Redemptorist Centre of Music

A journey through time with classical guitarist Aleksandra Lucic


Teacher at the Redemptorist Centre of Music (RCM) and performer Aleksandra Lucic will be giving a solo performance at a lunch time concert in St Mary’s Cathedral on September 18.

From Croatia, Aleksandra is a classical guitarist, “I started to play guitar when I was ten years old in the music school, and since my first touch with the guitar, I knew that music and especially guitar would always be my main subject, my passion and love”.

Performer and Teacher at the RCM Aleksandra Lucic

Aleksandra who has a Diploma in Musical Arts said, “I was lucky to be supported by my parents, but I also had a very good guitar teachers.  I’m very proud that I can say that I was a student of Professor Mila Rakanovic, one of the leading guitar professors at that time in that part of Europe.

“I have performed numerous times in Croatia and all the rest of the states of Eastern Europe and won several prizes in International Guitar competitions in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

In 2016 Aleksandra moved to Limerick with her family, and since then has been working in the RCM as a guitar and ukulele teacher, where she teaches everything from classical to contemporary music, and shares her knowledge and more than 16 years of teaching experience with her students.

Following a recent well attended lunch time concert in The Granary Library, this will be Aleksandra’s first time performing in Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

The audience will be treated to a solo concert of classical music, and experience a sense of travelling through time and around the world as Aleksandra performs pieces spanning from the Baroque period to the 21st century.

The programme will include pieces by J.S.Bach, A.B.Mangorè from South America-Paraguay, and  F. Tarrega from Spain.

“After Spain we will travel to the United States in Tennessee with the composer Lawrence Long and then continue to South America through pieces by Antonio Lauro from Venezuela and Jorge Cardoso from Paraguay. For the end of the concert I will bring the audience back into Europe with the composer Roland Dyens from France.

“I’m very happy to work in the RCM where the environment is so friendly and all of the teachers are very talented. With this concert and the rest of them, that I intend to perform, I would like to show gratitude, and give a piece of me through the music to the RCM and the community of Limerick,” added Aleksandra.

The concert will take place at 1.15pm on Wednesday, September 18, at St Mary’s Cathedral.

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RCM Band give students a chance to perform, travel and be part of a community


The Redemptorist Centre of Music (RCM) band gives students an opportunity to perform, travel and take part in many social events, and with the new term starting the band will be gearing up for many performances over the next school year. 

However the band had one particularly memorable St Patrick’s weekend a couple of years ago when they braved wind and snow and gave their best to perform on the Ray Darcy show and then return to Limerick to take part in the international band competition the following morning.

RCM Band at St Patrick’s Parade in Limerick

Spirits were high as the band received a warm welcome from Limerick crowds as they paraded through Limerick to the school on Island road, where members then boarded the bus for Dublin to take part in the latest parade in the country on the Ray Darcy show.

The band received a warm welcome from RTE staff, and following a few rehearsals along with the other groups who were taking part, the parade went from blizzard snow conditions outside into the heat and bright lights of the studio.

Lining up for the Ray Darcy show

In the midst of the excitement and hustle and bustle, one member of the RCM band Oisín Dowling who according to his mum Barbara also a member of the band,  is a high functioning autistic 12 year old, had his dream come true when he met Ray Darcy.

Oisín with his Dad and Ray Darcy

“Ray Darcy will never know what he has done for my sons confidence, and well being. He hugged him, never recoiled when he wrapped his arms around Ray, he chatted with him and never made him feel like the child that is different. 

“Then Ray came down to every group before he went on air, and when he reached the RCM, he waved and said hello to everyone, wished them all luck, and then he spotted Oisin, and said ‘Hi Oisín’. From the child’s point, Ray is now his friend, from ours as parents, Ray didn’t just meet him, he remembered him and to the others in the RCM, you made Oisín special for all the right reasons,” said Barbara.

Teacher at the school and past Director Dr Shannon Burns said, “St. Patrick’s weekend and the International Band Parade are always a very special time for the band to get out into the public space and show people who we are and what we do. “This year, being invited to perform on the Ray D’Arcy Show just raised the level of excitement and pushed the band to perform at their very best. Bringing a band away is no easy task especially when something like this comes up at very short notice.

“The logistics of getting a band anywhere is difficult, but doing events like this brings the band closer together. I truly believe that banding and bonding make a huge difference in any group’s performance capabilities”.

RCM Band At RTE Studio

Formed in 2010 the band has approximately 50 members ranging in age from 7 to 60 years old, and according to conductor and musical director of the band Andrew Jordan, the ensembles were one of the main reasons the Centre of Music was established for music education but also for learning social skills and personal development of members.

Members and Teacher of the RCM Band and School

“It was great PR for the band but what’s more important is the whole experience of doing it for the social point of view. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see how television works, to see the studios, but  people would have chatted and mixed on that day that would never have spoken, and there was a lot of bonding.

“Because of the age group it’s a real little community, everybody just looks after each other, people know who to look out for. Students I taught are now teaching some of the younger kids so that’s how it works,” said Andrew.

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The Piano Lesson a Ken Wardrop Documentary interview with Mary O’Sullivan who features in the Film


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Limerick Musician and Actress Mary O’Sullivan and her students Heather Small (11) her sister Rachael (9) and Gráinne Lynch (14) from the Redemptorist Centre of Music, were featured in the Ken Wardrop documentary, The Piano Lesson, which premiered at the Irish Film Institute (IFI) Dublin, as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival (ADIFF) on Monday, February 20.

Internationally acclaimed, Multi-award winning director Ken, interviewed and filmed a number of Piano teachers and their students throughout Ireland for this unique production, and received an extended standing ovation at the end of the screening from a sold out venue.

“The way it’s shot and the moments that Ken catches are stunning, I think he has got an amazing talent, an amazing eye, he’ll let you see things and then it’s for you to judge how you felt.

“He captured people’s personalities. There’s really funny moments, where there’s the interaction between pupils and teachers, so many different characters, and it was interesting to see how involved parents are at different levels. As a teacher I’ve never gotten to see pupil’s at home, to see the part that music plays and how it slots into their life,” said Mary.

Though this is Mary’s first time seeing herself on the big screen and in a documentary, she is no stranger to the limelight and over the years has combined teaching piano with a flourishing acting career.

In 2015 while completing a Masters in Education and the Arts at Mary Immaculate College, she played Little Voice’s mother, in the College Players Theatre production of, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, at the Lime Tree Theatre.

Mary has studied at the Gaiety School of Acting, and worked as a professional actor in London. In 2010 she won Best Supporting Actress at the All Ireland Drama Festival, toured with Mirage Theatre playing the title part in Educating Rita, worked with Island Theatre, Shoestring Theatre, performed at the Riverside Studios, Edinburgh and London Fringe festivals, toured with College Player’s ‘Metamorphosis’ which won the All Ireland Drama Finals and then went on to represent Ireland at the International Drama Festival in Japan in 1995, and was Musical director when they represented Ireland at the International Drama Festival in Monaco. Mary has also worked on radio and television and composed music for an RTE documentary.

“I don’t like watching myself but you actually saw the real Heather and Gráinne, I was very proud and delighted for them. Heather was so excited, Gráinne so laid back, very natural in the film, they are both fantastic and really talented,” said Mary.

Growing up in a musical household as her mother was a piano teacher and a member of a well known band the Therant Sereneraders, Mary’s first piano lesson was when she was 8years, but from an early age she would have been curious and tinkled on the piano in the family home.

“I hope my students get enjoyment out of the lessons. There is the side where you can decide you want to achieve something at the end of the year which is the certificate, at least you have targets, but at the end of the day it’s a hobby and it’s a talent. The exams are an achievement but also, it’s nice just to be able to go away and relax and play the piano. That they look forward to going to the lessons,” added Mary.

Produced by Andrew Freedman, The Piano Lesson examines the special bond between piano teachers and their pupils, with over 30,000 students in Ireland preparing for exams each year, this funny, sensitive, touching film shows the students as they practice and prepare for exams, their struggles, and their teachers’ dedication.

Ken who studied filmmaking at the National Film School (NFS) at the Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT) Dún Laoghaire, has had his films screened at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, the Cork International Film Festival, and at festivals in the UK, Croatia, The Netherlands and Scandinavia.

In 2008, his work received the Grand Prix Award at Sapporo International Film Festival in Japan. His short film Undressing my Mother, won a European Film Academy Award, Special Jury Mention at Sundance and an IFTA for Best Short Film. His Documentary on Circumcision Ouch and Bongo Bong, were both nominated for an IFTA. Farewell Packets of Ten won Best Short Documentary at Toronto. His & Hers, his first feature debut won the Audience award at the Dublin International Film Festival, the Feature Award at the Galway Film Fleadh, an IFTA for Best Feature Documentary and the Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2010.

“It was a joy to be involved with this, these are really nice guys and so professional. He is fantastic, with all kens achievements he is such a nice down to earth genuine guy.

“I am really looking forward to the gala night in April, because it was lovely to go to the screening. We will get to talk to the people afterwards and maybe get to know the people a little bit better, because there were some really interesting characters in it, some fantastic kids,” added Mary.

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