Belfast’s Cathedral Gardens played host to a large-scale traditional music performance as 900 students from Belfast TradFest Summer School, aged five to 85, came together to perform.

A crowd gathered in Belfast’s Cathedral Gardens to watch 900 students play a rendition of the Blarney Pilgrim. The mass performance created quite a view, with sounds of sean-nós, snare drums, fiddles, and harps all being heard.

The performance was the idea of Dónal O’Connor, the artistic director of Belfast TradFest who brought the students together from their separate classrooms for the impromptu performance.

 “900 students signed up for a week long programme of classes and they are all in separate rooms of the university. It can be difficult to capture the scale how many there are and the amount of different instruments at play,” said Dónal.

“It was a really nice way of bringing everyone together in one space, united by traditional music.”

With good weather on their side, the decision was made to take the music outdoors and give both the students and the public a chance to experience the energy of the full group.

“We spontaneously decided to come out to the gardens to strike up a tune called the Blarney Pilgrim, and it seemed to go really well.”

The Blarney Pilgrim was chosen for its familiarity and adaptability, making it ideal for a performance that included instrumentalists, singers, and dancers alike.

“It is a tune that works well for singers, we have over 100 singers on the programme. They can lilt the tune along with the instrumental players and the dancers can dance, it is a good fit all tune,” added Dónal.

The crowd included performers that ranged from absolute beginners to seasoned expert performers.

Renowned singer, Cathy Jordan from Dervish was among the crowd.

“Music is a great unifier, we can all come together and break down the perceived notions of something belonging to one or the other. That is the kind of work Belfast Tradfest has been doing since its creation back in 2017,” said Dónal.

“We have performers here that are as young as five and our oldest performer is 85, it really is a place for everyone who loves traditional music.”

Aoibhe McLaughlin,12, Claire Tole, 11, and Grace Smith, 10, were among the many young musicians who embraced the chance to be part of the mass performance.

“We found out that we would all play together on Monday, I have played in groups of this size before and I was excited,” said Aoibhe.

This marks Aoibhe’s second year attending the Belfast TradFest Summer School.

“The best part of being a part of the Summer School is getting to meet and play with new people,” added Claire.

“It was really fun playing with so many people, I like hearing all of the instruments together,” said Grace.

The performance marked a joyful celebration of traditional music, uniting generations of musicians in a vibrant performance that captures the spirit of Belfast TradFest in one special mass performance.