2025 – A Year with Music Generation Cork City
Our annual end-of-year newsletter
We have had an amazing year in 2025! From the Opera House to Shandon, from John Spillane to Oasis, from Culture Night to Corkmas – there have been so many highlights, and more to come!
All of our programmes and events are presented in partnership with a wide range of community and music education partners, including: GMCBeats & The Kabin Studio, Creative Tradition, Music Mash Up, The Hut Youth Project CDYS, Foróige, Cork Academy of Music, Barrack Street Band, Cork Community Gamelan (with UCC) and more.
Let us now take you on a journey through the highlights of our year!
Contents:
February
- Mahon Community Concert Band at Cork Opera House
- Tinderbox Collective & ROAM
- The Kabin Studio honoured with civic reception
March
- St Patrick’s Day Parade – performances
- ‘The Spark’ wins the RTÉ Choice Music Prize
- 2025 Cork Lifelong Learning Festival
April
- Féile Fearann Rí 2025
May
- Féile Fearann Rí mural unveiled
- Launch of Music Generation Cork City Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028
June
- Rock the Block, Cruinniú na nÓg 2025
- Cork City welcomes Music Generation Music Development Officers (MDOs) from across Ireland
- Launch of The Urgency of Music Research Report
July
- Summer Music Camps (TradCamp, BandCamp & Kabin Studio Camps)
- Bohemians FC x Oasis Jersey – MGCC announced as a beneficiary
September
- Culture Night 2025
- After-school clubs – Open to new members
- MGCC x NYCI Project – original song composition and recording project with The Hut CDYS, Mayfield Foróige and Mahon Foróige
October
- Arts Week at Blarney Street CBS
- Hoedown Showdown at The Hut CDYS / Cross-project collaboration
- The Kabin Studio – Autumn News (including Christy, Gealtra, Kabin Eile, Sound of the Northside and more)
- MG National Musician Educators’ Day with keynote from Dame Evelyn Glennie
December
- Christmas Performances at Corkmas 2025
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Mahon Community Concert Band at Cork Opera House
February
We were delighted to start the year by accepting an invitation from the Irish National Opera to perform as part of their Open Foyer concert series. Mahon Community Concert Band and their musician-educators performed a wonderful set of tunes at Cork Opera House before the opera ‘Die Fledermaus’. Well done to all involved! Presented in partnership with Cork Academy of Music.
Tinderbox Collective & ROAM
February
On Sat Feb 15th, the 21-piece hip hop/brass/trad/folk Tinderbox Collective Orchestra from Glasgow performed at the Firkin Crane, and featured a fantastic collaboration with Creative Tradition and The Kabin Studio! They also presented a free music-making workshop and performance in Hollyhill Library. Presented in partnership with Cork City Council.
These events formed part of Cork City Council’s ROAM Arts Project, which was supported by the Creative Ireland Programme under its Health and Wellbeing pillar in collaboration with the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Arts and Cultural Engagement programme.
Full details HERE.
The Kabin Studio honoured with civic reception
February
In February, Garry McCarthy and all the team at the The Kabin Studio were honoured by Lord Mayor of Cork city, Cllr Dan Boyle with a civic reception in Cork City Council Lord Mayor’s chambers. Richly deserved recognition for the incredible work that has been happening at the Kabin over the last 12 years.
A civic reception is one of the most esteemed forms of recognition that can be awarded by Cork City Council, with the ‘freedom of the city’ being the only higher form. An amazing achievement! We’re so proud of Garry and all involved, and to have been part of the Kabin’s journey from the beginning. Maith sibhse go léir!
St Patrick’s Day Parade
March
The Kabin Studio’s civic reception was closely followed by the announcement that they would be the 2025 Grand Marshalls at the Cork City St. Patrick’s Day Parade. They led the parade with high energy sass, moves, rapping and fun!
The talented brass, wind and percussion players of Barrack Street Senior Band, Junior Band and the Mahon Community Concert Band also performed in the parade, impressing the crowd of thousands with a lively mix of familiar tunes! Well done all!
Photo by Clare Keogh
‘The Spark’ wins the RTÉ Choice Music Prize
March
In March, the hugely exciting news was announced that ‘The Spark’ by the Kabin Crew and Lisdoonvarna Crew had won the RTÉ Choice Music Prize ‘Irish Song of the Year’!
This global sensation took the country and the world by storm. With nearly 3 billion hits online, it was the anthem of 2024! Adding to it’s magic is the class video (below) shot by SwaniGuess, which captures the vibrancy and fun of this amazing young crew of music-makers.
We couldn’t be more proud of all involved!!
2025 Cork Lifelong Learning Festival
March
As part of Cork’s annual lifelong learning festival this year, we were delighted to present gamelan workshops at Hollyhill Library (with UCC), a trad session with Creative Tradition and rap & beats workshops with The Kabin Studio.
Féile Fearann Rí 2025
April
In April, Féile Fearann Rí returned for it’s 3rd year, presenting 4 days of traditional Irish & folk music workshops, recitals, sessions and concerts, storytelling and dance (April 9th – 12th). This year’s special guest artist was the wonderful local music legend John Spillane! He even debuted his beautiful original song ‘Farranree’ and performed it with the local children and musicians of the locality at the very special gala concert in Farranree Church. Scroll down to watch the Féile highlights video ( by videographer Fionn Mulvey)
“You know I love you still, as long as stars are shining over Spangle Hill” – John Spillane (Farranree lyrics)
The Saturday of the festival featured a more intimate concert with John full of gorgeous songs and laughter, as well as an inspiring trad music masterclass with the legendary Matt Cranitch, and a lovely relaxed youth trad session. Other festival highlights included a trad session at Maureen’s pub, a sean-nós singing workshop and more!
We want to say a huge thank you to everybody involved in making this festival happen, in particular our festival director Jessie Cawley, with her immense creative vision and dedication! Well done to everyone of all ages who performed or took part in any way.
Féile Fearann Rí is presented by Creative Tradition , Music Generation Cork City, Musical Neighbourhoods, Scoil Íosagáin, Scoil Aiseirí Chríost, Farranree Parish, Cork City Libraries, and community groups like The Kabin Studio. Supported by the Arts Council and Cork City Council Arts Office. Full info at http://creativetradition.ie/feile
Photos by Fionn Mulvey & Michael Meade
Féile Fearann Rí mural
May
Inspired by the creativity of Féile Fearann Rí and wanting to share the joy and keep the festival spirit alive well beyond for 4 days of the festival, we commissioned local artist Kevin O’Brien to create one of his unique electrical box murals. Unveiled in May, we were absolutely delighted with the finished piece!
Launch of Music Generation Cork City Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028
May
On May 13th, we officially launched our Music Generation Cork City Strategic Plan 2024-2028 at a special event in Tramore Road Campus, and were delighted to be joined by many of our local stakeholders, our community music partner providers, our musician educators and other colleagues.
A highlight of this unique gathering was a performance by the amazing Ciara Curtin from Music Mash Up ( Foróige Mayfield ) , who wowed the crowd with an outstanding set. Ciara epitomises the spirit of our programme and shared some heartfelt insights into what Music Generation means to her – a truly moving moment in the afternoon’s proceedings.
A special word of thanks to Liz, Lynda and all the team in Tramore Road Campus for hosting our launch. It’s such a great space, the new theatre on campus!
You can read the strategic plan HERE. Hard-copy booklets are available from our office – feel free to get in touch if you would like one!
Photos by Clare Keogh
Rock the Block, Cruinniú na nÓg 2025
June
What an amazing day we had on June 7th! To celebrate Cruinniú na nÓg , we were very proud to co-present ‘Rock the Block 2025’ in the gorgeous setting of St. Anne’s Park under Shandon Bells.
A collision of genres, an explosion of sounds and a meeting of minds, Rock the Block 2025 was a full day of free music-making, performances, beat-boxing and breakdancing and open mics with local young artists from across the city. The event featured special guest artists Cian Mulcahy (breakdancer) Lamar (beatboxer) and fantastic headliners Mankyy and Hazey Haze who has been storming his way through the rap and hip-hop world!
Rock the Block 2025 was presented by Music Generation Cork City, The Kabin Studio, Musical Neighbourhoods. Supported by Cork City Council and CreativeIrl. Also with thanks to Cork City Libraries and to our partner providers Creative Tradition Foróige The Hut Youth Project CDYS Youth Work Ireland Music Mash Up Cork Barrack Street Band Cork Academy of Music Cork Education and Training Board
Photos by Clare Keogh and Darragh Kane
Cork City welcomes Music Generation Music Development Officers (MDOs) from across Ireland
June
Each year, the Music Generation National Development Office hosts a 3-day summer residential meeting for Music Development Officers (MDOs) from across Ireland, and we were delighted that Cork city was selected as the host location for this year.
On June 17th, we welcomed the delegation with a special reception at the Clayton Silver Springs Hotel, featuring a performance by the young people from The Kabin Studio, and at which we launched our Urgency of Music report (more on that in next section below).
As part of the residential, we invited the group on a site visit to the city’s northside on June 19th to get a flavour of what we and our partners and schools do, and to experience the heart of what makes our programmes so special.
Special thank you to our site visit hosts Angela Hannon, Executive Librarian at Hollyhill Library, Dr. Kelly Boyle and Dee Gannon from the Cork Community Gamelan (in partnership with UCC) , GMCBeats @gmcbeats and all at @thekabinstudio for the tour and for the new Music Gen rap anthem. Thanks to Dr Jessie Cawley for the wonderful presentation and for gathering the forces for a mini Féile Fearann Rí @feile_fearannri and to all of the incredible staff and young musicians at @scoil.aiseiri.chriost and @scoil_iosagain_farranree plus special Guest Artist of the year @johnspillanemusic! Thank you also to every one of our partners and supporters for showing such warm and welcoming hospitality at our opening reception including @musicgenerationireland @corketb @corketbyouthservices @corkcitycouncil, Lord Mayor @thedanboyle, our colleagues at @tramoreroadcampus @irishhealthservice @universitycollegecork @mtu_ie
Photos by Michael Meade
Launch of The Urgency of Music Research Report
June
In June we launched ‘The Urgency of Music’, our new action research report and website!
You’ll find it all online at: www.musicgenerationcorkcity.com/the-urgency-of-music
About the report:
With funding from the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal, MGCC initiated a research and development project to address barriers to access to creative music-making and self-expresssion, and to augment our partnerships with groups that work with marginalised youth.
Our research set out to develop and implement action research projects with:
- young people with autism / on the autism spectrum, expanding on learning from current provision in two schools with ASC units
- Cork Traveller Visibility Group and STAR (Supporting Travellers and Roma) to address gaps in music provision for Traveller and Roma youth and identify barriers to participation in existing programmes
- Cork Migrant Centre to identify and address ongoing barriers to music participation for youth in Direct Provision and among migrant communities
We now invite you read the report, and to explore the fabulous photos, videos and songs from these projects on the Urgency of Music website: www.musicgenerationcorkcity.com/theurgency-of-music
#RTEToyShowAppeal Music Generation Ireland @Creative Tradition The Kabin Studio Cork @MIC Cork Migrant Centre Cork Traveller Visibility Group Ltd
Summer Music Camps 2025
July
There was fun and excitement in the air throughout July, as we saw the return of our annual summer music camps! This year’s programme (for children & young people aged 6 – 18 years old) included:
- TradCamp – for all young trad musicians (with at least one year of playing a trad instrument) – in partnership with @Creative Tradition
- Cork Summer Band Camp – for young brass, wind and percussion players (in partnership with @corkbarrackstreetband )
- The Kabin Studio Cork summer camps for any children & young people who would like to rap, sing, write their own songs, produce, record and perform
All the camps are fantastic opportunities for creative expression, learning, performing, and making new friends, led by teams of exceptional musician-educators! We’re looking forward to next summer already!
MGCC summer camps 2025 were supported by:
@Cork College of FET -Tramore Road Campus Musical Neighbourhoods Scoil Aiséirí Chríost @Cork City Council
And here’s a traditional music treat for you! – As part of Jason Turk’s ‘Seaboard Sundays’ series, the talented team of Tradcamp Musician-Educators filmed this lovely performance on the last day of camp: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLxuYINCNgD/
Bohemians FC x Oasis Jersey – MGCC announced as a beneficiary
July
In July, Dublin’s Bohemian Football Club and Oasis came together to launch a new FAI Cup 2025 jersey and chose to donate a percentage of the profits to six programmes of Music Generation Ireland, including ourselves here in Cork City!
We are beyond thrilled to have been chosen, along with Music Generation Dublin City , Music Generation Mayo , Music Generation Limerick City , Music Generation Laois and Music Generation Waterford
Ps – nice to see the legend Paul Weller lending his support with this class video below!
Jerseys can be ordered via the Boh’s website here: https://www.shop-bohemianfc.com/
Culture Night 2025
September
Every year for Culture Night, the city opens its doors welcoming the public in to experience a wide range of exciting cultural events and spaces, and we are always very proud to be a part of this!
This year (Sept 19th) we invited the people of Cork to come and join us in Knocknaheeny for gamelan workshops at Hollyhill Library and rap & beats workshops, open mic session, performances, and a trad session at The Kabin Studio! Details and poster here: https://musicgenerationcorkcity.com/culture-night-2025/ Presented in partnership with The Kabin Studio Cork , Creative Tradition , Music At UCC , Musical Neighbourhoods and Cork City Libraries
Culture Night is a special chance to get a glimpse into the musical worlds that make up such important parts of our programme. What’s not to love about this annual celebration of creativity, innovation and collaboration!
Seán Downey (SwanIGuess) captured all of the magic from the night in THIS video here and the young people of the Kabin also performed live at the Coal Quay on RTÉ 1 for their Culture Night TV special !
After-school clubs – Open to new members
September
September saw the return of all MGCC programmes after the summer break, and this included re-opening the doors to our after-school clubs across Cork city. New members are always welcome to join at any time of year.
Joining a community music group is a fantastic fun way to make new friends, learn music and to perform at exciting concerts, festivals and events! From rap & beats, to brass & wind and from traditional Irish music to rock & pop, there is something for everyone! Take a look at our poster here for full details: https://musicgenerationcorkcity.com/after-school-music-groups-2025-26/
Presented in partnership with: @creative_tradition @thekabinstudio @corkacademy @corkbarrackstreetband @foroige @cdys_thehut @musicalneighbourhoods @corketbyouthservices @musicgenerationireland
MGCC x NYCI Project at Sounds from a Safe Harbour
September
Sounds from a Safe Harbour is a very special music & arts festival which takes place in Cork every second September, and is a vibrant innovative mix of music, language, art and ritual. This year, through a partnership formed with NYCI (National Youth Council of Ireland), an opportunity was developed for a group of talented young musicians and songwriters from MGCC programmes to attend and engage with the festival, including attending the premiere of Netflix film ‘Steve’ and a post-show Q&A with Tim Mielants (director) , Max Porter(writer), Jay Lycurgo (actor) and Cillian Murphy (actor/producer), in conversation with John Kelly (Lyric FM/RTÉ) and concerts by The Barr Brothers (US/Canada) and Memorial (England).
Inspired by their experience, and as an extension of this collaborative musical project beyond the festival, this group of young musicians have been recording two of their own original songs in professional recording studios (The Lab and Kitten Lane) supported by their musician-educators. Their music is due for release in early 2026 – so stay tuned!
This project is a partnership between MGCC, NYCI, Foróige Mayfield UBU, Foróige Mahon UBU and The Hut Youth Project CDYS.
Arts Week at Blarney Street CBS
October
Each October, Blarney Street CBS has been running their annual Music Week in the school, and this year they expanded to include art and drama as well as music, and re-named it Arts Week!
We’re very proud to have been part of this through our involvement in the Blarney Street School Brass Band (in partnership with Cork Academy of Music), led by Musician-Educator Mick Long and Blarney Street school teacher and musician Brenda Griffin.
Have a read of this brilliant article in The Echo written by Brenda all about the value of music and about Arts Week 2025: https://www.echolive.ie/corkviews/arid-41722938.html
‘Hoedown Showdown’ at the Hut / Cross-project collaboration
October
In 2025, young musicians from three Music Generation Cork City groups have been coming together to collaborate, create music together, make new friends and have fun! – Foróige Mahon UBU, Foróige Mayfield UBU (Music Mash Up) and The Hut CDYS.
The young people from some of these projects first collaborated in 2024 when they composed their original song ‘Music in our Home’ and performed it at the Child Poverty and Well-being Summit at Dublin Castle, hosted by An Taoiseach Simon Harris. https://musicgenerationcorkcity.com/child-poverty-and-well-being-summit/
This year, the young people were keen to continue collaborating with each other and to connect with more young musicians from different parts of the city, and so the idea was formed by musician-educators Rory, Stephen and Amy of planning 3 fun relaxed music collab evenings, each with its own unique theme!
- The first was a Billie Eilish themed event in Mahon Foróige UBU during the summer
- The second was the ‘Hoedown Showdown’ evening in October held at The Hut CDYS in Gurranabraher and had a country music theme
- The third event will be in December in Mayfield Foróige UBU and will have an Irish Artists theme
These events are fantastic evenings showing the positivity, collaboration, creativity and energy that young people bring when given the space to express themselves through music.
Thank you to all involved in making these events happen – the youth workers, musician-educators and of course the young people!
The Kabin Studio – Autumn News
September – December
The Kabin Studio was full of excitement in recent months! Here are some of their Autumn highlights:
- Christy
The brilliant film Christy was released in cinemas nationwide on August 29th and stars so many talented young actors who have been part of The Kabin Studio Cork , GMCBeats and Music Generation Cork City in Knocknaheeny over the years – including lead actor Danny Power, Cara Cullen, and many more. See who you can spot in the trailer HERE!
- Garry – Cork Person of the Month
In September, Garry McCarthy, Creative Director of The Kabin Studio was awared the title of ‘Cork Person of the Month’ – a hugely deserving winner, well done Garry! Full details HERE.
- Kabin Eile – Official Opening
On October 29th , the Kabin Eile (the Kabin Studio’s brand new creative space – also known as the Kabin 2dio!) was officially opened!
The ribbon was cut by Lord Mayor of Cork City Fergal Dennehy together with members of The Kabin Studio Youth Council. Other dignitaries attending included Cllr. Tony Fitzgerald , Cllr Brian McCarthy & Cllr. Garrett Kelleher, along with representatives from Cork City Council , Apple Cork , among others. The sun shone, the music flowed and the new mural from artist Shane O’Driscoll looked resplendent in the Northside horizon.
Excited to see what magic emerges from this new space.
Go n’éirí libh, gach éinne!
- Gealtra
On November 7th, Gealtra a new documentary by Brendan Canty all about The Kabin Studio had its world premiere at Cork Film Festival:
“Set in the vibrant heart of Knocknaheeny on the Northside of Cork City – this vibrant documentary captures the creative spark inside The Kabin Studio, a youth-run creative hub where music, poetry and the Irish language collide. Guided by rapper and spoken-word artist Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin, a group of teenagers channel personal histories and cultural pride into original work that speaks to identity, belonging and resilience. More than just a recording studio inside a metal container, The Kabin emerges as a sanctuary of self-expression and solidarity, showing creativity’s power to reshape how young people see themselves and their language, and their world.”
- Sound of the Northside
The Sound of the Northside is a very special collaboration between The Kabin Studio and the Irish National Opera (INO) where original music is performed with a live orchestra. Originally staged at The Everyman in July 2024 (highlights reel HERE), Cork audiences will now get another chance to see this award-winning show on 12th December 2025 at the Curtis Auditorium at MTU Cork School of Music (this time without backing tracks – everything will be performed fully live by the INO Orchestra!).
The Sound of the Northside’ is a collaboration between the Kabin Studio and INO and was originally facilitated and supported by The Everyman. The concert is a Young Ensemble Scheme project supported by the Arts Council.
Music Generation National Musician Educators’ Day with keynote from Dame Evelyn Glennie
October
On October 30th, the Music Generation National Development Office presented the annual Musician-Educators Gathering in the Castleknock Hotel, Dublin. We were delighted to travel up to this fantastic event attended by Musician-Educators, Music Development Officers, Resource Workers and Administrators from all across Ireland.
The event was opened by renowned musician and educator Pete Churchil and included inspiring conversations with acclaimed percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, a live interactive “Big Sing” led by Churchill and more. For details and photos from the day, see HERE.
Photo by Dave Keegan
Christmas Performances at Corkmas
December
Corkmas – Cork’s city’s Christmas Celebration returns for 2025, and we can’t wait! If you’re in town on Dec 7th and 13th, keep your eyes and ears open for our young MGCC musicians:
Mahon Community Concert Band and Barrack Street Youth Band
- When: Sunday 7th December, 5.20pm
- Where: Counting House Plaza Stage (at Beamish and Crawford), South Main St
Young brass & wind musicians from Mahon Community Concert Band and Barrack Street Youth Band will come together for a very special performance at Corkmas! These young musicians range in age from 10 to 18 years old, and will perform a wonderful varied selection of familiar tunes and Christmas classics! Presented in partnership with Music Generation Cork City and Cork Academy of Music. Supported by Cork City Council.
Club Ceoil Knocknaheeny
- When: Saturday 13th December (12 – 1pm)
- Where: Corkmas at Emmet Place, Cork City
The young musicians of Club Club Ceoil Knocknaheeny present a traditional Irish music Christmas performance as part of Corkmas, Cork’s Christmas Celebration. Presented by Creative Tradition in partnership with Music Generation Cork City. Supported by Cork City Council.
More Christmas Concerts!
As well as Corkmas, there will also be lots of wonderful Christmas performances in local communities and schools across the city – for a full list (with details regularly being added), see: https://musicgenerationcorkcity.com/christmas-concerts-2025/
2025 – What a year!
So there you have the run down of all the highlights of our year, and that is all ON TOP OF all the incredible work that takes place every week in schools and community settings across the city! Well done to every single child and young person involved, to all of our funders, supporters, and to all of our incredible musician-educators and providers who work together to make these events happen!