Performing Arts Scholarships
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The Ad Astra Performing Arts Scholarship Membership has grown in number from 6 to 20 scholars. The group currently comprises of eight actors and twelve musicians. To have a better look at what is involved in the scholarships, then make sure to check out our behind the scenes videos of our Drama and Music Scholarship Programmes.
Ad Astra musicians and vocalists have performed as the Ad Astra Ensemble in numerous places abroad and in Ireland including: Newman University Church, the National Concert Hall, Christchurch Cathedral, Hugh Lane Gallery, the National Gallery, Strasbourg and the Irish Ambassadors Residence in Ottawa, Canada as part of their 2017 St Patrick's day celebrations.
In March 2019, the music scholars travelled to Strasbourg with the UCD Symphony Orchestra to take part in concerts organised by the Orchestre Universitaire de Strasbourg. The trip culminated in an ensemble of almost 150 student musicians performing Prokofiev’s Knight’s March from the ballet Romeo & Juliet in the Église Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune, which was conducted by the UCD Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Director, Ciarán Crilly. They also performed a chamber music recital at the Church of St Guillaume.
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Several of the Ad Astra music scholars have performed with the UCD Symphony Orchestra and Bootleg Beatles in Bord Gais Energy Theatre. The Performing Arts scholars have also collaborated as a group on performance pieces such as Yeats' At the Hawk's Well – a blend of dance, theatre, and musical performance.
The Ad Astra drama scholars have had many opportunities to perform. In 2017, they held a Pop-up Theatre Festival over three days. The festival took place in different locations across campus and included extracts of Constellations by Nick Payne, The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien and Nuclear War by Simon Stephens. In 2018, they held a Theatre Lab week, where members of the UCD community were invited along to participate in workshops, performances and talks, that included Designing with Light, What is Dramaturgy, Developing New Work and more. In 2020 during Covid-19 restrictions, they created Isolations, which was a series of on-line short works created and performed by the Ad Astra Drama scholars in collaboration with Ad Astra Artistic Director Kellie Hughes
Hear from our Performing Arts Scholarship students as they speak about their time in the programme, and the benefits they got from it.
See more about the events our Performing Arts musicians take part in here
