Music Generation Musicians Join U2 for 50th Anniversary Performance at Mount Temple
32 young Music Generation musicians representing every county in Ireland took the stage with U2 to mark the band's 50th Anniversary on 25th September 2026.
Image: Maxwell Photography
27 March 2016, Dublin - Months of preparation, planning and rehearsals all over the country came to fruition on Easter Sunday with A Nation’s Voice, an open-air, free performance at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. The event saw the world premiere of 'One Hundred Years a Nation', a major new orchestral and choral work commissioned for the occasion by RTÉ from composer Shaun Davey, with text by writer Paul Muldoon.
A Nation’s Voice was presented by the Arts Council and RTÉ, in association with the National Museum of Ireland, the Association of Irish Choirs and Music Generation, as part of Ireland 2016.
More than 1000 voices - including 300 young singers from Music Generation partnerships - could be heard, from 31 choirs and 19 counties, from Cork to Donegal, as they joined with the full forces of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy. Some of the choirs, with singers ranging in age from 8 – 85, were formed especially for the occasion.
Also on the programme was Seán Ó Riada’s 'Mise Éire' Orchestral Suite, excerpts from 'The Connemara Suite' by Bill Whelan with soloists Helena Wood (violin), Zoë Conway (fiddle), and Colin Dunne (dance percussion), and a massed choir performance of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah.
A Nation’s Voice was presented by Miriam O’Callaghan and was broadcast live on Easter Sunday on RTÉ One, RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and on longwave. Audiences worldwide can enjoy A Nation's Voice, as the event is available on demand on RTÉ Player.
EDITORS' NOTES
Event information -
A Nation’s Voice
Sunday 27 March 2016, 2.30pm, The National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin
Part of Ireland 2016 and RTÉ 1916
Presented by the Arts Council and RTÉ, in association with the National Museum of Ireland, the Association of Irish Choirs and Music Generation, as part of Ireland 2016.
Programme information -
HANDEL, ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus from Messiah [5']
Ó RIADA, Mise Éire (Orchestral Suite) [9']
BILL WHELAN, from The Connemara Suite [16']*
The Currach and The Island Terns from Inishlacken / An Chistin from Carna
SHAUN DAVEY, One Hundred Years a Nation (text by Paul Muldoon) [22’] WORLD PREMIERE / RTÉ COMMISSION
Production credits -
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Helena Wood, violin
Zoë Conway, fiddle
Colin Dunne, dance percussion
Paul Muldoon, narrator
Choirs from the Association of Irish Choirs and Music Generation
David Brophy conductor
//ENDS
