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ROUND TEN GRANT APPLICATIONS
The Ulster Consort
ENSEMBLE INFO
Ensemble Contact:
Dr Ali Darragh
Email:
Ensemble Connect URL
UK Registered Charity No:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This project is to bring our two annual period-instrument performances of Handel Messiah to Northern
Ireland. Since 2023 we have given four performances of the work in Belfast, Newcastle (County Down)
and Enniskillen (County Fermanagh). On 28 and 29 November 2025 we have two further
performances taking place in Ballymena (County Antrim) and Holywood (County Down).
There is really only one other annual performance of Messiah in Northern Ireland, which is large-scale
(a full symphony orchestra, using modern instruments, and a chorus of 120 amateur singers), and
takes place in the Ulster Hall. The Ulster Consort is the only group using period instruments in
Northern Ireland for performances of Messiah, and our audiences are growing each year as people
experience a soundscape which is entirely new to them. Our performances take place in churches, in
the heart of communities. We use local professional singers, and whilst we aim to use as many local
period instrumentalists as possible, there are simply not have the players here, bar one or two, and so
we have found it necessary to ‘import’ the vast majority of the 16 players. This comes at an enormous
cost to us, with professional fees, porterage, flights, subsistence, and accommodation. Nevertheless,
we feel very strongly that the Northern Ireland audiences really deserve to hear this music performed
in an historically-informed way and using period instruments, despite the huge financial pressure to
use modern instruments.
Our audiences, whilst growing, are still relatively small and, in recent years, have (very unfortunately
for us) coincided with extreme weather complications. In 2023 our performances took place in an
extremely cold ‘beast from the east’ two-day snap, and in 2024 we battled with Storm Darragh, amid a
two-day weather warning of ‘not to travel’. This severely impacted our audience numbers, yet many
people still ventured out in an attempt to hear something which they would otherwise need to travel to
mainland UK or to Dublin to experience. We expect the audience numbers for 2024 to be 400 in
Holywood (County Down), and 450 in Ballymena (County Antrim). By Northern Ireland standards these
are huge audiences for a classical music event.
As yet, we have no plans to record or stream these concerts as we simply do not have the funds to
make this happen. We do, however, hope to employ a videographer for the purposes of future
promotion of our Messiah performances and of the Ulster Consort more widely.
In terms of the concert programmes, I have enclosed those of 2023 and 2024. These will be similar to
that which we will produce for the 28 and 29 November, 2025.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
As evidence of previous public performances, please see links to our two most recent Season brochures https://issuu.com/ulsterconsort/docs/ulster_consort_season_2025
https://issuu.com/ulsterconsort/docs/ulster_consort_season_2024
https://issuu.com/ulsterconsort/docs/ulster_consort_season_2023
Founded by internationally renowned conductor Matthew Owens, The Ulster Consort is Northern Ireland’s newest professional music ensemble and one of the very few professional vocal ensembles in the country. The large core of the Consort’s performers consists of Northern Irish singers, and singers based in Northern Ireland. The Ulster Consort Players are some of the UK’s finest specialist period instrumentalists, playing on historical instruments or modern copies. The Ulster Consort was created to raise the level of music making in Northern Ireland, to elevate the quality, and to provide opportunities for performance by professional musicians.
It was important part of the rationale to create work for professional musicians living in Northern Ireland, and to provide opportunities for all and the Consort is, therefore, dedicated to nurturing the current and next generations of Northern Ireland’s musicians through its educational and outreach programmes.
The ensemble’s energies are focused on concert performances of the finest works of the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods – working with period instruments and in an historically informed manner – through to the glorious smaller-scaled works of the Romantic era and the 20th century. It is also collaborating with some of Europe’s finest contemporary composers in concert and recordings. 2023 saw the first full season of the Consort and its first collaboration with the world-renowned Ulster Orchestra.
Over the past two years we have held nine major concerts using period instruments, ranging from Purcell Dido and Aeneas to Bach St John Passion, and from a concert featuring Handel’s Nine German Arias to four Messiah performances. In the vast majority of cases, audiences are hearing this repertoire for the very first time. It is also important for our singers, who are almost entirely local singers, to have the opportunity to work with our period instrumentalists. To date, in Northern Ireland, there has been next to no opportunity for singers to gain the experience of working with these instruments and in an historically-informed way.
The make-up of the Ulster Consort varies depending on the programme being performed. This could be anything from one singer and organ to 25 or more singers with full orchestra. We have a core of singers and often use many of the same players for each of our period instrument concerts, which allows the group to bond musically, and gives performers from Northern Ireland who now live in England the opportunity to come back and be part of high-level, ‘authentic’ music making back at home.
PROJECT COSTS
Number of performers:
Instrumentalists:
Vocalists:
Other:
Project Income (£):
Ticketing/Fees:
Public Funding:
Other trusts/foundations - confirmed
Other trusts/foundations - pending
Other
Income - Total sources
22000
6000
1200
29200
Project Expenses (£):
Artists' fees
Artists' travel/accommodation
Venue - Rehearsal/Concert:
Recording/Filming:
Marketing/Publicity:
Management/Contingency:
18788
12234
2080
499.81
780
2818
Total Project Costs:
37200
Amount (£) of Grant Requested:
8000
Detailed Budget (Download):
IMPACT OF GRANT
It is the Ulster Consort’s aim to raise the level of music making in Northern Ireland, to elevate the quality, and to provide opportunities for performance by professional musicians. One of our key focusses is to introduce as many audiences as possible to the joy and excitement of period-instrument performance. The people of Northern Ireland have significantly less access to high quality music performance than in the rest of the UK, and we are trying to address this through our programming.
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