Chamber Cherubs

Based on the well-loved Chamber Babies format, these concerts will offer a fun, relaxed, and slightly more interactive live classical experience for your not-so-little listeners.

The concerts are designed for pre-school children (ideal age 1–3); babies are welcome too!

Walk, sway, crawl, roll, dance or just chill out to a carefully selected programme of short classical pieces designed both to engage and enchant (or soothe to sleep!) the youngest listeners and their mums and dads.

Enjoy coffee and cake in The Crescent's cafe before or after the concert. Chamber Cherubs concerts last about 40 minutes.

If you are bringing more than one child, please make sure there is more than one adult in your party. 

Tickets are based on one adult and baby, please ensure additional tickets are purchased if there is more than one adult in your party.

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Award-winning Carrickfergus Soprano Susan Shepherd is a well-respected and much sought-after singing teacher and versatile performer. A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, Susan holds a First Class Honours degree and a Masters in Music. She is one of only a handful of people in Northern Ireland to hold a qualification in Vocal Pedagogy from the Voice Study Centre, where she studied under Dr Jenevora Williams, gaining a PGCert with Distinction. Susan has a real passion for music education and for helping young (and older) singers to develop the skills and confidence to use their voices. She has been running a thriving private teaching practice for over a decade, teaching both in local schools and from her home studio.

Susan has extensive performing experience both as a concert/recital soloist and in professional ensemble singing, and currently holds Soprano positions in The Ulster Consort, Northern Ireland Opera Chorus and Voices of Ireland. She was a member of Belfast Cathedral Choir under Matthew Owens, with whom she sang on two 5-star reviewed albums on the Resonus label. Susan’s solo engagements have included Soprano soloist in Handel Messiah, Bach Magnificat in D and Dixit Dominus, Purcell O Come Ye Sons of Art, Fauré Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria, Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Patrick Hawes Song of Songs, Mozart Requiem and Haydn Little Organ Mass. She has performed in operas such as Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, as well as Verdi’s Macbeth, Turandot, La Bohème and La Traviata, and was one of Andrea Bocelli’s backing singers at his recent concert in Belfast’s SSE arena.

Susan has also gained recognition in the world of academia and in 2018 she was selected to present her research paper on Music Performance Anxiety at the National Voice Geek Conference in London, speaking alongside some of the top vocal specialists in Britain and America. She released her debut album, ‘Inspiration’, in autumn 2016, in aid of The Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

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Tristan Russcher is one of the leading keyboard musicians on the island of Ireland. Born in Australia, he moved to England to read music as organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford. He moved to Dublin in 2003 as organ scholar at Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedral’s. Now living in Belfast, he enjoys a freelance career working with the best musical ensembles on the island.

Tristan is in high demand as a collaborative pianist, having worked with the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra, Sestina and the Ulster Orchestra. He has performed as piano soloist in major concerti by Bach, Beethoven, Gershwin, Grieg, Mozart and Shostakovich. He is fortunate to work closely with both NI Opera and the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin as a regular accompanist, répétiteur and vocal coach.

As an organist Tristan has worked extensively in the Anglican cathedrals in Dublin and Belfast and was Assistant Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin from 2007 to 2010. He has performed as organ soloist in major orchestral works by Duruflé, Handel, Leighton, Poulenc, Rheinberger, Saint-Saens and Widor. In 2012 he became only the seventh person to perform Francis Pott's epic two-hour organ symphony Christus, considered by many to be the 'Everest' of the organ repertoire, and gave the Northern Ireland premiere on the Mulholland organ in the Ulster Hall in the presence of the composer. He was Director of Music at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Dublin from 2011 to 2021, leading a choir of over fifty singers at services and concerts and on national and international tours. He has broadcast with RTÉ Lyric FM and BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 and recorded with numerous CD labels including Hyperion, Oxrecs, Priory and Signum.