Kilkenny Arts Festival Programme 2022

04-14 August 2022

kilkennyarts.ie

Dreams and discoveries in Ireland’s medieval city

Welcome to eleven days of artistic adventures in Ireland’s medieval city…

Introduction

We’re thrilled to welcome you to an exhilarating set of events and performances in the Marble City. Following two years of adapted festivals, this summer feels both like a rebirth and a continuation of what lies at the heart of Kilkenny Arts Festival: a desire to bring you artists that invigorate, intrigue and inspire.

While artists did all of these things and more in 2020 (KAFX) and 2021, live music was unavoidably rare. So it’s a joy to return to a full programme of music featuring Anne Sofie von Otter, Brooklyn Rider, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Chamber Choir Ireland, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Carducci String Quartet, Malcolm Proud, Ailish Tynan, Tara Erraught, the Rollercoaster Sessions, the Marble City Sessions with co-curator Martin Hayes and much more. We’re delighted to bring back the beloved Secret Garden Music series, free each day across special spaces in the city.

New commissions come fully into being this year, from Roisín ReImagined with Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and ICO to Linda Buckley’s new work for Liam Byrne and Crash Ensemble. Deirdre Gribbin’s new song cycle is premiered by Sharon Carty and ICO, while poet in residence Theo Dorgan and Colm Mac Con Iomaire bring their ambitious new bilingual work to the Watergate Theatre and Paula Meehan performs her response to Joyce’s Ulysses in the centenary year of its publication.

Kilkenny (Cill Chainnigh or the Church of Canice) offers the visitor one of Ireland’s most memorable architectural ensembles, as a vibrant living city still laid out along its ‘medieval mile’ from the castle to the cathedral. Its history stretches back 1,500 years to the arrival of Canice and his fellow monks to found a new monastic settlement on the hill where St Canice’s Cathedral still stands. Few festivals in the world can boast such atmospheric ancient spaces, echoing their history but ideal for performance and embracing the visitors and audiences of today.

St Canice’s Cathedral, 13th century

However special our musicians may be, there’s always an extra shiver down the spine when you hear their music reverberate in the magnificent acoustics of the second longest cathedral nave in Ireland with its glorious timbered ceiling. St Canice’s has been at the heart of the Festival since our first edition in 1974.

St Kieran’s College, 19th century

Established in 1782, St Kieran’s College was the first Catholic college in Ireland founded after Grattan’s Parliament had relaxed the penal laws. The magnificent neo-Gothic building was completed in 1836 and its quad provides the perfect space for outdoor performances.

The Black Abbey, 13th century

Founded in the 1220s by a group of Dominican friars, the Black Abbey takes its name from the black ‘cappa’ that friars wore over their white habits in the middle ages. Converted to a courthouse by James I, it was restored and reopened in the nineteenth century and has hosted many memorable Festival performances over the years.

Kilkenny Castle, 12th century

This imposing stronghold of the Ormondes and Chief Butlers of Ireland provides the Festival with a stunning space for talks and conversation in the lofty Parade Tower. Its magnificent demesne, the Castle Parklands, is an oasis of calm for locals and visitors alike in the heart of the medieval city, and also the location for many of our free performances for all ages.

St John’s Priory, 13th century

To step off busy John Street and into the intimate calm of the Priory (called ‘The Lantern of Ireland’ for its famous stained glass before Cromwell arrived!) creates the perfect atmosphere to discover music, whether much loved or never heard before.

Rothe House, 16th century

The last remaining example in Ireland of a renaissance merchant’s townhouse is one of Kilkenny’s ‘must sees’. During the Festival it buzzes with energy, and this year includes performances in its beautiful 17th-century merchant’s garden.

#IrelandsAncientEast

Festival Team

Festival Director

Olga Barry

Festival Producer

Marjie Kaley

Festival Administrator (Maternity Leave)

Valerie Ryan

Production Manager

Aidan Wallace

Our new production of Handel’s Semele with Opera Collective Ireland, directed by Patrick Mason, comes from the same creative team that wowed audiences with The Return of Ulysses in 2018; and Rough Magic bring their special alchemy to the Parklands of Kilkenny Castle for a new production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest directed by Lynne Parker. Eszter Némethi’s Speak Like No One in Particular will challenge audiences to explore the ways in which we ‘other’ each other, and in Callan we get a peek at the development of The Local, a major new sitesensitive play from Asylum Productions, coming in 2023.

Following their groundbreaking production of Strauss’ Elektra last summer, Irish National Opera return to Kilkenny to premiere a virtual reality opera, Out of the Ordinary, directed by Jo Mangan; and Luke Murphy/Attic Projects see the River Nore become the stage for their new work, Slow Tide. Always a hit with Kilkenny audiences, thrilling aerialists Loosysmokes bring their new show In Rhythms to an atmospheric warehouse in Callan. With Butler Gallery we present a set of intriguing retrospective multimedia works from Kevin Atherton, and the Festival Gallery hosts an exhibition by the young artist Stephen Doyle whose work explores queer identity.

Masha Gessen – who has written extensively on Russia, autocracy, LGBTQ+ rights, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, amongst others – delivers the 2022 Hubert Butler Lecture, and the Hubert Butler Essay Prize is presented mid-festival amidst an exciting line-up of talks and readings at the Parade Tower.

From the castle to the cathedral, Cleere’s Theatre to Callan, the Marble City is the place to be this August. See you there!

Olga Barry

Festival Director

Acting Festival Administrator/ Friends Manager

Céline Reilly

Marketing & Development Manager

Pat Carey Producer Lisa O’Brien

Box Office Manager

Lilian Burke

Development Officer

Grace Kearney

Digital Marketing and Social Media Executive Cathy O’Connor

Programme Editor

Alistair Daniel

Publicity O’Doherty Communications

Graphic Design

Íde Deloughry Web Design Path

Official IT Provider BITS

Patron Board of Directors

Michael D Higgins President of Ireland

Emer Foley (Chair), Michael O’Toole, Thomas O’Toole, Brian Fennelly, Lorelei Harris, Christine Monk, Mairead Meagher, Conor McAndrew, Cathal Smyth

PHOTO PAT MOORE

For 49 years our funders and partners have played an invaluable role in helping Kilkenny Arts Festival to flourish. We greatly appreciate their continuing support!

PRINCIPAL FUNDER

Check Out Our Friends!

Help make Kilkenny Arts Festival one of Europe’s finest artistic celebrations. As an individual or business, you’ll find a range of Friend options and benefits available, from complimentary tickets and discounts to Festival Club membership and special events. Friends membership starts at just €150.

PUBLIC FUNDERS

HEADLINE EVENT PARTNERS

PATRON

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For more information you can call the Festival Office on 056 776 3663, email friends@kilkennyarts.ie or sign up at kilkennyarts.ie/support

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Richard McCullough & Liz Nugent

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Sheila O’Donnell & John Tuomey

SPECIAL FRIEND

AOK Properties

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Caulfield’s Supervalu Loughboy Kilkenny

Dore’s Nostalgia Café - Michael Dore

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Gilligan & Co Accountants

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Kathleen & Gerry Moran

Kilkenny Castle Tea Rooms - Michael Dore

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We also acknowledge those Friends who have chosen to remain anonymous.

FRIEND

Áine Ní Fhoghlú

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Helen Costelloe’s The Cutting Vedge

Holland Condon Solicitors

James Delaney

Jim Ryan

John Dalton

John Knox NT

Jones Business Systems

Katherine Meenan

Mahony’s Pharmacy

Mary Kelly

Mr & Mrs John Grogan

Paul Fahy

Sarah Phelan & Andy Ryan

The Gourmet Store

Tynan’s Bar Kilkenny Yesterdays

Kilkenny County Council Comhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh

Kilkenny County Council omhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh

o’neill foley

a breathless Dream makes for a triumph

Sunday Independent on A Midsummer Night’s Dream at KAF2018

a hugely enjoyable and timeless treat

Irish Independent on Much Ado About Nothing at KAF2019

PREMIERE ROUGH MAGIC AND KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL IN ASSOCIATION WITH OPW

The Tempest

By William Shakespeare

Following acclaimed productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing, Rough Magic returns to Kilkenny with this fresh new take on Shakespeare’s lyrical revenge fantasy.

Eleanor Methven, one of Ireland’s most celebrated actresses, takes on the iconic role of Prospero, the deposed ruler turned elemental sorcerer. The storm Prospero conjures hurls her enemies onto her shores, but it also brings a sad young prince, to the delight of her daughter Miranda. Is their attraction a trick of fate, or the spectacle and sorcery of this enchanted island?

Rough Magic brings its trademark verve and invention to Shakespeare’s dark comedy, filled with sorcery, music, mischief and romance, and told beneath summer skies in the equally magical surroundings of the Kilkenny Castle Parklands.

Duration 2 hrs approx. (including interval)

Creative Team

Director Lynne Parker

Designer Alan Farquharson

Lighting Designer Sarah Jane Shiels

Costume Designer Sorcha Ní Fhloinn

Sound Designer Denis Clohessy

Cast

Ariel Martha Breen

Miranda Gillian Buckle

Caliban John Cronin

Ferdinand Rowan Finken

Prospero Eleanor Methven

Gonzalo Gina Moxley

Stephano Rory Nolan

Alonso Arthur Riordan

Trinculo Ankur Vikal

Please note: this is an outdoor performance. Please dress for the weather. No umbrellas allowed.

think of it as the musical equivalent of being fed by the world’s best chefs using just a clutch of the finest ingredients

The Irish Times on The Return of Ulysses

PREMIERE OPERA COLLECTIVE IRELAND & KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL

Semele Handel

with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in partnership with Sestina

Artistic Team

Director Patrick Mason

Set/LX Designer Paul Keogan

Conductor Christian Curnyn

Costume Designer Catherine Fay

Head of Music Andrew Griffiths

Sestina Director Mark Chambers

Cast

Semele Kelli-Ann Masterson

Iris Jade Phoenix

Jupiter/Apollo Andrew Gavin

Juno/Ino Dominica Williams

Athmas Gerben Van der Werf

Somnus/Cadmus Edward Hawkins

Chorus

Sestina

Four years ago Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses took the Festival by storm and this year we’re thrilled to welcome its creative team back to Kilkenny for an unmissable production of Handel’s Semele.

Tony award-winning director Patrick Mason, leading conductor Christian Curnyn and world-renowned baroque ensemble Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin join an exciting cast of young Irish singers, and the dynamic choral ensemble Sestina, to present this tale of adultery and revenge amongst the gods. With its mix of tragedy and comedy, lyrical arias and dramatic choruses, Semele is one of the richest and most compelling of all Handel’s operas, and this unique staging is one of the highlights of this year’s Festival.

Duration 2 hrs 35 minutes approx. (including interval)

The Arts Review on Raven Eyed at KAF2017

LOOSYSMOKES

In Rhythms

Produced by Elaine McCague and Jonah McGreevy

Created collaboratively with Craig Cox, Imogen Macrae, Conor McCague, Oliver Ryan, Michelle Thoburn, Emily Kilkenny Roddy, Dean Kavanagh, Angelique Ross and Anja Mahler with support from Aoife Courtney and Millie Egan. Development supported by the Gate Theatre artist-in-residency programme, Circus Factory, Cork, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre and Island Connect.

Loosysmokes – the award-winning performance company at the forefront of modern Irish art circus – has created some unforgettable shows for the Festival over the years, staged everywhere from the Castle Park to Kilfane Glen, and this year we’re thrilled to welcome them back for the first time since 2018 with an astonishing new piece.

In Rhythms is both an explosive acrobatic spectacle and an expanded cinematic dreamscape exploring the human mind, where our feral past meets our neon-muddled present. Prepare to lose your grip on reality and enter a warped time and space where gravity’s pull is forgotten.

Duration 50 mins approx.

LUKE MURPHY/ATTIC PROJECTS Slow Tide

Performed by Hannah Rogerson & Diarmuid Armstrong

Alone while surrounded, confined in open air, two castaway figures explore a sea of contradictions in Slow Tide. Stepping away from the controlled world of the theatre, Luke Murphy invites audiences to step into the open as two performers brave the world around them on the River Nore at the Abbey Quarter. A meditation on emerging, falling and floating, creating an otherworldly physical poem around themes of time, place, isolation and perseverance.

Originally from Cork City, Luke Murphy is a performer/writer/director and choreographer working across various media in Europe, the UK and USA. His 2021 work Volcano won four awards at the Irish Times Theatre Awards for 2020/2021. Duration 20 mins approx.

far stranger, far more demented, and far more exhilarating than anything you could possibly imagine

MUSIC

PERFORMANCE PREMIERE

IRISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA & MUIREANN NIC AMHLAOIBH

Róisín ReImagined

With special guests

Cormac McCarthy director, piano

Dónal O’Connor solo fiddle & harmonium

Darragh Murphy uilleann pipes

Catríona Frost percussion

Aisling Ennis harp

Róisín ReImagined is replete with surprises around every corner … Nic Amhlaoibh and Irish Chamber Orchestra have found the sweetest of spots in which to collaborate, always letting the songs dictate the pace and mood, but opening them up to new horizons

The Irish Times

Co-commissioned by KAF and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Róisín ReImagined is a stunning new collaboration that breathes new life into the sean nós repertoire. Award-winning vocalist Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, ‘One of today’s great singers’ (Irish Echo), joins forces with the Irish Chamber Orchestra to perform a range of classic sean nós songs, imaginatively arranged by six leading Irish composers: Cormac McCarthy, Paul Campbell, Linda Buckley, Sam Perkin, Niamh Varian-Barry and Michael Keeney.

The project made its debut at last year’s Festival in the shape of a film recorded behind closed doors and streamed online, and an album released earlier this year garnered rave reviews. Now, at last, Nic Amhlaoibh and the ICO return to St Canice’s to perform these arrangements for a live audience. Featuring fresh interpretations of timeless classics like ‘An Chúilfhoinn’ and ‘Róisín Dubh’, Róisín ReImagined offers a thrilling exploration of Ireland’s rich musical heritage.

Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes including interval.

von Otter has honed the art of singing to such a point that she is purely expressive, no matter what she’s singing

The Washington Post

Anne Sofie von Otter & Brooklyn Rider

one of the wonders of contemporary music

NPR on Brooklyn Rider

Songs of Love and Death: The Music of Franz Schubert and Rufus Wainwright

Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is one of the most acclaimed singers of her generation, a multi-award-winning performer and recording artist who over the course of four decades has been a luminous presence on the world’s major stages, performing leading operatic roles and shining in concert and recital.

Her repertoire embraces everything from arias to contemporary pop songs, and her thirst for collaboration led her to Brooklyn Rider, the adventurous string quartet with whom she has performed songs by everyone from Caroline Shaw to Björk.

Now, we’re thrilled to welcome von Otter and Brooklyn Rider to Kilkenny with an unmissable new project. Songs of Love and Death pairs Schubert with brand-new works by Rufus Wainwright, whose modern-day operatic torch songs are the perfect complement to Schubert’s exquisite lieder of love, death and despair.

Duration 80 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME

Rufus Wainwright

Trois Valses Anglaises, arr. Rob Moose (Irish Premiere)

Franz Schubert

String Quartet no. 14, Death and the Maiden, D 531

Franz Schubert from Winterreise, D 911, arr. Osvaldo Golijov ‘Der Tod und das Mädchen’ ‘Der Wegweiser’ ‘Die Nebensonnen’ ‘Einsamkeit’

Rufus Wainwright

Three Songs for Lulu, arr. Rob Moose

FRI 12 8PM

ST CANICE’S CATHEDRAL ADMISSION

ZONE A €35/€33

ZONE B €30/€28

SAT 6 5PM

Irish Chamber Orchestra & Sharon Carty

Shostakovich, Chamber Symphony in C minor, op. 110a Deirdre Gribbin, The Stones of Life PREMIERE

We’re delighted to welcome back the Irish Chamber Orchestra for their annual residency. This series of concerts pairs Shostakovich’s hauntingly powerful Symphony in C minor with a specially commissioned new work by Deirdre Gribbin, one of Ireland’s leading contemporary composers.

Composed in the shadow of Soviet oppression, Shostakovich’s symphony was ostensibly inspired by a visit to the ruins of Dresden, but in reality it’s a profoundly autobiographical work, rich in allusions to Shostakovich’s other works, as well as pieces by Wagner and Tchaikovsky. A gripping portrayal of the brutality of conflict, its jagged, dynamic rhythms contrast with elegiac outer movements that never fail to move the listener.

Irish Chamber Orchestra & Ailish Tynan

Opera Gala

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

Giuseppe Verdi

‘Desdemona’s Willow Song’ from Otello

Giacomo Puccini

‘Mi chiamano Mimi’ from La bohème

Giacomo Puccini:

ST CANICE’S CATHEDRAL ADMISSION

ZONE A €25/€23

ZONE B €22/€20

Deirdre Gribbin’s The Stones of Life is a song cycle based on the words of her son, Ethan Stein, a young poet with Down Syndrome, whose striking imagery is inspired by the standing stones of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Sung by celebrated mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty, The Stones of Life takes listeners on a musical journey into the world of this remarkable boy who has, directly and indirectly, inspired much of her work.

Duration 60 mins approx. (including interval)

Irish Baroque Orchestra & Tara Erraught

The Trials of Tenducci

an immensely appealing recording - a gripping story told with plenty of verve and style

Gramophone Magazine

SUN 7 8PM

ST CANICE’S CATHEDRAL ADMISSION

ZONE A €35/€33

ZONE B €30/€28

Soprano Ailish Tynan is one of the finest Irish singers of her generation. Since winning the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in 2003 she has performed concerts, recitals and operatic roles all over Europe, working with countless leading orchestras, opera companies and pianists (including Iain Burnside, with whom she performed a selection of Schubert lieder at KAF2017).

SPECIAL DEALS FOR THIS EVENT

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‘O Mio babbino caro’ from Gianni Schicchi

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

‘Una Donna quindici anni’ from Così fan Tutte

Franz Lehár

‘Vilja’ from The Merry Widow

Tom Lehrer

‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’

Pietro Mascagni

‘Intermezzo’ from Cavalleria rusticana

Duration 1 hr 40 mins approx. (including interval)

For this eagerly anticipated concert, Tynan joins the Irish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Barlow, to perform a selection of popular arias, including works by Mozart, Verdi and Puccini.

Stephen Barlow is the former resident conductor of English National Opera and has conducted most of the major UK orchestras. He co-founded Opera 80 and is the former Artistic Director of the Buxton Festival and Opera Northern Ireland.

Italian castrato Giusto Tenducci was an operatic superstar who taught Mozart to sing and counted Johann Christian Bach and Thomas Arne among his admirers. A regular performer on the music scene in eighteenth-century Ireland, Tenducci formed close artistic relationships with leading composers and popularized an array of wonderful songs, all while conducting a scandalous personal life. The Irish Baroque Orchestra comes to Kilkenny to perform modernday premieres of orchestral music, songs and arias associated with the legendary singer.

Conducted by Peter Whelan and featuring celebrated mezzosoprano Tara Erraught as Tenducci, and featuring works by JC Bach, Pierre Van Maldere and Tommaso Giordani (the Italian composer who taught John Field), The Trials of Tenducci throws a captivating spotlight on the colourful world of the Irish baroque.

Duration 1 hr 40 mins approx. (including interval)

Laoise O’Brien For the Record

Professional recorder player Laoise O’Brien has spent 20 years championing an instrument often unfairly perceived as an instrument of torture. The particular sonority of small plastic recorders has left an unfortunate legacy for an instrument once known as the ‘sweet flute’.

Join Laoise as she embarks on a journey to tell the story of the recorder and its development through the ages. Part historical account, part personal voyage, For the Record introduces the sizes and styles of recorder, the vast repertoire spanning nine centuries, and explores the many different uses to which the instrument was put, from dances on the village green to music composed by kings.

This interactive performance includes audio and visual elements, delivered in Laoise’s inimitable style and suitable for all ages.

Duration 60 mins approx. (without interval)

LUNCHTIME MUSIC SERIES

Carducci String Quartet Shostakovich String Quartet Cycle

Since forming in 1997, the Carducci Quartet has established itself as one of the world’s most accomplished string quartets, performing an astonishing diverse repertoire, from Haydn to leading contemporary composers, and garnering countless awards. In this mouthwatering series of concerts they perform the complete cycle of Shostakovich string quartets.

the Carducci players displayed a deep and almost familial sense of unity in everything they played… full of life and vitality...extravagantly beautiful

The Washington Post

Composed between 1938 and 1974, Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets constitute one of the great cycles in the medium. Forced for much of his career to celebrate the glories of the Soviet Union, Shostakovich used string quartets to explore his most intimate ideas, and they overflow with melody, passion and boundless creativity.

The Carducci Quartet won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2016 for their performances of the cycle, and we’re excited to welcome them to Kilkenny to present these great works in full.

ST JOHN’S PRIORY ADMISSION €20/€18

FOR EACH CONCERT

Malcolm Proud JS Bach

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

PROGRAMME I, SATURDAY 6 AUGUST

String Quartet no. 1

String Quartet no. 2

Duration 65 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME II, SUNDAY 7 AUGUST

String Quartet no. 3

String Quartet no. 4

Duration 65 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME III, MONDAY 8 AUGUST

String Quartet no. 5

String Quartet no. 6

Duration 60 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME IV, TUESDAY 9 AUGUST

String Quartet no. 7

String Quartet no. 8

String Quartet no. 9

Duration 75 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME V, WEDNESDAY 10 AUGUST

String Quartet no.10

String Quartet no. 11

String Quartet no.12

Duration 70 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME VI, THURSDAY 11 AUGUST

String Quartet no. 13

String Quartet no. 14

String Quartet no. 15

Duration 90 mins approx. (including short interval)

PROGRAMME I, FRIDAY 12 AUGUST

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Preludes and Fugues nos 1-12, BWV 846-857

Duration 60 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME II, SATURDAY 13 AUGUST

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Preludes and Fugues nos 13-24, BWV 858-869

Duration 60 mins approx. (without interval)

something of a musical visionary

The Irish Times

It was an idea only Bach could have conceived: to compose a collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard, circling through all 24 major and minor keys in turn. He envisioned the book as a teaching aid ‘for the use and profit of the musical youth’, but since then it has become one of the most influential works in the history of Western classical music. For this year’s Festival, world-renowned organist and Festival stalwart Malcolm Proud performs these masterworks over two unmissable concerts in St John’s.

Malcolm Proud discusses Bach’s masterpiece in St John’s on Friday 12 August at 3pm. See page 32 for details.

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Director/Leader: Péter Barczi

An Evening with Handel & Friends

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras, celebrated for its authentic performances of baroque and classical music. In 2018 the orchestra’s programme Monteverdi’s Italy: the Rise of Instrumental Music was among the highlights of the Festival, and we’re thrilled to welcome them back this year for An Evening with Handel and Friends, another unique programme exploring the vibrant musical scene in 18th-century London.

Nowhere else in Europe did concert life flourish in the 18th century as it did in London. Concerti grossi, the latest fashion from Italy, thrilled audiences, and while Handel was quick to embrace the new taste, writing wonderful concerti and bringing Italian opera to the stage, his contemporaries like Thomas Arne and William Hayes made equally masterful use of the new forms.

This rich programme, filled with virtuoso pieces and exuberant musical ideas, and led by acclaimed violinist Péter Barczi, captures the dynamism of Handel’s milieu while performing some of the finest works of the English baroque.

Duration 75 mins approx. (without interval)

PROGRAMME

Thomas Arne

Overture from The Judgment of Paris

George Frideric Handel

Suite from the opera Ariodante, HWV 33

George Frideric Handel

Concerto Grosso in B-flat major, op. 3, no. 2, HWV 313

William Hayes

Concerto for Strings & Basso continuo

George Frideric Handel

Concerto Grosso in G major, op. 3, no. 3, HWV 314

William Boyce

Symphony in C major, op. 2, no. 3

Francesco Geminiani

Concerto Grosso in D minor, no. 12, ‘La Follia’ (after Corelli)

Chamber Choir Ireland

Conductor: Paul Hillier

Tchaikovsky,

Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

Conducted by its Artistic Director, Paul Hillier, Chamber Choir Ireland returns to the Festival for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s sublime large-scale work, the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom – so rarely heard in its entirety.

Best known for his romantic symphonies and ballets, Tchaikovsky was not devoutly religious, but he had a deep interest in the music of the Russian Orthodox Church and brought all his emotional frankness and talent for expressiveness to sacred text, producing some of his most personal and moving music in his setting of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.

‘As you can see, I am still bound to the Church by strong ties,’ he wrote, ‘but on the other hand I have long ceased to believe in the dogma … this constant inner struggle would be enough to drive me out of my mind were it not for music, that great comforter, the most exquisite gift Heaven has bestowed on a mankind living in darkness.’

With this work Tchaikovsky led the way in dismantling the Imperial Chapel’s censorship over the creation of sacred music in Russia, with far-reaching implications for a generation of composers including Arkhangelsky, Chesnokov, Gretchaninov, Ippolitov-Ivanov, and Rachmaninov, who would emulate not just the subject matter but his style and structure too.

Duration 60 mins approx. (without interval)

MUSIC/ OPERA Irish National Opera Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách

Nalva and her people are fleeing a land ravaged by their own short-sighted actions, pursued by Daol, a restless, unleashed spirit. Their search for sanctuary takes them through dangerous waters and across new frontiers. But will they repeat the mistakes of the past?

Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách is the world’s first Virtual Reality Community Opera, a radical approach using VR to enable audiences to become Nalva as she flees her barren homeland. Exploring the climate crisis and our search for solutions, Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách challenges our scorch-and-burn approach to living in this world.

Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách is realised by creative production studio Algorithm with support from Virtual Reality Ireland.

Duration 45 mins approx. Please note: this is an immersive experience. See website for health guidance.

Johnny Gandelsman Bach Cello Suites

Bach composed so many wonderful pieces for violin that it’s rare for violinists to tackle works written for other instruments, but Johnny Gandelsman is no ordinary violinist. Whether performing solo or as part of the innovative string quartet Brooklyn Rider (see p. 11), the Grammy Award-winning violinist has a restless appetite for invention, and this year he returns to Kilkenny to perform the complete set of Bach’s cello suites. These works, supremely challenging to play, lie at the heart of the cello repertoire, but in Gandelsman’s hands they are utterly transformed. Don’t miss this chance to experience Bach’s great cello works as you’ve never heard them before!

PROGRAMME Suite no. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 Suite no. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008 Suite no. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 Suite no. 4 in E flat major, BWV 1010 Suite no. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011 Suite no. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012

Duration 75 mins approx.

frighteningly good GoldenPlec

there hasn’t ever been an Irish rock band with such a protracted level of style, substance, and smarts as Bell X1

Bell X1 and Dowry Strings

Bell X1 have never been a band to rest on their laurels. Since bursting onto the music scene more than two decades ago, the band’s appetite for restless invention has seen them embrace everything from indie rock to synth pop, new wave and electronica. Now Paul Noonan, Dave Geraghty and Dominic Philips have joined forces with genre-hopping string quartet Dowry Strings to reimagine their sound, creating fresh new arrangements that set each song against a backdrop of lush, gorgeous strings. Mixing new songs with classic tracks from their back catalogue, this spellbinding collaboration showcases the lyrical playfulness and melodic brilliance that has made Bell X1 one of Ireland’s best-loved bands.

Duration 80 mins approx.

ROLLERCOASTER SESSIONS

Keeley Forsyth

SOPHIE J STAFFORD

20 years into a successful acting career, Keeley Forsyth switched focus with astonishing results. Her debut album Debris – written in collaboration with pianist and composer Matthew Bourne – revealed a singer-songwriter of startling originality, unafraid to explore the darker corners of domestic life through tales of freedom and entrapment. Debris was hailed as ‘one of the most remarkable [albums] in years’ (The Sunday Times) and Forsyth’s unique voice, devastating and uplifting by turns, invoked comparisons with everyone from Scott Walker to Beth Gibbons. With a more expansive (but equally acclaimed) second album, Limbs, just released, Forsyth comes to Kilkenny to showcase her magnetic vocals and haunting brand of folk in the Set.

Duration 70 mins approx.

MUSIC: ROLLERCOASTER SESSIONS

Myles O’Reilly

One of the unexpected silver linings of the global pandemic is that it inspired Myles O’Reilly to return to making music. For a decade, the former frontman of Juno Falls enjoyed a new career in photography and film, making music videos and documentaries for everyone from Villagers to Janelle Monáe. But the first lockdown inspired a creative renaissance that has so far encompassed two minimalist ambient LPs and his latest project, an album of folk songs called Cocooning Heart. Gorgeously melodic, these richly intimate songs are sure to weave a spell in Cleere’s Theatre.

Duration 70 mins approx.

Dave Holland

Wicked Little

Atoms at the Edge of an Echo

PREMIERE

Commissioned by Kilkenny Arts Festival

Wicked Little Atoms At The Edge Of An Echo is a sound installation composed of original tracks by local guitarist and vocalist Dave Holland. The music is divided into four separate mixes that audiences encounter as they move through the space, creating their own bespoke listening experience. While the installation runs throughout the day, in the evenings Holland and a special guest will perform together in tandem with the installation, blending sound world and live performance.

Duration 40 mins per cycle

MON TUE 8 9 CLEERE’S THEATRE INSTALLATION: 5PM-9.30PM, FREE INSTALLATION & PERFORMANCE: 10PM-10.45PM, €10

Maija Sofia

SUN 7 9.30PM

Seán O’Hagan with special guest Eileen Gogan

CLEERE’S THEATRE ADMISSION €15 STANDING

In 2019 Maija Sofia’s debut LP Bath Time announced the arrival of a supremely talented songwriter whose deft lyricism and storytelling prowess set her apart. Infused with an atmosphere of nocturnal intimacy, these timeless songs juxtaposed stories of real women – from Bridget Cleary to Edie Sedgwick – with tales of blossoming romance and sexual violence. Bath Time garnered widespread praise and a nomination for Album of the Year at the Choice Music Awards. Sofia’s sound is constantly evolving, invoking comparisons with Cate Le Bon, Shirley Collins and Kate Bush, and this gig, backed by a full band, is the perfect opportunity to catch a singular talent as she breaks new ground.

Duration 60 mins approx.

an earful of earthly delights … compelling, idiosyncratic and quietly triumphant

The Irish Times on Radum Calls, Radum Calls

30 years may separate Seán O’Hagan’s solo albums, but O’Hagan has never been less than busy. After forming Microdisney with the late Cathal Coughlan in the early 1980s, the singer, songwriter, muti-instrumentalist and arranger founded High Llamas, releasing a string of acclaimed albums while playing keyboards for Stereolab and collaborating with other leading musicians like Super Furry Animals and Paul Weller. In 2019 his second solo album Radum Calls, Radum Calls drew all of O’Hagan’s disparate influences together, conjuring a delightful fantasy world filled with easy West Coast sounds, quirky string arrangements and digital bleeps. For this gig in the Set, O’Hagan is joined by singer-songwriter Eileen Gogan, another recent collaborator and ‘one of Ireland’s most underrated artists’ (The Irish Times).

Duration 70 mins approx.

THU 11 9.30PM

SET THEATRE ADMISSION €25 STANDING WITH LIMITED SEATING UPSTAIRS

Bas Jan

Howe Gelb has long been saddled with mantles such as ‘godfather of alt-country’ and ‘elder ambassador of desert rock’, but in truth he can’t be categorised. For 40 years Gelb has carved his own unique path through rock, country, blues, punk, garage, lo-fi, jazz, gospel, avantgarde noise and flamenco gypsy music, singing songs filled with vivid imagery and dry observations in a warm, infectious drawl. In his early years he was compared to Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Captain Beefheart. These days, artists are compared to Howe Gelb. Don’t miss this chance to catch a true original.

Duration 70 mins approx. FRI

12

8.30PM

CLEERE’S THEATRE ADMISSION €20 STANDING

a thoughtful guy, who won’t press you into adoration, even when he deserves it Pitchfork

beautifully fractured art-pop Mojo

THU 11 8PM

CLEERE’S THEATRE ADMISSION €15 STANDING

there is a timeless quality to Sofia’s songwriting style that becomes more crucial with each listen

The Irish Times

Since their first album, Yes I Jan, was released in 2018, London-based ensemble Bas Jan have been critically acclaimed for their idiosyncratic, playful art-pop. Led by vocalist, harpist, bassist, keyboard player and Jarvis Cocker collaborator Serafina Steer, Bas Jan writes deliciously off-kilter songs about everything from politics to polygamy, packed with wry lyrics and leavened by Steer’s elastic vocals. The band is often compared to post-punk legends the Slits and the Raincoats, and Cleere’s Theatre is the perfect venue to catch their unique take on pop.

Duration 70 mins approx.

SAT 13 9.30PM

CLEERE’S THEATRE ADMISSION €22 STANDING

MARBLE CITY SESSIONS

Ye Vagabonds

Brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn have been a staple of the live music scene in Ireland for a decade, forging a distinctive blend of Irish traditional music, Appalachian singing and the 1960s folk revival, all wrapped in rich harmonies. But it was their second album, The Hare’s Lament, that catapulted them to fame, sweeping the boards at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards. Since then they’ve gone from strength to strength, earning rave reviews for their new album, Nine Waves, and playing sold-out shows all over Europe, and we’re delighted to welcome them to Kilkenny for this much-anticipated gig, backed by an all-star band featuring Kate Ellis (cello), Caimin Gilmore (double bass) and Alain McFadden (harmonium).

Duration 80 mins approx.

Maya Youssef Finding Home

What does the idea of ‘home’ mean to a Syrian artist, displaced by the war? This is the question that drives Maya Youssef’s latest album. Since her first appearance at the Festival back in 2018, the ‘queen of the qanun’ –the delicate, zither-like instrument popular throughout the Arab world – has embarked on a profound spiritual journey into the idea of belonging, and the result is Finding Home, a rich set of tracks that explores the sonic textures of the qanun. Accompanied by a full band, Youssef conjures beautiful, life-affirming music that offers hope and consolation in troubled times.

Cormac McCarthy, Nell Ní Chróinín, Aoife Ní Bhriain & Kate Ellis

Kilkenny audiences have long been wowed by fiddle player Aoife Ní Bhriain, cellist Kate Ellis and singer Nell Ní Chronín, three musicians who defy categorisation and who seem to grow with every performance. For this eagerly awaited concert they join another musical chameleon – pianist and composer Cormac McCarthy – for an evening of music specially composed and arranged for them by McCarthy himself. At the heart of this concert is Macalla an Amhráin (‘echo of song’), a long-form piece that weaves instrumental music and four sean nós melodies together into a breathtaking new work.

Duration 70 mins approx. Macalla an Amhráin was originally commissioned by Islander for Quiet Lights 2021.

TUE

9

7.30PM

a master of her instrument … the music is sure to take possession of you

Songlines

Martin Hayes & the Common Ground Ensemble

Martin Hayes has always delighted in the collision of musical worlds. As co-curator of the Marble City Sessions, Hayes has spent almost a decade devising unique collaborations with musicians from all over the world, and his passion for innovation gave him an idea: what artists would he choose to work with in an ideal world?

The Common Ground Ensemble answers that question, bringing together pianist Cormac McCarthy, cellist Kate Ellis, guitarist Kyle Sanna and Brian Donnellan on bouzouki, harmonium and concertina. Together these extraordinary musicians span every musical genre from contemporary classical music to jazz, but they unite around a love of traditional Irish music, their ‘common ground’. ‘I want this to be the most fun I can have while I’m on stage,’ Hayes has said of his new project, and this concertgraced by special guests from this year’s programme - promises to bring the Marble City Sessions to an exhilarating close.

ST CANICE’S CATHEDRAL ADMISSION €20/€18

MON 8 8PM SET THEATRE ADMISSION €25 SEATED

SAT 13 8PM

ST CANICE’S

ZONE B €30/€28

venturers in the post-punk slipstream, weaving folk, improv, art pop and contemporary classical into new material that is soft on the ear but tough as leather

The Irish Times

Clang Sayne

Clang Sayne was founded by Irish composer Laura Hyland to channel her myriad musical influences. With a line-up featuring Hyland on guitar and chimes (which she fashioned herself from scrap metal), Caimin Gilmore on double bass, Carolyn Goodwin on clarinets and Matthew Jacobson on drums, Clang Sayne create haunting, atmospheric ‘songscapes’, wrapped in gorgeous harmonies.

Duration 60 mins approx.

CLEERE’S THEATRE ADMISSION €15 SEATED

PREMIERE

A Strange Beauty

The Music of Linda Buckley with Crash Ensemble, Liam Byrne & Fiona Kelleher

Credits

The Hildegard Project

Linda Buckley electronics, voice & flute

Fiona Kelleher voice

Created by Linda and Irene Buckley with Fiona Kelleher

Undersong by Linda Buckley

Liam Byrne viola da gamba

Crash Ensemble

Larissa O’Grady violin

Maria Ryan viola

Kate Ellis cello

Caimin Gilmore electric bass

Brian Bolger electric guitar

Brian Duncan percussion

Visuals by Laura Sheeran

TOUCAN

Vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Conor Clancy formed TOUCAN in 2018 but it was their exhilarating debut Single, ‘We Fell for Miles’, that launched the band on the world stage, leading to a sell-out tour, appearances on Other Voices and a guest spot with Nile Rogers and Chic. Pairing Clancy’s powerful vocals with exuberant slices of 80s funk and soul, this is music tailor-made for summer, and TOUCAN will have you on your feet and dancing the August night away in the Set.

Duration 70 mins approx.

so much jazz and funk energy you wouldn’t believe it. Incredible.

Ear to the Ground

Buckley’s music traverses a fault line between discomfort and great beauty. The works on this album are captivating; I couldn’t tear myself away.

BBC Music Magazine

Linda Buckley is ‘one of the leading figures in the thriving Irish new music scene’ (Tempo). Equally at home writing for orchestras, scoring films or collaborating with artists, dancers and writers, she melds her classical training with post-punk, folk and electronica, creating music that’s raw, emotive and bold.

Buckley has long been inspired by the points of contact between early and new music and this concert presents the fruits of that exploration, including the world premiere of Undersong, co-commissioned by Crash Ensemble and Kilkenny Arts Festival, alongside reimaginings of the music of iconic medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen. Performed in the Set Theatre, A Strange Beauty offers an enthralling night exploring the sound world of a great Irish composer.

Duration 60 mins approx.

Crash Ensemble have commissioned video artist and filmmaker Jack Phelan to create an installation responding to Barry O’Halpin’s groundbreaking composition Wingform. See page 37 for details.

PHOTO DYLAN MADDEN PHOTO OLESYA ZDOROVETSKA

WORD/MUSIC

PREMIERE Ériu and Amergín

Poem Text Theo Dorgan

Composer Colm Mac Con Iomaire

Narrators Aaron Monaghan & Bríd Ní Neachtain

Secret Garden Music

The ever-popular Secret Music Series has appeared online in recent years, adapting to the ongoing pandemic. This year, we’re delighted to bring back the original experience, live and in person! As always, a stellar (but unannounced) line-up of musicians will perform a series of short pop-up concerts in some of the city’s most iconic spaces. If you’re out and about during the Festival, why not come along and enjoy free performances from leading Irish and international musicians?

Duration 15 mins approx.

Please note: performances are subject to weather conditions.

In this eagerly anticipated collaboration, specially commissioned by Kilkenny Arts Festival, poet in residence Theo Dorgan joins forces with composer Colm Mac Con Iomaire for a thrilling new work that transforms the story of how poetry in Ireland began. Dorgan’s poem, Ériu and Amergín, explores the mythical encounter between Amergín Glúingel, a bard who took part in the Milesian conquest of Ireland, and Ériu, a Tuatha Dé Danann princess.

Dorgan’s words, written in English and Irish and spoken by actors Aaron Monaghan and Bríd Ní Neachtain, are set to an original score by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, performed live by the composer himself and a six-piece ensemble. Filled with contemporary resonances, Ériu and Amergín is a lyrical exploration of identity, heritage and migration, and the ambiguous encounter between the foreign and the native.

This project received a commission award from the Arts Council of Ireland. Duration 60 mins approx.

Saíocht: a celebration of Ireland’s leading poets and Irish traditional musicians

Musicians

Colm Mac Con Iomaire violin

Catherine Fitzgerald piano/keys

Alannah Thornborough harp

Lorcan Byrne drums

Ian Doyle guitar

Colm Quearney guitar/bouzouki

Fionn Ó hAlmhain uilleann pipes

Hosted by renowned actor Stephen Rea, and featuring leading poets Emily Cullen and Gabriel Rosenstock, together with acclaimed Irish traditional musicians Louise Mulcahy, Michelle Mulcahy and Neil Martin, Saíocht explores the fascinating artistic relationship between the Irish literary tradition and Irish traditional music. Works by Kilkenny poets Emily Murtagh and Robert McLoughlin will also be performed during the show by Stephen Rea.

Full proceeds from tickets will go to Kilkenny Civil Defence Ukraine Appeal. Duration 60 mins approx.

Eszter Némethi

Speak Like No One in Particular

A project by Eszter Némethi

In conversation with Julia E Dyck, Rui Calvo, Fleur Khani, Anna Végh, Lili M Rampre, Esther Rodriguez Barbero, Jan de Stutter, Nuno Escudeiro

Outside eye Caterina Daniela Mora Jara

Sound design Julia E Dyck

Spatial design Eszter Némethi

with the mentorship of Vladimir Miller

Technical Manager Chamsedine Madec

Technical support Antoine Urban, Matthieu Vergez

Carpentry Investigations Geometriques

Producer Niamh Moroney

Speak Like No One in Particular is a lyrical conversation about listening and finding a voice.

Tracing the path of her own voice as it travels across Europe, Hungarian theatre-maker Eszter Némethi’s deeply personal work investigates ‘emotional borders’ and the ways in which geographical and social hierarchies emerge within the spoken voice.

Audiences can participate in two different ways: by attending the performance at St Kieran’s College – where Eszter will invite audience members to listen, or to lend their own voices by reading her words and joining in the discussion – or by listening to a live radio broadcast of the show. However you choose to join in, Speak Like No One in Particular creates a space for urgent conversation about the politics of listening and speaking, and explores what it means to belong.

Duration 60-80 mins approx.

THE HUBERT BUTLER ANNUAL LECTURE

Masha Gessen

when Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen

The New York Times

For many years, Masha Gessen has been one of the most respected political analysts in the US. In 2020 their special ‘in conversation’ event about the Trump administration, streamed online at the Festival, was essential viewing in the build-up to the US elections. But Gessen –a dual US-Russian citizen – is an equally incisive analyst of Putin’s regime and their book, The Future is History: How Totalitarianism

Reclaimed Russia, won a National Book Award in the US, among many other accolades. For this year’s Hubert Butler Lecture, Gessen considers how Putin came to wage war in Ukraine, and how much further he might go.

Duration 60 mins approx.

By Medb Lambert, Clare Monnelly & Emma O’Grady

There’s 50p on the pool table, Sinead is ripping up the Pope, Feile’s going to get messy and Ireland is on the brink of cataclysmic social change…

Set in August 1992 and co-written by Medb Lambert, Clare Monnelly and Emma O’Grady, The Local is an exploration of the pub in Irish culture.

Asylum Productions continue to develop their unique style with this immersive site-sensitive project, bringing local actors, community groups and professional performers and artists together.

This work-in-progress offers a glimpse of what’s in store for audiences when the full production hits an empty pub near you in 2023.

Duration 50 mins approx.

CLEERE’S THEATRE, KILKENNY

ADMISSION

The Hubert Butler Annual Lecture was established by the Festival in 2007 to honour the Kilkenny writer, historian and broadcaster whose remarkable consistency of vision and clarity of mind made him unique among 20th-century essayists.

KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL IN ASSOCIATION WITH HEART PRESENTS

The Hubert Butler Essay Prize

2022

Organised by HEART London, the Hubert Butler Essay Prize encourages the art of essay-writing across Europe. This year, the Festival is delighted to be able to host the prize-giving ceremony in person for the first time. Join us in the Parade Tower to discover the winners of this year’s competition, who responded to the question: ‘In dark times, what can be done to resist the abuse of political power?’

Poetry Workshop

Theo Dorgan leads this workshop for poets. Participation is by application. Email info@poetryireland.ie for further details. Please note: places are strictly limited.

Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet

one of the great keepers of the Grail of Irish poetry

The Irish Times

Theo Dorgan

Poet in Residence

Introduced

by Liz Kelly

Theo Dorgan is one of Ireland’s most accomplished poets. Over the course of a glittering career he has won numerous awards –including the Listowel Prize, The O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry and the Irish Times/Poetry Now Award – and translated the work of other poets, including Federico García Lorca. His Jason and the Argonauts was set to music by Howard Goodall as a commission for the Royal Albert Hall, while Amergín and the Tuath Princess, his latest collaboration with musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire, has its premiere at this year’s Festival (see page 26). Also a novelist, prose writer, documentary screenwriter, broadcaster, editor and librettist, Dorgan’s list of achievements is impressively diverse, and we’re delighted to welcome him to Kilkenny to read from and reflect on his work.

Duration 60 mins approx. FRI 12 4PM

Critical Voices

To mark its seventieth year, the Arts Council has commissioned Critical Voices 2022, a collection of essays reflecting on the Arts Council’s history, the value of the arts, and the impact of 70 years of public investment. This special bilingual event, produced in collaboration with Kilkenny Arts Festival, brings together three of the essayists – visual artist Rita Duffy, poet Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh and artist and activist Sandy Fitzgerald – to read from and discuss their work, offering their unique perspectives on the role of the arts in Ireland’s past, present and future.

Topics for discussion include the relationship between various governments and the arts since the 1950s; arts and culture as common languages across the world; diversity and the role played by the arts in celebrating contemporary Ireland; creativity as a positive force in the world; ról agus tiomantas na Comhairle Ealaíon don Ghaeilge a mheasiú agus an ról is féidir leis na healaíona a imirt chun forbairt na Ghaeilge mar theanga bheo labhartha a chinntiú.

Duration 60 mins approx.

The Poetry Broadsheet gives local writers a platform to showcase their work. Join us at the Parade Tower to celebrate the publication of Kilkenny Arts Office’s Poetry Broadsheet #22, launched by Theo Dorgan and Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet Editor Elaine Feeney.

Elaine Feeney is the author of three poetry collections, award-winning drama WRoNGHEADED and the novel As You Were, which featured in many Best of 2020 lists, won numerous awards and was nominated for Irish Novel of the Year. She lectures at NUI, Galway, where she is a founding member of the Tuam Oral History Project.

To mark the opening of his exhibition, Self Identity: An Exploration (see page 36), artist Stephen Doyle discusses his practice and delves into the themes of his work with Butler Gallery Director, Anna O’Sullivan.

Performance and new media artist Kevin Atherton joins artist Sonia Shiel to discuss his exhibition, The Return, showing throughout the Festival at the Butler Gallery (see pages 34-35). Duration 60 mins approx.

Martin Hayes in conversation with Brían Mac Gloinn

Since 2014 Hayes has co-curated the Marble City Sessions, bringing a stellar line-up of international musicians to the city each year (including Ricky Skaggs, Bill Frisell and Brooklyn Rider) for a series of unmissable gigs. And yet, in all this time, we’ve never heard him talk about his work! For this special ‘in conversation’ event, Hayes sits down with musician and singer Brían Mac Gloinn – one half of Ye Vagabonds – to reflect on a life dedicated to exploring the fertile territory between the new and the old.

Duration 50 mins approx.

Michael Dervan

Music in the World that Stalin Built

Music, politics and propaganda collided in unusual ways in a place where the state obsessed about its image. This illustrated talk by writer and critic Michael Dervan explores aspects of musical life in the Soviet Union in which composer Dmitri Shostakovich spent his entire adult life.

Duration 60 mins approx.

TUE 9 11AM

Paula Meehan with David Power For the Hungry Ghosts PREMIERE

To mark a century of Ulysses, three of Ireland’s leading arts organisations – ANU, Landmark Productions and MoLI – have joined together to present Ulysses 2.2, a year-long, nationwide odyssey of creative responses to the 18 episodes that chronicle an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom.

In response to Episode 6 of the book, Paula Meehan, one of Ireland’s most prominent living poets, has produced a brand-new collection of poetry, For the Hungry Ghosts, written through the powerful and deeply personal lens of the grief and trauma she has experienced, inherited and lived.

Bloom’s journey on the 16th of June 1904 across Dublin to a funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery is also a journey into Bloom’s interior obsessions, into the underworld of his emotional life: the suicide of his father; the death of his child; his fraught relationship with his wife Molly and her wandering eye; the anxiety attendant on his daughter’s blossoming into womanhood.

In collaboration with master musician David Power, Paula Meehan will premiere an intimate performance of her elegies, poems of mourning and signposts to recovery and survival, drawing on the live resonance of the uilleann pipes to channel volcanic emotion and to ritualise and assuage grief.

Marcus de la Poer Beresford

Sir Denis Pack & the War Against Napoleon

PARADE TOWER ADMISSION €12/€10

Malcolm Proud

Comissioned by ANU, Landmark Productions and MoLI as part of Ulysses 2.2, in partnership with Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Duration 60 mins approx.

Conjuring Form

SAT SUN 13 14

WED 10 11AM

PARADE TOWER ADMISSION €14/€12

Denis Pack (whose father was the Dean of Ossory at St Canice’s Cathedral) joined the British army at 16 and was court-martialled within two years. Despite this inauspicious beginning, Pack went on to become one of Britain’s most decorated officers, leading a brigade at Waterloo and seeing action on three continents. Marcus de la Poer Beresford, whose meticulously researched biography of this neglected figure, Peninsular and Waterloo General, was published to great acclaim this year, explores Peck’s remarkable story.

Duration 60 mins approx.

Following the first of his two lunchtime recitals exploring Book I of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (see page 15), Malcolm Proud returns to St John’s to talk about Bach’s seminal work and his approach to performing the monumental cycle. Illustrating his talk with the instrument to hand, Proud offers a fascinating glimpse of the way in which one ‘musical visionary’ might approach the work of another.

Duration 60 mins approx.

‘When the potter throws a lump of clay, when the silversmith hammers a sheet of silver, when the basket maker and weaver prepare reeds and threads, they are conjuring forms from their mind and slowly allowing them to grow in their hands until the moment they come into being. The ultimate skill of the craftsman is knowing when the form has been reached. Knowing when to stop, when the work is done. The challenge for the maker is this marriage of mind and hand. Mastering a craft means learning the steps, developing and refining the technique and then subverting it to create something unique. To know the rules in order to break them.’

Alice Stori Liechtenstein

Conjuring Form is an exhibition of work by makers in Design & Crafts Council Ireland’s PORTFOLIO Critical Selection programme 2021/22. The makers in PORTFOLIO have reached their high standard of practice through years of refinement. All of the designer makers in this exhibition typify the best in contemporary Irish practice, with deep understanding of their chosen materials and techniques, and mastery to conjure form. Design & Crafts Council Ireland’s PORTFOLIO Critical Selection is a biennial publication and exhibition of leading Irish contemporary design and craft, with makers selected for achieving excellence by comparative international standards.

Conjuring Form is curated by Alice Stori Liechtenstein.

BUTLER GALLERY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL

Kevin Atherton: The Return

The Butler Gallery, in partnership with Kilkenny Arts Festival, is pleased to present Kevin Atherton: The Return. Atherton is an artist who works with performance and new media in sculptural contexts. His is a time-based practice with an ongoing interest in the relationship between the real and the imagined.

This exhibition consists of three video installations, along with additional object-based work, all of which involve revisiting an older, pre-existing work. In recent years Atherton has become known for this aspect of his practice where he ‘re-enters’ his previous works and, through his interventions, adds to or alters their meaning. In this exhibition the gap between the ‘first work’ and the ‘second work’ will vary from 43 years – as in the video/film projection Boxing Re-Match (1972-2015) – to a few minutes, as in the 3D print Signature Piece (2018). In addition, a continuous 60-minute programme of short film/video works spanning a 50-year period will be screened in the Digital Gallery. These works tackle issues such as identity and use humour to question the notion of the artist’s documentary whilst simultaneously challenging television codes and practices.

Since the 1980s Atherton has created many large-scale public sculptural commissions. Well known as an art educator, he taught at National College of Art and Design (NCAD) from 2000 to 2014 where he influenced a generation of young artists. As a previous resident of Inistioge he is very happy to be returning to Kilkenny.

Kevin Atherton will be in conversation with artist Sonia Shiel in the Parade Tower on Sunday 7 August at 3pm. See page 31 for details.

Kevin Atherton The End (1973-2016)

Wingform

Barry O’Halpin & Jack Phelan

An installation of music and light commissioned by Crash Ensemble

Stephen Doyle

Self Identity: An Exploration

Stephen Doyle is a Cork-based artist working from Backwater Studios. The artist is exploring issues of queer identity through the relationship between figuration and the politics of representation. Doyle makes figurative depictions of LGBTQIA+ people, and often includes objects in the paintings, a gesture of ‘othering’ the art that mirrors the subject matter it investigates.

For Kilkenny Arts Festival, Doyle will be exhibiting a carefully curated selection of work which will showcase the artist’s investigations over the course of their career. Some topics within the show examine ‘The hyper-masculine and its relevance in contemporary culture’, ‘Gender expression in portraiture outside of binary terms’, and ‘Drag Culture’, to name a few. Given these artworks have not been presented together in one space, it will allow for a greater insight into the beginnings of the artist and their trajectory into contemporary art in Ireland.

Doyle is the recipient of multiple national and international art prizes. They have been granted the Visual Art Bursary Award (2020) by the Arts Council of Ireland, added to the National Collection of Ireland (2021), included in the Art History syllabus for the Leaving Cert and added to the peer panel for the Arts Council of Ireland.

Stephen Doyle will discuss his work in the Parade Tower on Sunday 7 August at 12pm. See page 31 for details.

THE LEARNING CENTRE @ THE BUTLER GALLERY

TUES 9 - SUN 14 AUGUST

SEE PAGE 35 FOR BUTLER GALLERY OPENING HOURS

Matriarch

Curated by Sinéad Keogh

Crash Ensemble commissioned video artist and filmmaker Jack Phelan to create an installation responding to Irish composer Barry O’Halpin’s Wingform – a groundbreaking four-movement work for solo guitar and ensemble.

Using a simple set of shapes, materials and layout, the installation evokes the essence of the ensemble. Empty chairs highlight the absence of the musicians but offer the audience an opportunity to sit and experience the work. Wooden light-boxes, video panels and speakers form the ‘instruments’, while the video artwork – made specifically for Wingform and inspired by the composer’s themes – evolves as the piece progresses. Continous loop (each cycle approx. 60 mins)

Kilkenny Arts Office presents Matriarch, a celebration of older female artists in sites of historic prominence and power in Kilkenny. To book go to kilkennyartsoffice.ie

Artists

Na Cailleacha (Catherine Marshall, Helen Comerford, Therry Rudin, Patricia Hurl, Gerda Teljuer, Barbara Freeman, Carole Nelson and Rachel Parry), Pauline Cummins, Sara R Phillips and Lorna Corrigan

Sara R Phillips

quiescent

4 AUGUST 3PM-4PM

ALICE KYTELER’S INN

A reading of Sara’s works exploring the similarities between Alice Kyteler, witchcraft, infamy, rebellion and trans women.

Na Cailleacha

Spellbound

5 AUGUST 1PM-2PM

ROTHE HOUSE

A magical talk with this powerhouse collective.

Lorna Corrigan

Artwork Clonmel Billboard

4-17 AUGUST COLLEGE ROAD, JUNCTION OF CIRCULAR ROAD

A billboard of Corrigan’s work Clonmel

Pauline Cummins

Bare Bones

11 AUGUST 6-7PM

MEDIEVAL ROOM, KILKENNY CASTLE

A fine art performance dealing with Irish society’s hidden past.

PHOTO ERIN HERMOSA

Stephen Doyle

Portrait of a Family, Exterior

RTÉ supports more than 120 arts events nationwide every year. rte.ie/about/supportingthearts

Special Ticket Deals

Under 25s €10 ticket!

This year sees the return of our special €10 tickets for all events for Under 25s! A limited number of €10 tickets will be available for each event on a first-come, first-served basis.

To secure your €10 ticket, log in to your Festival account or create a new account, add your date of birth, and the special €10 price will automatically be applied to your ticket order. Please note that ID may be checked at the door. If all €10 tickets for an event have already been sold, the discount will not apply.

WEST CORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2023

23 JUNE – 2 JULY / BANTRY, CO. CORK

visit www.westcorkmusic.ie

BOOKING TICKETS FOR KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL 2022

ONLINE

today at kilkennyarts.ie

BY PHONE from 14 July on +353 56 775 2175

IN PERSON

from 14 July at the Festival Box Office 51A St Kieran’s Street, Kilkenny, R95 WRC8

Weekdays: 10am - 5pm

During the Festival: daily 10am - 7pm

If you have additional access requirements, please contact the Box Office

FOLLOW US

#KAF22

SPECIAL TICKET DEALS

For details go to kilkennyarts.ie

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Kilkenny Arts Festival 2022 Schedule

St Canice’s Cathedral Bell X1 & Dowry Strings 8pm, p.19

ICO/Shostakovich, Gribbin 5pm, p.12

AKAMUS: An Evening with Handel & Friends 8.30pm, p.16

Hubert Butler Lecture: Masha Gessen 5pm, p.29

IBO & Tara Erraught 8pm, p.12

MCS: Cormac McCarthy, Nell Ní Chróinín, Kate Ellis & Aoife Ní Bhriain 7.30pm, p.23

Roisín ReImagined: ICO & Mureann Nic Amhlaoibh 8 7.30pm, p.10

ICO - Mozart/Ailish Tynan 7.30pm, p.13

Anne Sofie von Otter & Brooklyn Rider 8pm, p.11

MCS: Martin Hayes & the Common Ground Ensemble 8pm, p.23

Kilkenny Castle Parklands Black Abbey

St John’s Priory

& 4th,

String Quartet: Complete Shostakovich II

String Quartet: Complete Shostakovich III

p.26

Carducci String Quartet: Complete Shostakovich IV 1pm,

String Quartet: Complete Shostakovich V

String Quartet: Complete Shostakovich VI

Malcolm Proud: Well-Tempered Clavier I 1pm, p.15 Malcolm Proud 3pm, p.32

Malcolm Proud: Well-Tempered Clavier II 1pm, p.15

Cleere’s Theatre Butler Gallery (incl. Digital Gallery)

The Learning Centre @ Butler Gallery

Festival Gallery @ St Kieran’s College

Study Hall @ St Kieran’s College

Location to be announced

Voices

Doyle in conversation 12pm,

Kevin Atherton in conversation with Sonia Sheil

Martin Hayes in conversation with Brían Mac Gloinn

Music in the World that Stalin Built

Hubert Butler Essay Prize

Dorgan 4pm, p.30

Paula Meehan with David Power 5pm, p.33

Paula Meehan with David Power 2pm, p.33

The River Nore, Abbey Quarter

Street & Gardens

Clang Sayne 9.30pm, p.24

Rollercoaster: Myles O’Reilly 9.30pm, p.20

Kevin Atherton: The Return 10am-5pm, Opening 5pm, p.34

Kevin Atherton: The Return 11am-5pm, p.34

Rollercoaster: Dave Holland Installation: 5pm-9.30pm Installation & Performance: 10pm-10.45pm, p.20

Rollercoaster: Dave Holland Installation: 5pm-9.30pm Installation & Performance: 10pm-10.45pm, p.20

Rollercoaster: Maija Sofia 8pm, p.20

Rollercoaster: Howe Gelb 8.30pm, p.21 The Local 12pm, p.28

Rollercoaster: Bas Jan 9.30pm, p.21

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration

p.37

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration 10.30am-5.30pm, p.36

Crash Ensemble: Wingform 10am-5pm, p.37

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration 10.30am-5.30pm, p.36

Speak Like No One in Particular 8pm, p.28

Crash Ensemble: Wingform 10am-8pm, p.37

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration 10.30am-5.30pm, p.36

Speak Like No One in Particular 8pm, p.28

Crash Ensemble: Wingform 10am-5pm, p.37

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration 10.30am-5.30pm, p.36

Speak Like No One in Particular 8pm, p.28

Crash Ensemble: Wingform 10am-5pm, p.37

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration 10.30am-5.30pm, p.36

Speak Like No One in Particular 4pm & 8pm, p.28

Crash Ensemble: Wingform 11am-5pm, p.37

Stephen Doyle Self Identity: An Exploration 10.30am-5.30pm, p.36