Kilkenny Arts Festival Programme 2006 by Kilkenny Arts Festival

WELCOME TO THE 33RD KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL, 10 DAYS OF ENTHRALLING ARTISTIC ACTIVITY FOR ALL! FURTHER INFORMATION ON ALL EVENTS IS AVAILABLE AT THE FESTIVAL BOX OFFICE LOCATED IN THE FORMER BANK OF IRELAND BUILDING ON THE PARADE… JOIN US THERE FROM JULY 5TH.

CONTENTS

Kilkenny Arts Festival Box Office

Street Spectacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Tel +353 (0)56 775 2175

www.kilkennyarts.ie

Email info@kilkennyarts.ie

Theatre/Comedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Classical Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Board of Directors

Jazz/World/Traditional Music . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Fergus Cronin (chair), Susan Proud, Vincent O’Shea, John Purcell, Donna McGreevy, John Ryan, Maureen Kennelly, Anna O’Sullivan, Conor Langton

Business Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Booking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Festival Team CEO Geraldine Tierney Programme Manager Maeve Butler Administrator Colette Power Production Manager Michael Burke PR Kate Bowe PR Artist Liaison & Publicity Co-ordinator Jane Russell Friends Liaison & Volunteer Co-ordinator Niamh Duffe Merchandising Manager Anna McLaughlin Box Office Team Tracy Power (Manager) Lilian Burke, Jennifer Foley, Lora Foley, Maura Brennan, David Holland, Brian Butler Graphic Design A&D Web Design Karen Hanratty, Pixel Design IT Support Textrix Web Maintenance Spot On Box Office & Venue Design Tom Watts, Imagine Wallpaper

Programmers Theatre Rose Parkinson Jazz, New World & Trad Music Gerry Godley Classical Music Susan Proud & Guest Programmer Carol McGonnell Visual Art Mike Fitzpatrick Literature Eoin McNamee Young People’s Events Emer McGowan

Kilkenny People Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Festival Image Saturio Alonso

Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Thanks to our team of energetic volunteers, we could not do it without you. Thanks to all our sponsors and friends - your vision allows this to happen. To our programmers and artists - your creativity drives the Festival. To all we called on who said yes, we salute you.

Meet the Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Special thanks to Íde Deloughry, Caroline McGee, Colm Hogan, Jolly Ronan, Tony Walsh, Brian Tyrrell, Gerry Byrne, Kathleen Moran, Michael McSuibhne, Donal O’Brien, Ann Meaney, Ger Cody, Mary Butler, Peggy Murray, Fintan Blake Kelly, Teenagh Cunningham, Niamh Finn, Philips Domestic Appliances, Dalton TV, Donal Gibbons, Sally Ebert, Laken Akinyemi, Jackie O’Brien, Denis O’Reilly, Majella Byrne, Pius Phelan, Stephanie Hogan, Cathy Hogan, George Vaughan, Sergeant Pat Murphy, Alison McGrath, Vincent Dempsey, Blaise Smith, Philip Edmondson, Kilkenny School of Music, Debra Bowden, Maria Comerford, Kilkenny College, John Goode, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Paul Myles, the Paint Pot.

Day-by-Day - Young People’s Programme . . 60

Visual Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Young People’s Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Day-by-Day - Main Programme . . . . . . . . . .62 Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

(Ireland)

Parade

The Big River is about to flood the streets of Kilkenny so bring your togs and head down town for a dip – a hidden world awaits you. Delight at the flying rainbow fish and sparkling shoals of minnows; marvel at the acrobatic water boat men and the dazzling Coral Palace – just don’t let the Giant Pike catch you! Dangle your toes in the water or jump right in and let the whirling river take you away. Go on – get yourself wet! Kilkenny Arts Festival, Macnas and KCAT are proud to present this fantastic spectacle on the streets of Kilkenny and Callan. Kilkenny Parade Route: Granges Road, The Butts, Dean St, Irishtown, Parliament St, High St, The Parade, ending at Kilkenny Castle. Saturday 12 August Streets of Kilkenny 4pm Sunday 13 August Streets of Callan 1.30pm

3 MONKEY PRODUCTIONS (UK) TEATRO PACHUCO (MEXICO/USA)

Horn Heads & Just Passing Thru Marching to the beat of a different drum, combining elements of silent film and European clown, Teatro Pachuco transforms ordinary streets into a surreal dreamscape full of imagery, absurdity and strange music. Meet the Horn Heads, tall lovable giants with brass instrument heads, as they wander the streets performing short dream sketches; a marching band gently out of step with reality, turning heads wherever they go. Just Passing Thru sees a man standing alone in the street with a suitcase. Unexpectedly joined by a child, the two begin to create magic as they open a suitcase full of surprises. Wednesday 16 August Market Cross Shopping Centre & Streets of Kilkenny 11am: Just Passing Thru. 1pm & 3pm: Horn Heads

The Incredible Bull Circus An internationally renowned street theatre comedy classic

Two marvellous matadors, “The Brothers Juan”, sons of a famous bull-fighting father and a daredevil trapeze artist mother, present to you unparalleled deeds of daring performed by an awesome herd of highly trained bulls! A rip-roaring riotous rollercoaster ride of comedy chaos and classic clowning.

STREET

HERE IT COMES: A TORRENT OF COLOUR AND SOUND, SINGING AND DANCING, HIGH-JINX AND A LOT A LAUGHS!

The Big River!

“A SMALL MASTERPIECE” TOTAL THEATRE MAGAZINE

Thursday 17 August Streets of Kilkenny

2 MARKET CROSS

SHOPPING CENTRE

Buí Bolg

The Old Tune

(Ireland)

BY ROBERT PINGET (English text by SAMUEL BECKETT)

Internationally acclaimed Buí Bolg street theatre company from Wexford returns to the streets of Kilkenny this year with a new array of larger than life characters. Look out for the Kilkenny Hurlers, who are as big as we think they are and are all set to march straight over their arch rivals. If you are planning to take in some of the visual art exhibitions, our highly experienced Maid and Waiter will be on hand to offer you a little tipple. And then there’s the eager Bathers, who will be aiming to take a Sunday plunge into the River Nore. Rain, hail or shine the weather will not deter this pair from their daily ritual.

STREET

The festival is always a fun day for all the family. The retro Rocker Couple recently had twins and have decided to take them out and about, but watch out, these are no ordinary babies…

and

Night BY ROBERT PINGET

DIRECTED BY PAT KIERNAN DESIGNED BY PAUL KEOGAN

Two old friends meet again by chance and, united in their condemnation of the general progress of science and civilisation, reminisce about the good old days. Their respective memories of people and incidents wildly diverging, The Old Tune’s Mr Cream and Mr Gorman are in the tradition of Vladimir and Estragon, Cook and Moore, Smith and Jones… One of the most outstanding French writers of his generation, Robert Pinget’s work is suffused with a rich vein of comedy. In Samuel Beckett’s adaptation, The Old Tune is relocated from France to rural Ireland. The Old Tune is presented here in a double bill with Night. Award winning theatre practitioner Pat Kiernan is founding Artistic Director of Corcadorca Theatre Company and has won wide acclaim for his work, most notably his groundbreaking production of Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh and the exceptional production in 2005 of The Merchant of Venice, described as “a triumph” (The Irish Times), “outstanding” (Irish Independent) and “brilliantly convincing” (The Guardian). Fri 11 - Sun 20 August (ex. Tues) Watergate Theatre 8pm (7pm Wed, Thurs) Adm €18/€16 Preview Thurs 10 August 8pm Admission €15 Total running time 60 minutes

Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 August Market Cross Shopping Centre & Streets of Kilkenny 4

THEATRE

KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL PRESENTS THE IRISH STAGE PREMIERE OF

MARKET CROSS

SHOPPING CENTRE

Photo: Jean Henry

ONCE OFF PRODUCTIONS (Ireland)

THEATRE

Tintype WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY FRANKIE McCAFFERTY

Alone in an anonymous European hotel room, a photographer goes through a psychological crisis. In diplomatic limbo after a breakdown at an airport security desk, he attempts to find a way to explain himself to his interrogators. But first he has to convince himself. Tintype is a highly visual theatrical journey dealing with identity, memory, survivor’s guilt and alienation in the digital age.

LA COMPAGNIE FIAT LUX (France)

Strike Fiat Lux is among the most acclaimed of French physical theatre companies. Masters of wordless performance, each new show is considered an event in the world of European physical theatre.

FRANKIE McCAFFERTY is one of Ireland’s leading actors. His many film, TV and stage appearances include Omagh, Middletown, Ballykissangel, Conversations on a Homecoming, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching towards the Somme (The Irish Times Irish Theatre Best Supporting Actor Award), Family Plot, Endgame and Sharon’s Grave. He most recently appeared in TRAD (Galway Arts Festival) which won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award and enjoyed an extended run at the Bush Theatre, London and the Adelaide Fringe Festival. As a director, Frankie has made several short films including Brood, Flush, Filleann an Feall (What Goes Around…) and The Devil. This is his first play.

Sat 12 - Tues 15 August 9pm Extra show Sun 13 August 6pm The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle Admission €15/€13 6

Making their Kilkenny debut with the acclaimed new production Strike, this extraordinary French ensemble promises outstanding visual theatre which is at once funny, poignant and thought-provoking.

“EFFORTLESSLY, BRUTALLY FUNNY... EVERY DETAIL OBSERVED TO PERFECTION” L’EXPRESS

THEATRE

“BRILLIANT!” L’ECLAIREUR

At a train station in Calais two refugees, a Scotsman, a businessman and two elderly English ladies wait for their train… but an unforeseen strike transforms this peaceful station scene… Through wordless mischief-making, we witness the dramatic and comedic repercussions when, for one night, the Europeans experience life as refugees, abandoned on a station platform. Tues 15 - Thurs 17 August Watergate Theatre 9.30pm Admission €15/€13 Duration 60 minutes 7

CLASSICAL Ex Cathedra (UK)

Venetian Vespers The Ornate Johnsons (UK) COMEDY

ALIVE, KICKING AND VERY, VERY FUNNY. Post-post-modern comedy at its very best. In the finest tradition of Not the 9 O’Clock News and The Two Ronnies, The Ornate Johnsons present new comedy with the old fashioned notion of having actual jokes. Writing mostly behind the scenes for TV and radio and collaborating with such luminaries as Jerry Sadowitz, Matt Lucas, Jo Caulfield and Steve Furst, they are hugely popular within the industry. This is a rare opportunity for Irish audiences to catch them live. FEATURING BRIAN MITCHELL, DAVE MOUNFIELD, GLEN RICHARDSON, CLEA SMITH AND LAURENCE RELTON.

Thurs 17 - Sat 19 August Club 51 at The Kilford Arms Hotel 9pm Admission €18/€16 8

“HUGELY TALENTED SLICK, SKETCH ACT... VERY, VERY FUNNY” THE TIMES “A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. BRILLIANTLY OFFBEAT COMEDY” THE EVENING STANDARD “THE BEST SKETCHES SINCE PYTHON” JERRY SADOWITZ

EX CATHEDRA CHOIR & CONTINUO CONDUCTOR JEFFREY SKIDMORE How better to open this year’s festival than with the longed-for return to Kilkenny of the outstanding Ex Cathedra, one of today’s leading international choirs. On a summer’s evening, St Canice’s Cathedral will resonate to the distinctive sounds of St Mark’s Venice, with polychoral works including Cinque Laudate psalms by Rovetta and Cavalli, and music by Grandi, Gabrieli and Monteverdi. What a glorious way to begin the festival!

Friday 11 August St Canice’s Cathedral 8pm Admission €25/€23 (€40 for both concerts) 9

Ex Cathedra (UK)

Carmina Burana South of the Line

CARL ORFF

CLASSICAL

EX CATHEDRA CHOIR NATALIE CLIFTON-GRIFFITH - soprano GRACE DAVIDSON - soprano JULIA DOYLE - soprano JEREMY BUDD - tenor EAMONN DOUGAN - bass GILES UNDERWOOD - bass BACKBEAT - percussion quartet ROSS WILLIAMS - piano ROBERT BRIDGE - piano

CONDUCTOR JEFFREY SKIDMORE

Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is one of the most popular choral works of the 20th century. The famous opening chorus O Fortuna is one of the most dramatic and powerful passages of music ever written, used frequently in TV advertisements and film music. It’s a suitably theatrical beginning to Orff’s dizzying celebration of sensual pleasure – love, food and drink. John Joubert is one of the greatest choral composers of the last 50 years. South of the Line is his setting of five poems by Thomas Hardy, written in response to the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer conflict, and a powerful indictment of war.

Internationally acclaimed BackBeat Percussion Quartet present a fun-packed and fast moving family concert, featuring a wide variety of percussion instruments from around the world. Renowned for their imaginative programmes which cross boundaries and unite art and entertainment in an accessible and enjoyable way, BackBeat have an extensive repertoire, but particularly enjoy presenting music that is strongly theatrical and visual. With plenty of audience participation throughout, be prepared to be amazed at the sights and sounds on offer and you may even find yourself on stage with the quartet!

JOIN US FOR WHAT PROMISES TO BE A TRULY UPLIFTING EXPERIENCE!

Saturday 12 August St Canice’s Cathedral 8pm Admission €25/€23 (€40 for both concerts) 10

JOHN JOUBERT

CLASSICAL

BackBeat Percussion Quartet (UK)

Sunday 13 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 12 noon Admission €10/€8 Family Music Package €30 (See booking info p. 32) “AMAZING AND JOYOUS” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Finghin Collins (Ireland)

FINGHIN COLLINS – piano GUY JOHNSTON – cello CATHERINE LEONARD - violin CAROL MCGONNELL – clarinet

One of Ireland’s top pianists, Finghin Collins has performed with many of the leading international orchestras including, most recently, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Chicago Symphony, the Houston Symphony and the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

CLASSICAL

The Quartet for the End of Time (Ireland & UK) Finghin Collins, Catherine Leonard and Carol McGonnell – three top class, young Irish musicians – have toured extensively together in the past two years, most recently to the Plovdiv Festival in Bulgaria, and have yielded reviews such as “utterly engaging... brimmed with the human and artistic pleasures of making music” (The Irish Times). Here they are joined for the first time by exceptional British cellist, Guy Johnston for this exciting programme of two of the classics of the chamber music repertoire.

Closer to home, Finghin is kept equally busy, playing with all the Irish orchestras including the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra, and recording regularly for both RTÉ and BBC Radio and Television. He has also collaborated with ensembles such as London Winds and the Aviv, Shanghai, Skampa, St Petersburg, Vanbrugh, Vertavo and Vogler String Quartets.

Finghin’s latest recording The Complete Works For Piano Volume 1 (Schumann) was released by Claves Records in May 2006.

“GUY JOHNSTON… AN EXCEPTIONALLY SENSITIVE MUSICIAN” THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

“CATHERINE LEONARD… IRELAND’S LEADING VIOLINIST” THE IRISH TIMES

“CAROL McGONNELL IS QUITE SIMPLY ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING YOUNG CLARINETTISTS TO BE HEARD IN THIS CITY” TIME OUT, NEW YORK

Programme BEETHOVEN Gassenhauer Trio for clarinet, cello and piano MESSIAEN Quartet for the End of Time

Monday 14 August St Canice’s Cathedral 1.10pm Admission €15/€13 12

Photo: Hanya Chlala

CLASSICAL

A favourite with Kilkenny audiences, Finghin’s solo programme at St Canice’s Cathedral features Schumann’s Kinderszenen Op. 15 and Liszt’s Sonata in B minor.

“COLLINS SHOWS AGAIN THAT HE IS ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING PIANO DISCOVERIES OF OUR TIME” WESTFAELENPOST, GERMANY

Tuesday 15 August St Canice’s Cathedral 8pm Admission €20/€18 13

“A FIRST RATE PROPONENT OF NEW MUSIC” DAVID LAMARCHE, THE NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW

Arguably the most exciting chamber music ensemble to emerge from New York City in recent years, Argento has a burgeoning reputation in the US, selling out venues such as Carnegie Hall and America’s premiere new music venue, The Miller Theatre.

Programme 2 Sounds Impressionistic

Among the top young virtuosi in the United States, the Argento members individually have a wide array of musical interests, including non-Western music, jazz, improvisation and cutting edge contemporary music. The ensemble is highly regarded in the field of new music and recently performed at a celebration concert in New York for Pierre Boulez and Eliott Carter, two living giants of classical music.

PHILIPPE HUREL A Measure

Significantly influenced by the music of the French spectralists, a group of composers dedicated to following in the footsteps of Debussy and Ravel in search of a new experience of sonic beauty, Argento’s search for rich new sound worlds has led the group to the far ends of the globe. In Istanbul they had the honour of collaborating with legendary master vocalist Kani Karaca.

Programme 3 Mahler IV

Argento has also immersed itself in the field of interactive electronics and has been a dedicated platform of performance for IRCAM, the world’s leading institute for electronic music, based at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Argento is highly focused on the future of classical music and is continuously active in the commissioning of new works. Argento records on the Aeon label. Kilkenny Arts Festival is thrilled to bring this exhilarating ensemble to Ireland for three unique performances in the atmospheric surroundings of the Parade Tower at Kilkenny Castle and St Canice’s Cathedral.

Programme 1 - Beckett in Words and Music A collection of work inspired by various texts of Samuel Beckett PHILIP GLASS JOHN CORIGLIANO MICHAEL KLINGBEIL EARL KIM Programme 1

Prelude to Endgame, for timpani and double bass Irish Folk Songs Ce Cours de Sable Qui Glisse – World Premiere Exercises En Route

Wednesday 16 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 6pm Admission €15/€13

MICHEL GALANTE Leaves of Absence

GERARD PESSON Cinq Chansons TRISTAN MURAIL Ethers

with guest soloist Ailish Tynan STEVE REICH New York Counterpoint GERARD GRISEY Periode GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No 4 transcribed by Erwin Stein for chamber ensemble AILISH TYNAN - soprano CATHERINE LEONARD - violin MARK DULEY - harmonium

CLASSICAL

Argento Chamber Ensemble (USA)

RTÉ LYRIC FM WILL RECORD BOTH OF THESE CONCERTS FOR BROADCAST AT A LATER DATE. Programme 2 Friday 18 August St Canice’s Cathedral 1.10pm Admission €15/€13 Programme 3 Saturday 19 August St Canice’s Cathedral 8pm Admission €20/€18 Argento Package €40 for all three concerts 15

Embassy of the United States of America

This a capella vocal trio features Irish soprano, Kathleen Dineen, American tenor, Robert Getchell and Latvian baritone, Raitis Grigalis. Performing some of the most exquisite three-part chansons from 15th century France, Spain and England, along with luxurious arrangements of traditional Irish songs, it is no wonder that White Raven have received great critical acclaim and are much sought after at music festivals throughout Europe. A unique opportunity to experience the warmth and clarity of White Raven’s renowned performance in the atmospheric Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle.

European Baroque Orchestra (EU) The perfect expression of harmony through diversity, the European Baroque Orchestra represents the cream of Europe’s emerging specialist musicians. Selected from the top 100 young baroque musicians from across Europe, the youthful, unconstrained and vibrant musicianship of the EUBO members has dazzled audiences from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to the wartorn cities of Bosnia, Montenegro and the Balkans. Under the direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen, the style, gesture and ornamentation of this baroque orchestra’s playing results in a warm, light and sweet sound, which promises a very special experience for Kilkenny audiences.

CLASSICAL

White Raven (Ireland, US & Latvia)

“IT DOESN’T SEEM TO MATTER WHAT MATERIAL WHITE RAVEN REACHED OUT TO, EVERYTHING THEY TOUCHED SEEMED TO TURN TO PUREST GOLD” THE IRISH TIMES

Programme TELEMANN MUFFAT HANDEL VIVALDI RAMEAU

Suite in E flat Sonata II in G minor from Armonico Tributo Passacaglia and Gigue in A from Radamisto Concerto for two oboes and strings in D minor, soloists Sophie Rebreyand and Sarah Humphrys Suite from Acante & Cephise

Friday 18 August St Canice’s Cathedral 8pm Admission €20/€18

Saturday 19 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 6pm Admission €15/€13

17 Embassy of the United States of America

WORLD

Tonight, Kilkenny moves to the most potent musical force to emerge from Africa in the modern era. Afrobeat, and its powerful brew of tribal polyrhythms, agitfunk and liberation song, may be forever associated with the late great Fela Kuti, but now the mantle is passed to his eldest son, Femi Kuti.

FEMI KUTI - lead vocals, alto sax OLUROTIMI HENDEYIN - trumpet OLU LALEYE - trumpet FRANCIS ONAH - tenor sax OLU ALBERT - baritone saxophone TIWALADE OGUNLOWO - trombone OPEYEMI AWOMOLO - guitar SOLOMON IDOWU - keyboards RICHARD UDOFOT - bass ADEKUNLE OLAYEDE - percussion ADEBOWALE OBI - drums BOSEDE AJILA - vocals, dancer YEMI ORIYIMEI - vocals, dancer

Like his revolutionary father, the man they called The Black President, Femi speaks for a generation, addressing the social and political concerns of today’s Africa. His medium is The Positive Force, a 14-piece brotherhood of funk rhythm section, African percussionists, snappy horns, riffing vocalists and lithe dancers. Just as Fela had before him, Femi controls the throttle of this high performance engine, saxophone in one hand, mic in the other, evoking the spirit of distant nights in The Shrine, the legendary Lagos nightclub where afrobeat was born in the 70s. The family business continues.

Friday 11 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 10.30pm Admission €22/€20 Please note this is a standing only performance 18

Turning on Tradition Téada & Beoga (Ireland) “TÉADA ARE KEEPING THE TRADITIONAL FLAG FLYING AT FULL MAST.” THE IRISH TIMES

OISIN Mac DIARMADA - fiddle PAUL FINN - button accordion DAMIEN STENSON - flute, whistle SEÁN McELWAIN - bouzouki, guitar TRISTAN ROSENSTOCK - bodhrán

“BEOGA’S MUSIC HAS THE AUTHORITY OF MASTER CRAFTSMEN, UNAFRAID TO TAKE CHANCES AND WALK ON TRADITIONAL MUSIC’S WILD SIDE.” IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE

LIAM BRADLEY - piano DAMIEN McKEE - button accordion NIAMH DUNNE - vocals, fiddle EAMONN MURRAY - bodhran SEAN ÓG GRAHAM - button accordion, guitar

Altan, Danu, Lunasa, Dervish, Liam O’Flynn & The Piper’s Call, Hayes & Cahill… Since the turn of the millennium, we’ve brought you an aristocratic roll call of traditional music. Waiting in the wings, a new generation of Irish groups, evidence of the powerful momentum at work in our music today, and its to them we now direct our focus.

TRADITIONAL

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force (Nigeria)

Between them, Téada and Beoga give ample evidence that Irish music’s future is in capable hands, and they’re on similar trajectories. Both have honed their skills on the demanding club circuits in North America and Europe over the last five years, and both have garnered awards and critical acclaim for their recorded output. Stylistically, they couldn’t be more different, another sign of rude musical health. From Antrim, Beoga have a mischievous side, freely incorporating elements of tango and New Orleans into their ebullient sound, while Teada opt for the straighter road, played with a maturity and restraint that belies their tender years. In both cases, you’ll be glad you came.

Sat 12 August Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel Doors 9pm Admission €18/€16 19

Iarla Ó Lionáird (Ireland) With special guests Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Mick O’Brien

TRADITIONAL

Since his emergence as a recording artist for Peter Gabriel’s Realworld label a decade ago, Iarla Ó Lionáird has travelled the world, filling its most prestigious halls with his expansive voice and the songs of his native Cúil Aodha. These days, Kilkenny is where he returns to from the road, and his current release Invisible Fields was recorded in his recently completed studio in Thomastown. Sean nós may mean in the old style, but when Iarla sings, it’s a vibrant living tradition, drawing strength from the past while confidently embracing the future. The Guardian calls him “one of the most dramatic voices in contemporary music”, and it’s presented here without accompaniment, all the better to appreciate its subtle colours and quiet strength. Further contrast is in store with the music of Sliabh Luachra from special guests fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and piper Mick O’Brien, drawn from their acclaimed 2003 recording Kitty Lie Over.

Sunday 13 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 1pm Admission €15/€13 20

JAZZ

SLOW AND MELANCHOLY, HIS VOICE HAD AN UNSATISFIED LONGING AS IT CHISELLED INTRICATE SHAPES ON SPECIFIC NOTES WITH A BURNING INTENSITY. IARLA Ó LIONÁIRD IS A SINGER OF SINGULAR POWER.” SONGLINES

Five Corners Quintet (Finland) With special guest DJ Billy Scurry (Ireland) JUKKA ESKOLA - trumpet TIMO LASSY - tenor sax MIKAEL JAKOBSSEN - piano ANTTI LÖTJÖNEN - bass TEPPO MÄKYNEN - drums

There’s a modest dance revolution going on in the Five Corners district of Helsinki, where jazz is returning to the dance floor. It’s not happening via sequencers, loops or remixes, but a return to the hardbop, latin and souljazz of seminal Blue Note artists like Art Blakey and Joe Henderson, and their signature sound of tight ensemble work, dynamic soloists and driving rhythm sections. Leading from the front is trumpet wunderkind Jukka Eskola, but this is no jaded tribute to past heroes. Five Corners Quintet are renewing the jazzman’s contract with swing for the 21st century, and it’s a formula that’s been wowing festival audiences over the last year from Europe to Japan. They’ve an infectious zeal for getting you on the dance floor, with tunes like Trading Eights, described by The Times as “a soaring groover with great rhythms that hooks the tune up nicely for dancers. Real jazz played by a hip quintet.” See you on the floor. Sunday 13 August Newpark Hotel

Doors 8pm Admission €20/€18

“STYLISH, DYNAMIC, DANCEABLE ACOUSTIC JAZZ.” THE OBSERVER

RAMESH SHOTHAM - carnatic percussion, voice SANDHYA SANJANA - voice ZOLTAN LANTOS - violin, tarangini CHRISTIAN ZURNER - bass Throughout today’s Europe, music is in motion, and the sounds emanating from Paris, Barcelona and London are a powerful motif for the continent’s growing cultural diversity. Add to that list Cologne, home to percussionist Ramesh Shotham, and his rhythm tour de force Madras Special. He’s a native of the bustling city of Chennai (formerly Madras), and a lifelong disciple of carnatic music, the classical tradition of South India, revered for its rhythmic sophistication and its unique family of percussion instruments such as mridangam, tavil, ghatam, dholak and kanjira. Based in Europe since the 80’s, he has been a charismatic ambassador for his tradition, performing with diverse artists like Lebanese oud virtuoso Rabih Abou Khalil and jazz provocateur Steve Coleman, as well as previous visits to Ireland for memorable performances with the jazz/traditional group Khanda. With Madras Special, he creates a living mandalla of sound and rhythm, drawing on the vivid personalities of vocalist Sandhya Sanjana, herself steeped in Indian folklore, Budapest’s Zoltan Lantos, a virtuoso of Hungary’s classical and gypsy violin tradition, and leading German bassist Christian Zürner.

Monday 14 August Cleere’s, Parliament St 9pm Admission €18/€16 22

“MADRAS SPECIAL IS A WONDERFUL AUDIO TRIP FROM COLOGNE TO MADRAS. IT COMBINES FUNK AND RAGA, TAKES AN EXCURSION INTO JAZZ, ON INTO THE DEEP SOUTH INDIAN TEMPLE MUSIC.” JAZZ PODIUM

Caoimhín Vallely (Ireland) with special guests Niall Vallely - concertina Brian Morrissey - guitar

Once a staple of céilí bands throughout the country, of late the piano has had an enigmatic relationship with traditional music. That could all change with the trail blazing Caoimhín Vallely. The family name might be synonymous with great Armagh music, but Caoimhín, youngest of the three Vallely brothers, has been a restless spirit, happy to explore new musical paths. One led to Limerick, for studies with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and an opportunity to distil other elements from jazz and baroque music into an innovative approach, further honed on the road with groups like North Cregg, Buille and Solas.

TRADITIONAL

WORLD

Madras Special (India/Europe)

The sum of these parts can be heard to greatly satisfying effect on Strayaway, an album that breaks new ground for the piano in traditional music, full of deft touches, from jazz voicings and subtle contrapunctualism to chamber music dynamics.

Tuesday 15 August St Canice’s Cathedral

1.10pm Admission €15/€13

“NOT SO MUCH BREAKING WITH TRADITION AS UNPICKING ITS ESSENCE… A STARTLINGLY PROPULSIVE SOLO PIANO DEBUT”. THE IRISH TIMES

(Ireland & Switzerland)

WORLD

Beginning To End

CHRISTY DORAN - guitar ISA WITT - voice RONAN GUILFOYLE - bass SEAN CARPIO - drums

ELIZA CARTHY - fiddle, voice BEN IVITSKY - guitar, viola, voice JON BODEN - concertina, fiddle, voice JOHN SPIERS - melodeon, voice GIDEON JUCKES - tuba

JAZZ

Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers (UK) Is there a more enigmatic musician of the Irish diaspora than guitarist Christy Doran? Since forming the Swiss band Om in the 70’s, Doran has been insinuating himself into the very fabric of European contemporary jazz from his lakeside base in Lucerne, recording for ECM, leading his power quartet New Bag, and collaborating with towering figures like John Surman and the late Edward Vesala. Irish performances are rare, but we’ve lured him back for this joint commission between Kilkenny Arts Festival and Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, for a night of all new music co-written with leading Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle. Its inspiration will be Samuel Beckett, though not in any literal sense, focusing instead on the writer’s unique cadence, contour and metre as a source for jazz improvisational materials. It’s also an inter-generational encounter, with potent new voices from Switzerland and Ireland in vocalist Isa Witt and drummer Sean Carpio completing this adventurous quartet. Tuesday 15 August Cleere’s, Parliament St 9pm €18/€16 “DORAN IS A SUPERB GUITARIST OF CONSIDERABLE IMAGINATIVE RANGE, WITH GIFTED 24 THEMES THAT OPEN ON TO VAST LANDSCAPES OF SOUND.” PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ

Twice a nominee for The Mercury Prize, recipient of an unprecedented seven BBC Folk Awards, and yet to usher in her third decade, feisty Eliza Carthy is boldly leading the current rejuvenation of English folk music. Like many the traditional musician before her, Eliza’s education started early, and in the home. Weaned on music, her clarion voice, with its alluring combination of warmth and defiance, bears the hallmark of her mother Norma Waterson, while the confident swagger of her fiddle playing evokes the artistry of her illustrious guitarist father Martin Carthy. Her own career took off in earnest when championed by the late John Peel and over five acclaimed albums, she’s challenged all the lazy preconceptions about English song tradition, winning legions of new admirers for her vivacious live shows, with a band that features celebrated players Spiers and Boden. Charismatic and intelligent, she’s redefining the notion of folk music on her own terms, bringing fresh vitality to old songs that speak universally of the passions and travails of the common man. Wednesday 16 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 9pm Admission €20/€18 “A GLORIOUSLY NATURAL SINGER” Q MAGAZINE

AYNUR DOGAN - voice CEMIL KOCGÜN - baglama, tembur NERIMAN AKALIN - violin YASIN BOYRAZ - kaval, zurna BARIS BOYRAZ - percussion, bass ÖMER AVCI - percussion

Istanbul, with its 18 million inhabitants, has an extraordinary music scene, with Ottoman classical music, Roma gypsy bands, jazz, electronica, even hip hop. It has been exquisitely captured by the German filmmaker Fatih Akin in Crossing The Bridge, an award winning homage to this noble city on the Bosphorous and its charismatic musicians. At its emotional heart is a performance in a Turkish hammam by an arrestingly beautiful Kurdish singer, who now graces the festival stage in our own St Canice’s Cathedral. Her name is Aynur Dogan. Some voices have an immediate emotional impact, and this is one. Born in the Kurdish region of Tunceli, she grew up immersed in the music, myth and poetry of the Alevites, a further minority within the Kurdish diaspora. She’s reimagined this richly textured music, with its traditional lutes, woodwinds and elegiac songs for a new generation of young Turks. It’s all the more remarkable, given Turkey’s suppression of Kurdish identity until recent times, and in Aynur they’ve found an artist who can heal old wounds and bring it to the world.

Jazz & Blues Revue Nigel Mooney Band, Cormac Kenevey & The Phil Ware Trio WITH SPECIAL GUEST RICHIE BUCKLEY Tonight’s your night to get laid back and low down with the finest entertainers on the jazz and blues scene today. Bluesman par excellence Nigel Mooney spearheaded the 80’s blues revival, and his Gripewater Blues Band was the band of choice for visiting US players like Lowell Fulson and Louisiana Red, or opening for Dr John and BB King. Today, Mooney’s winning a whole new generation of admirers, with his songs championed by broadcasters like Ryan Tubridy.

JAZZ & BLUES

WORLD

Aynur Dogan (Turkey)

Singer Cormac Kenevey is another destined for great things, and has just signed to Candid Records, the label that first signed Jamie Cullum. A pleasing tone, snappy phrasing, personal delivery and the right songs are prerequisites for any aspiring jazz singer, and Kenevey has all four in abundance. He’s set to be a charismatic ambassador for jazz from Ireland on the international stage, so catch him while you can. Guesting with both bands is Richie Buckley, tenor saxophonist to the stars, from Van Morrison to Elvis Costello. With his beautiful sound, soulful expression and lightning wit, expect those musical sparks to fly.

Thursday 17 August St Canice’s Cathedral 8pm Admission €20/€18 26

“A REMARKABLE SINGER, AT THE VANGUARD OF THE CHANGES THAT GRACE THE FACE OF ISTANBUL.” FROOTS

Friday 18 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 9pm Admission €20/€18 “MOONEY’S RICH, LUSCIOUS GUITAR LICKS ARE CONSISTENTLY BREATHTAKING.” HOT PRESS “KENEVEY EXUDES CONFIDENCE, WIT AND STYLE. THIS TWENTY SOMETHING DUBLINER HAS THE MAKINGS OF A GENUINELY CHARISMATIC TALENT.” THE TIMES LONDON

NATIONAL IRISH BANK AND KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL PRESENT

Solo @ St. Canice’s

Kilkenny is endowed with a beautiful Steinway piano, and blessed with a dramatic room in which to hear it – St Canice’s Cathedral. And what better musical coda to this year’s festival than our final Sunday spent in the company of three of the world’s most expressive jazz pianists.

JAZZ

Solo performance is the highest expression of the jazz musician’s craft, where the player and the instrument are literally at one with the audience. In the right artistic hands, it’s a direct experience, with no impediment to the possibilities, from its gentle intimacy to its orchestral sweep. At the highest level, it’s within the gift of a small band of pianists worldwide and Misha Alperin, John Taylor and Stefano Bollani are among them.

John Taylor

Misha Alperin

Stefano Bollani

(UK)

(Norway)

(Italy)

“PENSIVE YET URGENT, THE MUSIC SEEMED TO REFLECT ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTICS OF TAYLOR’S PLAYING, HIS REMARKABLE ABILITY TO BE SIMULTANEOUSLY ASSERTIVE AND YET INFINITELY DELICATE. THE GUARDIAN

“RARELY HAVE THE FRONTIERS BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC, JAZZ AND CLASSICAL MUSIC BEEN SO GRACEFULLY NEGOTIATED “ INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

“CLOSE TO THE STATE OF THE SOLO PIANO ART.” MOJO

Manchester born John Taylor is among Europe’s most significant, yet understated masters of the piano. In a career spanning four decades, his poised, elegant playing with its pastoral nuances has placed him in the highest echelons, collaborating with musicians like Jan Garbarek and John Surman, and the seminal trio Azimuth, one of the music’s most imaginatively conceived chamber groups. Taylor is a supremely gifted soloist in his own right, a romantic that’s not averse to swinging hard in the grand tradition of Bill Evans, the master he’s often likened to.

Founder of the feted Moscow Art Trio in 1989, now based in Norway, Russian pianist Misha Alperin has made great virtue of his geographical isolation from obvious centres of jazz creativity, developing a very personal music from the perspective of Eastern folk, Russian classicism and his own Jewish heritage. In the process, he has fashioned something special, freely weaving these elements together with a mischievous sense of humour, moments of uninhibited virtuosity and an appetite for discovery.

Jazz is a music that celebrates its mavericks and Italy’s Stefano Bollani is certainly in that category. An important new voice in European jazz, he has come up under the tutelage of Italian jazz patriarch Enrico Rava, but this Mediterranean extrovert is an important new voice in his own right, copperfastened by a forthcoming solo release for the ECM label, home to Keith Jarrett. This is a witty and exuberant pianist, blessed with a wonderful touch, joyous lyricism and devastating rhythmic selfsufficiency. On a given night, he’ll play Thelonius Monk, Prokofiev, Lennon and McCartney, Frank Zappa and audience requests in a freewheeling ride that exploits every note on the piano, both on and off the keyboard.

Sunday 20 August St Canice’s Cathedral 3pm MISHA ALPERIN 5.30pm JOHN TAYLOR 8pm STEFANO BOLLANI Admission €15 per concert or €30 for all three 28

Thank you to: PARTNERS Alliance Fire & Security Systems Bluett & O’Donoghue

Masala! If you were part of the capacity crowd at last year’s Hecho En Irlanda, our celebration of all things Latin, you won’t want to miss Masala, as we get into multiculti party mode with the Asian subcontinent in our sights.

WORLD

Every great Indian dish starts with a masala, a fragrant compound of spices, and our version is gourmet fare. Its principle ingredients are music, with legendary UK Asian producer Kuljit Bhamra leading a carnival of indian percussion with his group Taala, and DJ Ritu, founder of Outcaste Records and London’s hugely popular Kuch Kuch Club. There’ll be Bhangra aplenty, the music that started life at harvest time in The Punjab, then radically transformed in the Asian club scene, the beat of the mighty dhol drum fusing with DJ culture to create a potent dance floor groove. From Dublin, Jagroop and his Bhangra dance crew will be showing you all the moves with demos and a free class, and we’ll also have Bollywood movies, a mehndi artist for traditional henna tattoos and some tasty Asian treats to keep dance floor fatigue at bay.

Every year for ten days in August, Kilkenny comes alive with a feast of artistic entertainment for all, taking full advantage of the city’s stunning historic buildings and easily accessible trails. The city’s oldest and largest festival now draws over 70,000 visitors annually who partake in all that Kilkenny has to offer. As a non-profit organisation, you, our friends, are our lifeline, allowing us to present a festival of distinction that continues to inspire and delight. Your valuable contribution helps us bridge the gap between government grants, sponsorship and box office sales. A cost effective, highly visible sponsorship partnership with ourselves raises your company profile, fosters goodwill with all markets and strengthens your cultural ties in the local community. Further info tel 056 776 3663, email info@kilkennyarts.ie

Call it a Mela, the Sanskrit word for all manner of community celebrations and festivals in the Asian subcontinent, Kilkenny style!

Saturday 19 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 8pm Admission €22/€20 Please note this is a standing only performance 30

Business Friends of Kilkenny Arts Festival

Your City… Your Festival… Your Point of Difference

the

ASSOCIATES A.I.B. Kilkenny Bank of Ireland Carroll’s Bar, Thomastown Celebrate It Chez Pierre Duggan Steel Group J.A. Canny Solicitor Lacken House Restaurant & Guesthouse Lautrecs Le Caveau, The Specialist Wine Merchants Meubles O’Connell’s Chemist, High St. & Rose Inn St. Padraig Butler Solicitors Patterson Bannon & Associate Architects Ltd (Kilkenny & Carlow) PJT Insurance Services Ltd Pordylo’s Restaurant Restaurant Café Sol Ripley’s Steak House The Blackbird Gallery WhazOn Zuni Restaurant & Townhouse BUSINESS PATRONS Atlantic Flight Training Pilot Training Cork Ltd Boyd’s Real Estate Alliance Butler Court Guest Accommodation Club House Hotel Crotty’s Coffee House Dean Street Medical Centre Dr John Clarke Electro City Erinstone Finlay Hydrascreens Fléva Restaurant Glanbia Glenpatrick Spring Water Jeff Howes Golf Design John’s Green Medical Centre Kilkenny Blue Limestone Kilkenny Project Engineering (Architectural Practices) Lemonsol Restaurant Manning Travel Worldchoice Marble City Travel McDonald’s Restaurant Murphy Jewellers Ormonde Brick Reidy & Foley Solicitors Silver Oasis State Street International The Springhill Clinic Whites Pharmacy Willie Duggan Lighting Ltd

arts for all our friends 31

Booking Information Festival Box Office, Old Bank of Ireland, The Parade, Kilkenny Telephone & Credit Card Hotline 056 775 2175 Online Booking www.kilkennyarts.ie Box Office open Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm

Booking opens Wednesday 5 July

Concessions are available and apply to students, senior citizens and the unwaged. Evidence will be requested at point of purchase.

Student standby tickets available on the door, subject to availability. 25% discount on the production of a valid student card, 15 minutes before start time.

Concessions are not available for online bookings.

Ticket prices include booking fee. Tickets purchased at outlets outside of Kilkenny are subject to a €2 agents fee. Tickets purchased online and over the phone by credit card are subject to a credit card booking fee. Tickets purchased directly from the Festival Box Office are not subject to any additional charges, unless payment is made using a credit card. EVENT

DATE

TIME

NUMBER

PRICE

VALUE

Festival Club Membership is available through the Friends/Patrons Scheme. Details from the Box Office.

Ticket Packages

10% discount if you buy tickets for 3 events or more at the same time 10% discount for bookings of 10 or more people. • Ex Cathedra Package: Two Ex Cathedra concerts for €40 (p. 9 & 10) • Argento Package: All three Argento concerts for €40 (p. 14 & 15) • Family Music Package: €30 for family of four. Applies to BackBeat Percussion Quartet (p. 11), Viento Y Fuego (p. 57) and The Session (p. 58)

• Solo @ St Canice’s Package: All three concerts for €30 (p. 28 & 29)

Booking Form Postal Bookings to: Kilkenny Arts Festival Administration Office, 9/10 Abbey Business Centre, Abbey St, Kilkenny Tel +353 56 775 2175, Fax +353 56 775 1704, www.kilkennyarts.ie NAME

DATE

ADDRESS

TELEPHONE DAY MASTERCARD CARD NUMBER SIGNATURE 32

TELEPHONE EVENING VISA

LASER

EXPIRY DATE Please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope with order. Cheques/POs should be made payable to Kilkenny Arts Festival Ltd. Please read the booking information carefully and check totals to avoid delays. Whilst every effort will be made to adhere to the advertised programme, Kilkenny Arts Festival reserves the right to alter the programme. Please note that latecomers may only be admitted at the discretion of Management.

People are the lifeblood of Kilkenny Arts Festival You are our inspiration and our strength. People whose interest, enthusiasm and commitment match ours. People whose participation at events - on the streets, at a concert, theatre show, reading or gig - make it special. We would like you to become one of our Kilkenny People Friends. We do hope that you will consider joining our scheme which helps us to bridge the gap between government grants, sponsorship and box office revenue. Please note that the Kilkenny Arts Festival is a non-profit organisation. Join us and you will enjoy a host of benefits during festival time and throughout the year. Your support will genuinely make a difference, helping us continue to bring you a festival of wonder and distinction, now and for years to come. Further info tel 056 776 3663, email info@kilkennyarts.ie

our 34

friends the people of kilkenny

(Ireland) While working as a freelance journalist and copywriter, Alex Barclay drafted the opening chapters of her debut novel, Darkhouse. A successful pitch to a leading UK agent and eight months of seclusion later, the finished manuscript hit the bestseller lists in Ireland and the UK. The rollercoaster rides on as this new writer’s dark and gritty tale of violent crime takes the world by storm, undergoing translations into 11 languages and thrilling readers around the world. “A TERRIFIC DEBUT BY AN EXCITING NEW WRITER” THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY ”THRILLER WRITERS BEWARE: THERE’S A NEW KID ON THE BLOCK IN THE PERSON OF IRISH AUTHOR ALEX BARCLAY” THE IRISH TIMES

Tobias Hill (UK) Prize-winning novelist and poet Tobias Hill is a man with an intense curiosity about the world. His atmospheric thrillers The Cryptographer, The Love of Stones and Underground display a strongly poetic sense, which imperceptibly creates the genuinely dark environments of his urban-pastoral dramas. His outstanding use of language makes his novels not only thrilling, but absolutely compelling. Past winner of the Macmillan/Pen Award and the British Arts Council Writer’s Award, Tobias Hill has also worked as a rock critic for the Sunday Telegraph and is a regular reviewer for several publications. He was the inaugural Poet in Residence at London Zoo. “ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING YOUNG NOVELISTS WORKING IN BRITAIN TODAY.” THE GUARDIAN ‘’ENGAGE, AND YOU’RE HOOKED… HE MAKES READING A JOY.” TOM ADAIR, SCOTSMAN

LITERATURE

Kilkenny People Friends

Photo: Caroline Forbes

Alex Barclay

Monday 14 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 6pm Admission €12/€10 The writers for this year’s Festival have been chosen to reflect a whole spectrum of work within the crime/thriller genre.

Born in Carrickfergus at the height of the Troubles, Adrian McKinty studied politics at Oxford University and moved to New York City in the early 1990s. Dead I Well May Be, his first novel, was short-listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and is soon to be made into a Universal Pictures movie, directed by John Lee Hancock (The Alamo). This was followed by Hidden River in 2005, and this year by the widely acclaimed The Dead Yard. “McKINTY IS A CROSS BETWEEN MICKEY SPILLANE AND DAMON RUNYON – THE TOUGHEST, THE BEST. BEWARE OF MCKINTY” FRANK McCOURT “THE DEAD YARD IS COMPELLING CRIME FICTION AT ITS FINEST! ADRIAN McKINTY IS AN EXCITING NEW TALENT AND MICHAEL FORSYTHE IS A HERO THAT OTHER WRITERS CAN ONLY ASPIRE TO CREATE” ED McBAIN

Eoin McNamee (Ireland)

Acclaimed novelist, Eoin McNamee’s prolific career includes Resurrection Man, The Ultras and Blue Tango. His first book, the novella The Last of Deeds, was short-listed for the Irish Times Literature Prize. Other publications include the poetry collection The Language of Birds and two screenplays, Resurrection Man (1998) and I Want You (1998), directed by Michael Winterbottom. Eoin also writes under the name John Creed. “THE ULTRAS… A BREATHLESS, FEVERISH NOVEL… DARKLY COMPULSIVE” AL KENNEDY

Tuesday 15 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 6pm Admission €12/€10 36

Eoin McNamee is the guest curator of the Literature and Film programme of Kilkenny Arts Festival 2006. He will also read from his first book for children, The Navigator, on Thurs 17 August (see p. 52)

Photo: Mary Dunkin

Gordon’s forthcoming work Best and Edwards - Football, Fame and Oblivion will be published in September 2006. Joining Gordon will be the excellent speaker, writer and chronicler, David Peace. Initially established as a remarkable writer following the success of Red Riding Quartet, David Peace consolidated his reputation with the publication of the immensely important GB84, his fictionalised account of the British miners’ strike of the 1980s. Described by the Sunday Times as “an enormously significant novel”, the Guardian said “He has turned the whole episode into a gripping thriller, with no detriment to documentary realism”, while the Times Literary Supplement adjudged it to be “compelling, painful reading”. David’s reading at Kilkenny coincides with the publication of his new book The Damned United, which recounts Brian Clough’s controversial term as Manager of Leeds United in the bleak heart of the 1970s.

LITERATURE

(Northern Ireland)

The award-winning author of some of the finest pieces of fiction in recent years, The North of England Home Service, Alma Cogan (Whitbread First Novel Prize) and Fullalove, Gordon Burn has written equally compelling non-fiction including his work on Peter Sutcliffe Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son, (winner of a US Edgar Allan Poe award) and Happy Like Murderers, about Fred and Rose West. He also wrote the text for Damien Hirst’s I want to spend the rest of my life everywhere, with everyone, one to one, always, forever, now, before their collaboration On the Way to Work.

Photo: Charles Glover

Adrian McKinty

PHOTO: MIRIAM BERKELEY

Photo: Leah Garrett

Gordon Burn & David Peace (UK)

Thursday 17 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 6pm Admission €12/€10 A unique opportunity to experience two of the leading North of England writers of our times. Unmissable.

FILM

3epkano Live music accompaniment to classic films MATTHEW NOLAN - electric guitar CAMERON DOYLE - electric guitar KAREN DERVAN - viola LIOBA PETRIE - cello RICHARD McCULLOUGH - keyboards JAMES MACKEN - drums/percussion DAVID GOUGH - bass guitar

Returning to Kilkenny following their sell-out performance at last year’s festival, eclectic music ensemble 3epkano present live music accompaniment to two of the most outstanding movies from the silent film era: Man With a Movie Camera and Blood of a Poet. An absolute treat.

Meet the Artists The informal setting of Morrisson's Bar at the Hibernian Hotel is the ideal spot to meet some of the extraordinary artists taking part in this year's festival. If you have ever wanted to know the ins and outs of how a music performance, art exhibition or piece of theatre come together, this is your chance to find out!

Saturday 12 August at 12 noon

Meet the Artists and Curators

Man with a Movie Camera Blood of a Poet DIRECTOR DZIGA VERTOV 1929

DIRECTOR JEAN COCTEAU 1930

Vertov’s pioneering experiment stands as an icon that has forever changed film history. A striking, avant-garde documentary which celebrates Soviet workers and film-making, Vertov uses radical editing techniques and cinematic pyrotechnics to not only portray a typical day in Moscow, but to transform it through the power of the kino-glaz (cinema eye).

Cocteau’s groundbreaking first film depicts a distinctly personal world, capturing the poet’s obsession with the struggle between the forces of life and death. Immersed in surrealism, this inventive representation of artistic feeling and thought explores the technical capabilities of film to magically transcend time, to capture creativity and to suspend physical laws. Part of the Orphic Trilogy, Blood of a Poet is an exceptional example of the genius of one of the most versatile French artists of the 20th century.

“I AM KINO-EYE, I AM MECHANICAL EYE. I, A MACHINE, SHOW YOU THE WORLD AS ONLY I CAN SEE IT.” DZIGA VERTOV

Friday 18 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 6pm Admission €15/€13

“POETS… SHED NOT ONLY THE RED BLOOD OF THEIR HEARTS BUT THE WHITE BLOOD OF THEIR SOULS.” JEAN COCTEAU

Saturday 19 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 1pm Admission €15/€13

With Mike Fitzpatrick, Curator of Kilkenny Arts Festival’s Visual Art Programme and Director of Limerick City Gallery of Art, and a number of the visiting artists exhibiting at this year’s festival, including Caroline McCarthy, Joe Duggan, Deirdre Power, Tina O’Connell, Tom Fitzgerald, Martin Healy and Nevan Lahart. (See p.40) Monday 14 August at 4pm

Meet the Theatre Artists With Frankie McCafferty, writer and actor, Tintype (see p. 6), and Maura O’Keeffe, producer. Tues 15 August at 4pm

Meet the Musicians 1 With Caoimhín Vallely (see p. 23) and Gerry Godley, curator of Kilkenny Arts Festival’s Jazz, World and Trad Music Programme. Thurs 16 August at 4pm

Meet the Musicians 2 With members of Argento Chamber Ensemble from New York (see p.14-15), including Carol McGonnell, Guest Curator of Kilkenny Arts Festival’s Classical Music Programme. Upstairs Bar at Morrisson’s, Hibernian Hotel, Ormonde Street Admission Free

MIKE FITZPATRICK, CURATOR

FAILURE

Failure is an exhibition of projects that are in some way related with failure or the possibility of failure inherent in creativity. Failure features an international group of artists whose work can be associated with this theme through a broad range of aesthetic, conceptual or abject concerns and art practices. The exhibition acknowledges how artists may employ an ironic sense of failure as a means of communicating aspects of the human condition and also chart a reflexive commentary on the act of creativity itself.

Failure is an exploration of the artistic process. To be creative is to fail, or certainly, to be prepared to fail. I wonder if one of the enjoyments of the art connoisseur is to stand before a new artwork and make a secret declaration of success or failure. Artists are conscious of the dilemmas of the creative process and use a variety of means to acknowledge it within their work. Failure in artwork can be inherent or apparent. The work of Bas Jan Ader, perhaps the daddy of slacker art, exudes a pathetic sad-clown-like quality, a type of lament that allows the viewer to both identify with and wallow within. Certainly his final work involving his own disappearance in 1974 guaranteed his status as ‘hero’ of success through failure. In fact, in a Christ-like manner he gave his life to achieve artistic failure and success simultaneously. His seminal work ‘I’m too sad to tell you’ featuring the artist crying, sums up his grasp of the zeitgeist of the selfinvolved tuned-out generation and serves as a precursor to the later Generation X. However this exhibition is broadly based in terms of art practice and artist intentionality, and the concept is to encourage connections between these many work practices and concerns through witnessing the freedom of Failure.

Bas Jan Ader A series of films that show the legendary Bas Jan Ader cycle into an Amsterdam Canal, hang from a tree until he could no longer hold on and weep uncontrollably. Courtesy Boymans Museum Rotterdam

Roman Signer In this beautiful elegy to destruction, a model helicopter takes off and flies in ever increasing circles in a small confined space. Schweben in einer Kiste, 1999, Roman Signer, Courtesy of the Artist and Hauser & Wirth Zürich, London

museum in progress As part of this museum in progress project, 1 - 3 minute video clips by international artists were broadcast each week on Austrian national television. The artists selected by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, give “instructions for use” which take on many layers of meaning through various interpretations and ways of carrying them out.

FAILURE

FAI L UREFAI L U REFAI L UREFAI LURE F AI L UREF AIEFAI LUREFAI L UR L UREFAI L UREFAILURE Failure at Kilkenny Arts Festival 2006

THE MALTINGS, JAMES STREET

“DO IT” TV Version with Damian Hirst.

Friday 11 August - Sunday 20 August, 10am - 6pm

BUTLER HOUSE, PATRICK STREET

ST FRANCIS ABBEY BREWERY PARLIAMENT STREET

Vito Acconci This series of photographs Like Father Like Son and Family Man Series attract with their apparent wholesomeness, only to find that Duggan’s construct of ‘Family’ is void of human life apart from his solitary presence.

Caroline McCarthy

GRENNAN MILL, THOMASTOWN

Julie Henry Deirdre Power Poignant images of post 9/11 disbelief and raw humour in Vermont where some citizens made effigies and reference to Osama Bin Laden in their daily lives.

Julie’s work examines recreation activities such as football, skittles and gaming machines in a manner that is painfully and hauntingly revealing. Courtesy of the Wilkinson Gallery and the Film and Video Umbrella.

Tom Fitzgerald Tom’s work masterfully utilises an array of techniques and materials invariably involving social commentary on the absurdities and contradictions of our existence.

FAILURE

Caroline will premiere Endeavor (1944). A response to the packaging of an Icelandic brand of ready meals named ‘1944’, so called in reference to the year of Iceland’s independence from Denmark. The idea is to use the packaging from the entire range of meals to make one ‘travel vehicle’. The title Endeavor takes its name from the 1970’s American space shuttle upon which the form of the work is based.

FAILURE

Joe Duggan

Vito’s approach to the show is to select a preproject, a form of written description, a first approach toward a project that the studio never got the chance to work on, and create an aural non-physical work based on this initial text.

JOHN’S GATE, CASTLECOMER ROAD

PARNELL HOUSE, PARNELL STREET

Steve Reinke

Martin Healy

The Mendi

GENESIS 28:12, A work examining mythologies in popular culture and in particular the myth of hidden messages in reversed music, what is commonly known as backwards masking. Arguably the most infamous song containing backwards messaging is Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, which reputedly reveals satanic messages when certain verses are played backwards.

A powerful view of the anthropologist being anthropologised, which pervades the viewer with both a sense of total freedom and jaded despair. HIS FEARLESSNESS MAKES ME WONDER: HOW COULD HE? HOW DOES HE DARE?” MIKE HOOLBOOM, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM

FAILURE

CASTLE YARD & CASTLE YARD STUDIO

Nevan Lahart “I only got this gig because the fella organising the show was impressed with what I last did. How that fits with the theme of failure is beyond me. Surely the rest of the artists in the show can’t be aspiring wasters, who can’t help themselves but succeed.”

A Crime Dramatically Reconstructed, Again, 1995 - 2002 16mm film projection, viewing hourly and by request Courtesy of the Artist and Green on Red Gallery, Dublin

A Crime Dramatically Reconstructed, Again is an intriguing black and white film projection with an operatic accompaniment, a work revisited over a sustained period by the artist. It presents a complex staging and visualisation of an intimate act of listening, its origins echoing the psychological relationship of mother and son and creating an interrogation of perception and understanding between the viewer, the unseen voice, the subject and the object.

KILKENNY CASTLE – ROSE GARDEN

Alex Bag GladiaDaters 2004 With a combination of humour, acerbic wit, politics, and feminism, Alex Bag draws her inspiration from mass media sources, particularly television, and simultaneously lambastes and embraces the culture they reflect and inform. Bag confronts us as both the critic and the fanatic as she addresses the absurd relationships we have with those topics to which we find ourselves inextricably linked as both villains and victims.

Tina O’Connell “Sculpture no longer operates on a formal or figurative level, liberalist attitudes have rendered purely aesthetic readings of a work difficult, and the complex structures of relational era of making and viewing, in which both positions are collapsed, mean the object is in a constant state of transition”.

FAILURE

Gerard Byrne

Assisted by

Ceramics Ireland International Festival

STRAND 2 VISUAL ART

A festival of visual drama to celebrate this most beautiful of art forms. Featuring the work of major ceramic artists from Taiwan, USA, France, Ireland and Wales. This wonderful snapshot of contemporary ceramic practice is not to be missed. Artists: John Ffrench (Irl/US), Greg Crowe (Aus), Daphne Corregan (France), Eric Astoule (France), Shao Ting Ju (Taiwan), Ashraf Hanna (Wales), Geoffrey Healy (Ireland)

Emerging Ceramics The diverse energies of 16 emerging Irish and Welsh ceramic artists. A unique opportunity for new makers to launch their work on an international platform. Both events are part of Féile Clai (Festival of Clay), an exciting new partnership between Ireland and Wales.

Ceramics Ireland International Festival: Aug 11 - Oct 12 Emerging Ceramics: Aug 11 - Oct 1 National Craft Gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 11am - 6pm 46

BUTLER GALLERY

Jeanne Silverthorne Burning DNA This exhibition addresses the literal and metaphorical implications of DNA. Diminutive rubber figures extend the notion of the portrait by including reports tracing each subject’s DNA over several thousand years. Candles in doublehelix shapes bear different genetic codes, and an elaborately absurd rubber machine repeatedly attempts to blow out a fake “eternal” flame. Jeanne Silverthorne is an installation artist based in New York and Donegal. Her work is presently on view in “Against the Grain,” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, part of the permanent collection. Aug 12 - Sept 24 Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Castle 9.30am - 7pm daily

KILKENNY COUNTY COUNCIL

KELLS PRIORY

Endangered Artists

Sculpture at Kells

From here to there

Various Artists

This exhibition consists of a wide range of artists working across the disciplines of painting, sculpture, installation, video and sound works. All artists are part of Endangered Studios, which were born from within the rust of the Chadwicks building on the Hebron Road in Kilkenny in 2003, an initiative of Kilkenny County Council Arts Office. Following the demolition of the former site in 2005, the nomadic group accessed space within the Maltings building from which they have produced work for this show, and managed a series of ground breaking educational workshops. Moving on from a highly successful show in the 2004 Arts Festival, artists from the group return with new works over two venues.

“SPECTACULAR… THE SETTING IS MAGICAL” IRISH TIMES

11 - 20 August No. 72 John Street Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm Sat & Sun 10am - 6pm

KCAT Parade Design Over the last year KCAT and Macnas have collaborated on the large scale, dazzling parade which takes place during the opening weekend of Kilkenny Arts Festival 2006. The exhibition Parade Design documents this process and features the colourful design work for the parade by Sinéad Fahey, Andrew Pike and other KCAT artists. The Friary, Callan 12 - 20 August 10am - 5pm daily

STRAND 2 VISUAL ART

NATIONAL CRAFT GALLERY

One ancient monastic settlement embraces the work of ten leading contemporary artists. Although surrounded by the architectural fragments of the past, this striking, conceptual work is very much of our time and place in the 21st century. One of the most exciting artistic events of the year.

Artists: (Ireland) Michael Warren, Tom Fitzgerald, Walker and Walker, Tina O’Connell and Kathlyn O’Brien. (Wales) Iwan Balla, Helen Jones, Lois Williams, Craig Wood and Paul Jeff & Richard Huw Morgan (Good Cop Bad Cop). Plus: Stunning display of the ancient art of bronze casting by Umha Aois Sat 12 & Sun 13 August.

Kells Priory, Kells, Co Kilkenny 12 – 20 August

Watergate Theatre, Parliament Street Mon - Fri 10am - 7pm, Sat 2pm - 7pm 47

Re-Production CURATED BY MARY BUTLER AND LOUISE ALLEN

BERKELEY GALLERY

Prepare yourselves for a wild alternative experience of untamed, bizarre and curious art at the House, 7 Bridgewater, Dean St.

On the 21st Anniversary of the Berkeley Gallery in the Grennan Mill, the gallery is delighted to offer audiences a unique opportunity to experience a feast for the eyes. This year’s shows offer a variety of media.

Fibre Works

STRAND 2 VISUAL ART

Alan Counihan Alan Counihan has been the recipient of many grants and awards including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award. He has created many largescale works in the public domain both in Ireland and the U.S.A. and his work is in many public and private collections on both sides of the Atlantic. The works in this exhibition are a further development of the 2001 series Prayers before Dying. The small vessel forms of bone were partly inspired by the Imrama, the otherworld voyages of early Irish literature. They are here accompanied by works which also reflect on mortality and the human condition, but in the context of 21st century Ireland as experienced by a returned emigrant. The rapid social changes of recent times have encouraged an exploration of inherited notions of cultural identity. 11 - 20 August Rudolf Heltzel Gallery, 10 Patrick Street Mon - Sat, 9.30am - 1pm, 2pm - 5.30pm Sun 2pm - 5pm 48

Anne Harrington Rees

The upper gallery shows new work by Michael Mulcahy and Suzy O’Mullane.

The mill grounds by the river feature Concave Convex, a video installation by Aideen Barry and Deirdre Manifold.

Anne Harrington Rees uses natural fibres – some collected near her home – and the traditional basketry technique of coiling to create small-scale sculptural pieces, inspired by natural forms, architecture, vessels and movement. The work is titled in Irish, Welsh, English or scientifically and each has a story to tell, mainly with an environmental message; the stories being as important as the making. Anne is very conscious of environmental issues and therefore sets out to make work which uses natural and renewable resources, which does not impact on the environment in a negative way. Anne is originally from Kilkenny and has recently returned to Ireland having spent many years living in Anglesey, Wales.

11 - 20 August Berkeley Gallery, Thomastown 10am – 6pm daily

11 - 20 August Red Aesthetic, Rose Inn Street Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 12pm - 5pm

Invited artists: Clodagh Emoe (Irl) Pauline Rowan (Irl) Naked Ruby (UK) Vaginal Vynal (Irl) Joanna Peacock (UK) Also featuring other impromptu performances. Events will run from Saturday 19 August 11am – midnight and Sunday 20 August 11am – 5pm but will it really end here! Information re: performance times available from: Arts Festival Box Office www.kilkennyarts.ie No. 72 John Street www.kilkennycoco.ie The Butler Gallery www.butlergallery.com

STRAND 2 VISUAL ART

RUDOLF HELTZEL GALLERY

The main gallery features Memory of my senses, by ceramic artist, Antonia Splini.

Performances, installations, dancers, DJs and exhibitions by leading artists from Ireland and the UK.

19 & 20 August 7 Bridgewater, Dean St

A partnership between Kilkenny County Council Arts Office and Kilkenny Arts Festival, the VERGE initiative seeks to provide a platform for emerging visual artists and makers, active in and around Kilkenny City and County, to exhibit their work as part of the festival. Following the success of this initiative in the last two years, an open invitation was extended earlier this year to all who consider themselves emerging artists to submit proposals for this year’s festival. We are delighted to include the following artists in the 2006 programme:

Kate Minnock

VERGE

Kate’s paintings, prints and installations are concerned with the fragility of the natural environment. Her work focuses on the structural correlations between forms found in lichens and other plants and animals, in particular reindeer antlers. Intrigued by recurring patterns in nature, her current body of work aims to draw attention to these subtle and delicate minutiae. Kate Minnock graduated from NCAD with a BA in Fine Art (Painting) in 2003 and has exhibited in Ireland, New Zealand and Canada. Her residencies include The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Co. Monaghan and New Pacific Studio, New Zealand. 11 - 20 August Tilbury House, 25 James St Daily 10am – 6pm 50

Tunde Toth New work in Fibre Art and Mixed Media

Neill Lyons Neill’s work can be described as sculptural furniture, with the inspiration for the pieces deriving from minimalist architecture/ sculpture, in particular the work of Donald Judd and the architecture of Tadao Ando. Kilkenny native Neill Lyons graduated in 2003 from the University of Central Lancashire with a BA in Furniture Design. He also holds a Diploma in Auto CAD from Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education and has exhibited in Ireland and the UK. 11 - 20 August No 1 St Canice’s Steps Mon - Fri 10am - 7pm Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 11 - 6pm

Working with a variety of natural materials – cotton and bamboo fibres, handmade paper, textiles, beeswax, herbs and spices – allows endless possibilities for combination and brings exciting visual impact to Tunde’s work. These very tactile materials and their textures are the main inspirations for her work. A graduate of JPTE University in Hungary, Tunde moved to Ireland in 1998 and works from her studio in Thomastown.

Deirdre Madden (Ireland) Come and hear prize-winning author Deirdre Madden read from and talk about her critically acclaimed first novel for children, Snakes’ Elbows. When millionaire, Barney, returns to live in the place that he was born, equally rich millionaire, Jasper, is worried that he’ll be upstaged. He sets out to make life as difficult as possible for Barney – with hilarious and farreaching consequences. Snakes’ Elbows won the Eilis Dillon Award in June this year and was short-listed for the Dublin Airport Authority Irish Book of the Year Award.

15 August 6pm - 10pm 16 August 12 noon - 11pm Bassets at Woodstock, Restaurant and Café, Woodstock Gardens, Inistioge 17 August – 15 September KOZO Studio, Marches St, Thomastown 10am - 6pm daily

“WHAT THIS BOOK IS REALLY ABOUT IS LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP AND THE THINGS THAT TRULY MATTER IN LIFE. RARELY HAS SUCH A SEEMINGLY LOOPY TALE SO MOVED ME. QUITE SIMPLY MARVELLOUS.” PHILIP ARDAGH, THE GUARDIAN

Fri 11 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 3pm Admission €6 (8-10 yrs)

Catherine Aran (Wales)

Silly Stories and Tales from Wales Once the only “official” storyteller in Wales, Catherine recreated the role of the Cyfarwydd (Kuh-vah-with) who travelled around the courts of the ancient Welsh princes telling magical tales of triumph and sadness. Now, working for herself, she visits Ireland using a myriad of different voices and facial expressions to introduce us to an array of characters who live in the world of silly stories and tales from Wales.

YOUNG PEOPLE

Verge

Sat 12, Sun 13 & Mon 14 August CBS Primary School, Stephen St 12pm (3-5 yrs) & 2pm (6-8 yrs) Admission €6 Tues 15 August Graiguenamanagh Library 12pm (3-5 yrs) & 2pm (6-8 yrs) Admission €6

Eoin McNamee

Performances & Workshops

(Ireland)

One of the hottest properties in children’s literature, Darren Shan writes about vampires, demons and circus freaks and is the author of The Darren Shan Saga and The Demonata series. Translated into more than 20 languages, his books have been bestsellers all over the world, selling in excess of 10 million copies. A big film buff, Darren also reads lots of comics and books, loves watching football, listening to pop and rock music, travelling and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!

“GREAT STORY-TELLING” RODDY DOYLE “STEPHEN KING FOR KIDS” EVENING STANDARD

Saturday 12 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 2pm Admission €6 (10-12 yrs) 52

An acclaimed novelist, Eoin McNamee’s best known work includes Resurrection Man, The Ultras and Blue Tango. His first novel for children, The Navigator, introduces young Owen, whose ordinary life is turned upside-down the day he gets involved with the Resisters and their centuries-long feud with an ancient evil race. The Harsh, with their icy blasts and relentless onslaught have a single aim: turn back time and eliminate all life. Unless they are stopped, everything Owen knows will vanish, as if it had never been…

Using hip hop rhythms and dynamic theatrical techniques, Mayhem Poets have developed powerful performances and workshops to inspire young people to listen, craft and perform original poetry. These masters of the spoken word rap and rhyme their way through contemporary life, reflecting the world around us in the essence of uber cool.

Eoin McNamee is guest curator of the Literature and Film programme of Kilkenny Arts Festival 2006.

You can catch the Mayhem Poets on the streets of Kilkenny, in full performance at the Ormonde Hotel, or join their workshops at The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle. Whichever you choose, you’re bound to be inspired! Who said poetry wasn’t cool?

Workshops “(RESURRECTION MAN)…ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING PIECES OF FICTION TO HAVE COME ALONG IN YEARS”. THE IRISH TIMES

Explore the art of verbal mayhem! Exercise your skill in wordplay, improvisation, writing and performing with the self-expression specialists. These Verbal Mayhem workshops are highly recommended by teachers.

PHOTO: MIRIAM BERKELEY

YOUNG PEOPLE

Darren Shan (Ireland)

YOUNG PEOPLE

Mayhem Poets (USA)

Performances: Sat 12 August Streets of Kilkenny Times: 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm Sun 13 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 3pm (9-11 yrs), 6pm (12-14 yrs) Admission €8

Thursday 17 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 2pm Admission €6 (10-14 yrs)

Workshops:

Embassy of the United States of America

Mon 14 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle 12pm (9-11 yrs), 3pm (12-14 yrs) Admission €10 35 participants per workshop 53

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Two shows for children and their families

Jacare Jungle (Ireland & Brazil)

YOUNG PEOPLE

Come on a fantastical voyage beyond the palace walls, into the forests and down to the seashore. Bring magical animals to life with the help of one of Ireland’s most unique dance companies, Oficina da Capoeira. Stunning visual theatre, inspiring art and interactive science at its most magical. This groundbreaking performance is the result of a unique collaboration between the Crafts Council of Ireland, textile artist Tara Carrigy, the Adaptive Information Cluster at DCU and, of course, children. Adapted from an original story by Antonia Hart.

Suitable for children aged 5-11 years. Monday 14 August CBS Primary School, Stephen St. 4pm & 6pm Admission €8

Jack With a handful of beans and a heart full of courage, Jack sets off on a tall tale of high adventure. Based on Jack and the Beanstalk, this production remains faithful to the spirit of the original ancient tale: a story of enchantment and magic, of cruelty and humour, of courage and ingenuity and triumph over gigantic adversity.

YOUNG PEOPLE

STORYBOX THEATRE COMPANY (UK)

The Pea, the Bean & the Enormous Turnip In this unforgettably leguminous tale of three famous vegetables, Rod Burnett uses his formidable skills as a storyteller and puppeteer to take his audience on a journey into the extraordinary world of the imagination. Weaving together a glorious tapestry of tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, Rod tells of a pea which finds a real princess; he tells of the biggest turnip in the world and he tells of a bean which runs away to make its mark. The Pea, the Bean and the Enormous Turnip will send magic tingling up the spines of children and adults alike. Both shows for children aged 5 yrs upwards. Duration: 60 minutes per performance

JACK Monday 14 August Paulstown Hall 6pm Tuesday 15 August CBS Primary School, Stephen St 2pm & 4pm THE PEA, THE BEAN & THE ENORMOUS TURNIP Wednesday 16 August CBS Primary School, Stephen St 2pm & 4pm Admission €8 55

LYNGO THEATRE COMPANY (UK)

Viento y Fuego (Spain) ANGEL - flamenco guitar ARIANY - flamenco dance JOSÉ - flamenco percussion

YOUNG PEOPLE

BY MARCELLO CHIARENZA AND PATRICK LYNCH DIRECTED AND DESIGNED BY MARCELLO CHIARENZA MUSIC BY CARLO ‘CIALDO’ CAPELLI PERFORMERS: PATRICK LYNCH & ELENA MARINI WITH THANKS TO TIM WEBB FROM OILY CART Welcome to our magic circle where we celebrate the wonders of nature. Sit down and relax on our comfy cushions as Percy and April guide you through the four seasons. Make some friends while you play peek-a-boo in our puddles or dance at the butterfly party. You’ll see how everyone likes to sleep on the moon cushion or cover themselves with snow from their first year to their fortieth, from spring to autumn and back again. This is the highly interactive version for the under 3’s of Lyngo’s very popular Watch the Birdy show where you can simply rock and roll around the clock to our lullaby or crawl into the middle and be a star! For children under 3yrs Duration: 30 minutes

Funded by the Arts Council, England.

Friday 18 & Saturday 19 August CBS Primary School, Stephen St 12pm, 2pm & 4pm Admission €6 56

Be swept along in the infectious rhythms of Spain at this unique Flamenco performance for all the family. Bringing together the music, dance, colour and emotion of this vibrant country, Viento Y Fuego expresses the thrill of the Flamenco and the passion of the Tango, Tientos, Bulerias, Rumbas and the Sevillanas. Compelling the audience to respond with rhythmic palmas (hand-clapping) and jaleo (shouts of encouragement), this interactive performance will send you on your way with a skip in your step and a little flamenco passion in your heart.

YOUNG PEOPLE

Egg and Spoon

Saturday 19 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 3pm Admission €10/€8 Family Music Package €30 (See booking info p. 32)

Papermaking Workshops Castlecomer Estate Yard's beautifully equipped papermaking studio, 'Paper Works' is the venue for children to learn how to make beautiful handmade papers with Artist and Papermaker Polly Minett. Following the success of last year's workshops, this year participants will be working with pulps made from recycled jeans, linen dresses and cotton shirts, to create your own 'paper art' wall hangings. All materials will be provided but you might like to bring ribbons, threads or photocopies of your favourite photograph to incorporate into your art works.

Rhythm Workshops The Session Bring your children along to enjoy some tasty tunes at this interactive traditional Irish music session with flute, percussion, guitar and dance, featuring some of Ireland’s top musicians. Curated by the highly accomplished percussionist Robbie Harris, who has performed and recorded with groups as diverse as Riverdance, The Fleadh Cowboys, Kíla, Stockton’s Wing and Rodrigo Y Gabriela. ROBBIE HARRIS - bodhran, percussion EMER MAYOCK - flute, fiddle & pipes DONAL SIGGINS - guitar, mandola MUIREANN NIC AMHLAOIBH - vocals, flute RONAN McCORMAC – dancer

Beginners Papermaking for Children Aged 5 – 8 yrs Tuesday 15 August, 10.30-12 noon, Admission €15 Participants limited to ten children Beginners Papermaking for Children Aged 8 – 12 yrs Tuesday 15 August, 2-4pm, Admission €15 Participants limited to ten children

We all have Rhythm! The world is filled with music, and it all has rhythm. The first sounds we ever heard, while still in our mother’s womb, were the beating of her heart and the rhythm of her breath. These interactive and fun workshops will introduce children to rhythms from all over the world and will teach them to explore their own abilities through a hands-on drumming experience. They will be amazed at their own talent! Facilitated by percussionist Robbie Harris from The Session, rhythms from a wide variety of locations including Ireland, Africa, Latin America and Asia will be explored, as well as a range of rhythm games such as Call & Response and the Drum Circle.

Suitable for all ages.

Sunday 20 August Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 2pm & 5pm Admission €10/€8 Family Music Package €30 (See booking info p.32)

Family Papermaking Workshop for Beginners Monday 14 August, 2-4pm, Admission €15 Participants limited to eight children plus adults.

The Carlton Ballroom, Chapel Lane, Kilkenny Thurs 17 August 12 noon - 1pm Group 1 (5-7 yrs) Fri 18 August 12 noon - 1pm Group 2 (5-7 yrs) Sat 19 August 12 noon - 1pm Group 3 (5-7 yrs) Thurs 17 - Sat 19 2.30pm - 3.30pm Group 4 (8-10 yrs) (3 day workshop)

€10 €10 €10 €30

Visual Art Workshops Venue: VEC Arts Space, New Street. Musical Paint Brushes Age 4 - 6 yrs In this workshop, participants will listen to different types of music. Using a range of materials, they will then draw, paint and colour different images inspired by rhythm and mood.

Creature Costumes Age 7 - 9 yrs Participants will create, make and finish their very own costumes. Using paint, card, paper and fabric, participants will decide what they want their creature costume to look like. Expect everything from Mon 14 August Workshop 1 2pm-3pm Time Travellers to Workshop 2 4pm-5pm Jungle Warriors! 20 participants in each Workshop 1 Tues 15 Admission €10 Workshop 2 Wed 16 Workshop 3 Thurs 17 10.30am-12.30pm 20 participants in each Admission €15

All participants should wear old clothes… just in case. All materials are supplied.

All in a Circle Age 4 - 6 yrs Each participant will create their own special space (under the sea, fairy kingdoms) using pencils, pastels and chalks. Fri 18 August Workshop 1 10.30am-11.30am Workshop 2 12.30pm-1.30pm 15 participants in each Admission €10

Festival Totem Pole Age 10 - 12 yrs This 3 day workshop will see children using a range of materials from clay to paint to recycled materials to design and make the first ever Kilkenny Arts Festival Totem Pole. The Pole will be placed as a piece of public sculpture around Kilkenny. Tues 15-Thurs 17 August 3pm-5.30pm daily Please note venue: VEC Art Space Tues & Wed Castle Grounds Thurs (weather permitting) 20 participants in total Admission €40 (3 day workshop)

Day-by-day Young Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Programme Theatre/ Performance Poetry Friday 11

Papermaking/Visual Art Workshops

Performance Poetry/Rhythm Workshops

Family Papermaking Workshop Castlecomer 2pm-4pm Musical Paint Brushes VEC Art Space Workshop 1 2pm-3pm Workshop 2 4pm-5pm

Mayhem Poets Workshop 12 noon (9-11 yrs), 3pm (12-14 yrs) Parade Tower

Deirdre Madden 3pm Ormonde Hotel (River Rm)

Saturday 12

Mayhem Poets 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm Streets & Market Cross Shopping Centre

Cath Arran 12 & 2pm CBS Primary School Darren Shan 2pm Ormonde Hotel (Kilbride)

Sunday 13

Mayhem Poets 3pm & 6pm Ormonde Hotel (Kilbride)

Cath Arran 12 & 2pm CBS Primary School BackBeat 12 noon Ormonde Hotel (Kilbride)

Monday 14

Jacare Jungle 4pm & 6pm CBS Primary School Jack 6pm Paulstown Hall

Cath Arran 12 & 2pm CBS Primary School

Tuesday 15

Jack 2pm & 4pm CBS Primary School

Beginners Papermaking Workshop Cath Arran 12 & 2pm 10.30am-12 noon (5-8 yrs) Graiguenamanagh Library 2pm-4pm (8-12 yrs) Castlecomer Creature Costumes 1 10.30am-12.30pm, VEC Art Space Festival Totem Pole Day 1 3pm-5.30pm, VEC Art Space

Wednesday 16

The Enormous Turnip 2pm & 4pm CBS Primary School

Creature Costumes 2 10.30am-12.30pm, VEC Art Space Festival Totem Pole Day 2 3pm-5.30pm, VEC Art Space

Thursday 17

Creature Costumes 3 Eoin McNamee 2pm Ormonde Hotel (River Rm) 10.30am-12.30pm, VEC Art Space Festival Totem Pole Day 3 3pm-5.30pm, Castle Grounds*

Friday 18

Egg & Spoon 12 noon, 2pm & 4pm CBS Primary School

Saturday 19

Egg & Spoon 12 noon, 2pm & 4pm CBS Primary School

Sunday 20

Readings/Storytelling/ Music

All in a Circle Workshop 1 10.30am-11.30am Workshop 2 12.30pm-1.30pm VEC Art Space

Rhythm Workshops Group 2 (5-7 yrs) 12 noon-1pm Group 4 (8-10 yrs) 2.30pm-3.30pm Carlton Ballroom Rhythm Workshops Group 3 (5-7 yrs) 12 noon-1pm Group 4 (8-10 yrs) 2.30pm-3.30pm Carlton Ballroom

Viento Y Fuego 3pm Ormonde Hotel (Kilbride)

The Session 2pm & 5pm Ormonde Hotel (Kilbride)

Rhythm Workshops Group 1 (5-7 yrs) 12 noon-1pm Group 4 (8-10 yrs) 2.30pm-3.30pm Carlton Ballroom

* Castle Grounds weather permitting, otherwise VEC

Day-by-day Main Programme Legend

• Street Theatre • Theatre/ Comedy • Classical Music • Jazz/World/ Traditional Music • Literature

Watergate Theatre

Friday 11

Saturday 12

Sunday 13

Monday 14

Tuesday 15

Wednesday 16

Thursday 17

Friday 18

Saturday 19

Sunday 20

The Old Tune 8pm

Strike 9.30pm

The Old Tune 7pm Strike 9.30pm

The Old Tune 8pm

Teatro Pachuco 11am, 1pm & 3pm

Incredible Bull Circus

Buí Bolg

Argento Chamber Ensemble 6pm

David Peace & Gordon Burn 6pm

3epkano 6pm

3epkano 1pm White Raven 6pm

Aynur 8pm

Argento Chamber Ensemble 1.10pm European Baroque Orchestra 8pm

Argento Chamber Ensemble 8pm

Solo @ St Canice’s Misha Alperin 3pm John Taylor 5.30pm Stefano Bollani 8pm

Eoin McNamee 2pm

Jazz & Blues Revue 9pm

Viento Y Fuego 3pm Masala 8pm

The Session 2pm & 5pm

Rhythm Workshops 12 noon & 2.30pm

Visual Art Workshop 10.30am & 3pm*

Visual Art Workshop 10.30am & 12.30pm

Street & Market Cross Shopping Centre

The Big River Parade 4pm Mayhem Poets 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm

Parade Tower

Tintype 9pm

St Canice’s Cathedral

Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel

Ex Cathedra 8pm

Deirdre Madden 3pm Femi Kuti & The Positive Force 10.30pm

Darren Shan 2pm

Iarla Ó Lionáird 1pm Mayhem Poets Workshop Tintype 6pm & 9pm 12 noon & 3pm Alex Barclay & Tobias Hill 6pm Tintype 9pm

Finghin Collins 1.10pm Caoimhín Vallely 1.10pm Quartet for the End of Time 8pm BackBeat Percussion Quartet 12 noon Mayhem Poets 3pm & 6pm

CBS Primary School

• Visual Art OTHER CITY VENUES

• Young People

Cath Arran 12 noon & 2pm

Visual Art Venues Failure

at Kilkenny Arts Festival

Cath Arran 12 noon & 2pm

Meet the Artists Five Corners Quintet & Hibernian Hotel 12 noon DJ Billy Scurry Turning on Tradition Newpark Hotel 8pm Rivercourt 9pm

OTHER COUNTY VENUES

Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers 9pm

Carlton Ballroom VEC Art Space

• Film

Adrian McKinty & Eoin McNamee 6pm Tintype 9pm

THE MALTINGS BUTLER HOUSE ST FRANCIS ABBEY BREWERY JOHN’S GATE PARNELL HOUSE THE CRESCENT/CASTLEYARD CASTLE GROUNDS GRENNAN MILL

Visual Art Workshop 2pm & 4pm

Visual Art Workshop 10.30am & 3pm

Cath Arran 12 noon & 2pm Jacare Jungle 4pm & 6pm

Jack 2pm & 4pm

The Enormous Turnip 2pm & 4pm

Meet the Artists Hibernian Hotel 4pm Madras Special Cleeres 9pm

Meet the Artists Hibernian Hotel 4pm Beginning To End Cleeres 9pm

Strand 2

Egg & Spoon 12 noon, 2pm & 4pm

Ornate Johnsons Ornate Johnsons Meet the Artists Hibernian Hotel 4pm Club 51 @ Kilford Arms Club 51 @ Kilford Arms Hotel 9pm Hotel 9pm Ornate Johnsons Club 51 @ Kilford Arms Hotel 9pm

The Big River Parade in Family Papermaking Papermaking Workshop Callan 1.30pm Castlecomer Workshop Castlecomer 10.30am & 2pm 2pm Cath Arran Jack Paulstown Hall 6pm Graiguenamanagh Library 12 noon & 2pm

Bas Jan Ader, Roman Signer, Museum in Progress Vito Acconci, Caroline McCarthy, Deirdre Power Joe Duggan Steve Reinke, Gerard Byrne, Alex Bag Martin Healy Nevan Lahart Tina O’Connell Julie Henry, Tom Fitzgerald

Egg & Spoon 12 noon, 2pm & 4pm

End of Festival Party! Langtons 9.30pm All welcome Adm €10

* 3pm workshop Castle Grounds, weather permitting

NATIONAL CRAFT GALLERY BUTLER GALLERY 72 JOHN STREET & WATERGATE THEATRE KCAT, CALLAN SCULPTURE AT KELLS, KELLS PRIORY RUDOLF HELTZEL GALLERY BERKELEY GALLERY, THOMASTOWN RED, ROSE INN ST 7 BRIDGEWATER, DEAN ST.

Verge

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ROUTE OF THE FESTIVAL PARADE

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