The courses/tours normally take the format of residential rehearsals followed by one or more concerts.  During the first days the players will work with professional players of their instruments, then move on to sectional rehearsals, e.g. upper strings, woodwind, etc and then the conductor arrives to take full orchestral rehearsals.  After that the orchestra will perform one or more concerts in different venues in Ireland (usually one concert at Christmas and three in the Summer).

As you will see from the table below the format for the over-18 ensemble's course in the Spring is slightly different with non-residential rehearsals taking place over one weekend in February with a 3 concert tour the following weekend.