RDS Music Awards

With a prize fund of €23,000 across three prizes, the RDS Music Awards Programme assists young professional musicians with cash awards and professional performance opportunities. 

The RDS Music Bursary Award consists of a €15,000 bursary and two professional performance engagements and will be awarded annually. The Bursary is paid in two instalments of €7,500.

The Bursary is to enable the winner to further their professional career. The prize money may be used only for travel / accommodation / fees (to assist in further study, competition, and master classes), the purchase of music or a musical instrument, or the repair of a musical instrument. Personal expenditure will not be paid.

To be eligible to attend the RDS Music Awards interview candidates must have won a selected senior Feis Ceoil competition in the same year [Morris Grant Bursary (Piano), Gervase Elwes Cup (Vocal), Mc Cullough Cup (Woodwind), Senior Brass Recital (Brass) and the Aileen Gore Cup (Strings)] and be attending or have completed a third level music degree or be studying at a similar level with a recognised teacher in Ireland or abroad.

Former winners of the RDS Music Awards are not eligible to reapply.

The eligible applicants are required to complete a detailed online application form which will be emailed to them upon request.

The completed entry form must be returned to the RDS Arts Programme Manager before the stated date. Late applications will NOT be accepted.

Entry forms must be completed only by the applicant. Academic references are required on the form.

Candidates chosen for interview will be informed and invited to attend. There is a performance aspect to the interview process. A piano will be provided by the RDS; competitors will be required to bring their own instrument and to arrange their own piano accompanist, if required. A stipend will be paid to cover expenses incurred.

The RDS Arts Programme Manager will attend the interview as an observer.

The winner of the RDS Music Bursary will be announced at the conclusion of the judging day at a special event in the RDS.

The winner of the €5,000 RDS Jago Award which is the second prize in the competition is not precluded from winning the RDS Music Bursary in subsequent years.

The judges’ decision will be final. No correspondence will be entered into.

The winner will be required to give feedback over an agreed period of time to the RDS outlining the impact that winning the bursary had on their career and professional development. The winner must be available to return to the RDS to perform and speak at the RDS Music Bursary Presentation, in the RDS the following year.

The winner of the RDS Collins Memorial Performance Award is selected by the artistic director of the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival.

The 2025 RDS Music Awards judging panel chaired by Richard Yarr, (BBC Northern Ireland). The other four members of the panel are: Cathy Stokes (Concerts and Planning Manager National Symphony Orchestra), Pauline Ashwood, (Head of Planning, Irish National Opera) Ursula Hough Gormley, (Feis Ceoil Board Member/Musician) and Séamus Crimmins (RDS representative).

The Bursary is intended to assist a young professional musician develop their career through further study at home or abroad or for the purchase of a musical instrument. In addition to the €15,000 Bursary, the winner also receives a professional performance engagement with the National Symphony Orchestra and from 2022 in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris.

• 2025 Jane Sullivan
• 2024 Adam Buttimer
• 2023 Aidan Chan
• 2022 Megan O'Neill
• 2021 Phoebe White
• 2020 Ava Dodd
• 2019 Kevin Jansson
• 2018 Killian White
• 2017 Sarah Brady
• 2016 Aoife Gibney
• 2015 Patrick Rafter
• 2014 Clara Daly Donnellan
• 2013 Kelley Lonergan
• 2012 Máire Carroll
• 2011 Róisín Walters
• 2010 Joseph Ryan
• 2009 Patrick Hughes
• 2008 Maria Ryan
• 2007 Anna Devin
• 2006 Sarah Power
• 2005 Aisling Seery
• 2004 Mairead Buicke
• 2003 Redmond O'Toole

Thanks to the generous support of Tom and Ann Jago, the Bursary now has a second award of €5,000: the RDS Jago Award. This award also comes with a performance opportunity with  the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. 

• 2025 Senan Sheridan
• 2024 Ben Gannon
• 2023 Margot Maurel
• 2022 Mollie Wrafter
• 2021 Antonia Huang
• 2020 Séamus Hickey
• 2019 Amy Gillen
• 2018 Christopher Moriarty
• 2017 Miriam Kaczor

This award is a performance award exclusively for past RDS Music Bursary winners. Created thanks to the support of Michael and Loret O'Brien, the RDS Collins Memorial Performance Award is in association with the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. The winner is given a performance opportunity at the Festival which usually takes place in June annually in Lismore, Co. Waterford. 

• 2026 Jane Sullivan
• 2025 Adam Buttimer
• 2024 Aidan Chan
• 2023 Megan O'Neill
• 2022 Phoebe White
• 2021 Ava Dodd
• 2020 Kevin Jansson
• 2019 Killian White
• 2018 Máire Carroll
• 2017 Patrick Rafter

"The RDS Music Bursary has been transformative to my professional development as a musician. The monetary aspect of the prize enabled me to move to London and fund my Masters of Vocal Performance in The Royal College of Music, the top conservatoire for performing arts in Europe. I would not have been able to do this had I not received this hugely generous funding. The Performance opportunities that come with the award are exceptional and have given me the chance to perform in many prestigious venues. I am incredibly proud to now be an ambassador both for this bursary and the RDS itself." - Ava Dodd, Soprano, RDS Music Bursary Winner 2020 and RDS Collins Memorial Performance Award Winner 2021.

Please contact arts@rds.ie