11 days of unmissable music to look forward to at Kilkenny Arts Festival

The 52nd Kilkenny Arts Festival kicks off on Thursday and attendees have a packed calendar of events to look forward to over the eleven-day programme.

Artists from around Ireland and the world will gather to perform and collaborate, creating musical memories in venues and spaces around the city. 

Just some of the highlights will include: Aoife Ní Bhriaín and Cormac McCarthy who first played together at KAF in 2022 and went on to create an album together. They take the music they grew up with and mould it into something unique which can be seen at the Set Theatre on August 10.

Superb contemporary, classical violinists and traditional fiddlers Maria Ryan and Lucia Mac Partlin will play as a duo at Cleere’s on the 11th and also as part of Irish music ensemble, Strung, at St. John’s Priory on the same day.

At the Set on August 13, RÓIS will blend elements of folk, sean-nós, electronic and jazz harmony into a sound that transports listeners to a different realm.

Anna B Savage and her warm, tremulous voice has earned rave reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone and will take the stage at Cleere’s on the 14th.

At the same venue on the following day, champion button accordionist with a deep appreciation for traditional music, Danny O’Mahony, will be joined by Martin Hayes.

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Cleere’s will also host Sudden Wells that day, a four-piece band which combines the lyrical quality of Michael Gallen’s singing and piano playing with pulsating arrangements ahead of their debut album that comes out later this year.

Dug is made up of Lorkin O’Reilly and Johnny Pickett whose sound draws inspiration from both Irish and American traditional music. Their first single was shortlisted for two Grammy nominations and you can catch them at the Set on August 16.

A special festival residency will see Kate Ellis and Francesco Turrisi give audiences the chance to both witness collaborations evolving off-stage in the rehearsal room, and on stage in a series of performances from August 8-13 also at the Set.

Two highlights of this will be Colin Dunne, Joanna Mattrey, Kate Ellis and Francesco Turrisi where Joanna is to open the performance with solo viola pieces including the Irish premieres of Nick Dunston’s, A Fleeting Once, and her own composition, Beholden. 

The four artists will then come together for a performance that blurs the boundaries between sound and movement, tradition and improvisation at the Set at 2pm on August 10.

Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Rakhi Singh and Simmy Singh, three musicians steeped in tradition but driven by curiosity, join Kate Ellis to create an alternative string quartet with the evening being opened by a solo performance from Colm at the Set at 2:30pm on the 13th.

To round out the festival, a special finale with Martin Hayes and Friends will take place at St. Canice’s Cathedral on August 16.

Another eclectic gathering of leading artists and musicians including Cormac McCarthy, Aoife Ní Bhriaín, Danny O’Mahony, Kate Ellis, Francesco Turrisi, Maria Ryan, Lucia Mac Partlin and singer Síle Denvir will all celebrate 11 days of musical innovation, collaboration and connections.

Booking is open online at kilkennyarts.ie, over the phone at 056 775 2175 or in-person at the festival box office at 76 John Street, Kilkenny.

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