Laois School of Music comes of age with celebration in Portlaoise

Laois School of Music (LSM) celebrates a milestone 21st Birthday with a weekend of live music performances in October in St. Peter's Church, Market Square, Portlaoise when the newly refurbished Laois Music Centre will also be officially opened.

Appropriately, the music will be at the forefront of the celebration of the school which has had a big impact thousands of people in the past two decades.

St Peter's Church on Market Square in the town is the venue for two concerts on Saturday and Sunday, October 22 and 23.

A LSM Ensembles Concert is the big event on Saturday. Starting at 7pm it features LSM Junior Youth Orchestra, MGL/LSM Chamber Group, LSM Musician Educators and LSM Alumni Elliot Murphy (Cello) and Erin Dollard (Soprano). 

A LSM Piano Recital is Sunday's show. Beginning at 4pm it features the LSM Tutors Mary Wisely, Tatyana Vykhodtseva and past pupils David Vesey, Emmett Malone and Jonathan Murray. 

LSM is now in it’s 21st year and has established itself as the leading centre of music excellence across the midlands, providing a creative and nurturing environment for children and young people of all ages.   

The concerts will be preceded on Friday at 6pm with the official opening of the newly refurbished Laois Music Centre, Church Avenue, Portlaoise. Located in the former Scoil Mhuire national school, it is now the home to both LSM and Music Generation Laois. 

The School of Music was established in 2001 under the governance of the Arts Office of Laois County Council and in partnership with the then Laois VEC, along with funding partner The Arts Council of Ireland. Laois School of Music provides high quality, life-long music education in a variety of instruments, and ensemble opportunities.  

LSM played a central role in securing a Music Generation programme for the County, and since Music Generation Laois was established in 2012, these two organisations work in tandem.

The Laois School of Music Beginner Orchestra + Guests at the Dunamaise Arts Centre in February 2022. Picture: Alf Harvey.

In 2018, Laois County Council purchased the former Scoil Mhuire building in Portlaoise, to house both Music Generation Laois (MGL) and Laois School of Music (LSM), and in 2019 both LSM and MGL programmes moved under the governance of Laois and Offaly ETB, and continues to be supported by Laois County Council. 

Both MGL and LSM are now firmly established in Laois Music Centre, a vibrant music building in the Portlaoise Cultural Quarter that welcomes over 750 students each week. 

LSM also has a vibrant adult student population, with this commitment to life-long learning contributing to the attractiveness of Laois as a place to live, and the sense of a cultural community in the county. 

Cutting the cake at the Laois School of Music Gala 10th.Birthday Concert at the Dunamaise Arts Centre, were: Maebh Aine Ni Dhugaigh, Nual Kelly (LSM Co- ordinator) , John Davidson (Teacher - LSM) , Eimear Corri, Eada Hogan and Meghan Flanagan - Senior Ensomble members and Muireann Ni Chonaill (Arts Officer -Laois County Council). Photo: Michael Scully .

The school has a dedicated staff of 15 professional Music Tutors and offers expert tuition from age 3 to adult in a range of instrumental programmes including piano, woodwind, strings, percussion, as well as Kindermusic and Pre-Instrumental classes, vocal training and Music Theory which includes Junior & Leaving Cert Music.  

LSM also have a dedicated Orchestral Department which includes the Laois School of Music Junior Youth Orchestra and Chamber Group. Laois School of Music is also a local exam centre in the midlands for RIAM and ABRSM exam bodies, hosting hundreds of exam students each year. 

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LSM and Music Generation Laois have worked in a creative and resourceful way to continue to deliver a high-quality music education programme for the County, and the skills and resilience developed over this time will be of great assistance in future developments of both organisations.

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The weekend of events is presented by Laois School of Music and Music Generation Laois in association with Laois County Council, as part of the Local Live Performance Programme. 

Admission is free but admission, tickets available at www.dunamaise.ie 

The events are funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media