Alex Warren’s Ordinary. The school wishes Niamh every success as the competition continues.

Beyond Newry, the school’s choirs also travelled to Dublin to represent St Paul’s at Feis Ceoil, the premier music and choral festival on the island of Ireland. Over the St Patrick’s weekend, the Samba and Ethnic Percussion Groups, the traditional groups and the choir marched in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in London on the Sunday, then made it back to Ireland in time to parade in Armagh on 17 March itself. Two parades, two cities, one unforgettable trip.

This year’s Spring Concert sat in a different light. In March, the school community lost a colleague and friend in Miss Denise Hagan. Denise joined the Music Department in February 2024 and, in a short time, became part of the fabric of the school’s musical life, from the choirs and staff singing to traditional groups, liturgies and the pit of the 2024 run of Oliver!. A memorial Mass was held in the school on Monday 20 April, attended by Denise’s family. Her name will be added to the memorial stone beside the school Oratory in November.

The concert, and the wider year’s achievements, belong to the school’s Music Department, led by Miss Bridie McAvoy, with Mr Colm Murphy, Mr Peter Slane, Mrs Joanna Doran and Miss Carol Hughes, supported by the EA Music Service. Sincere thanks are due also to the school’s peripatetic team, Mrs Jayne Graham, Mrs Nuala Curran, Mrs Pauline McCourt, Mr Barry Murphy, Mrs Naoimh Mathers, Mr Jimmy Hagan, Ms Fiona Flynn, Miss Lauren McCann and Mr Michael Murphy, whose week-in, week-out work with our young musicians is the foundation on which every performance is built. Thanks also to the team in the DEN for their steady support alongside the Music Department, to our parents and guardians, and to the school’s Year 14 pupils, performing in their final Spring Concert, whose seven years of music at St Paul’s leave a long trail behind them.

There was news too for the season ahead. After a week of staged reveals across the school’s social media channels, St Paul’s announced on Thursday evening that its next major musical production, marking the school’s Diamond Jubilee in 2026-27, will be Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, running across four evenings from Sunday 18 October 2026. Auditions, casting and rehearsals will follow in the coming weeks, and a dedicated announcement is to come on the school’s website and social media channels.

Our warmest congratulations to every pupil who sang, played, performed, competed or travelled for St Paul’s this year, and our thanks to every teacher, tutor, parent and supporter who made the music possible.