Kate Hearne, a second year student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, says the concert is "a brilliant way to end the year". The Shaw Room at the National Gallery of Ireland was hushed and packed for a concert by 10 students who performed and competed for the Royal Liver Assurance Millennium Bursary. "We're ending on a high note," she says. Her father, Bill Hearne, a music teacher at Crumlin's Rosary College, was in the audience to hear her play the recorder.
Richard Sweeney, a third-year degree student in music performance, played a suite in D minor on his lute, while also marking his 22nd birthday. Kate Ellis, from Essex in England, was nervous, but delighted to perform.
Enjoying the wine reception after the performance was Colm Mac Athlaoich, from Portmarnock, a trumpeter, who will be one of the musicians to represent Ireland in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics, in September.
At the end of the night, the winner of the bursary was announced as Austrian-born Kathrin Lenzenweger, a violin student, who played Mozart's Concerto in D major.