Kilkenny Arts Festival Programme 2013

K∆LKENNY ARTS FEST∆VAL

09–18 AUGUST

2013

Celebrating 40 years kilkennyarts.ie

Principal funders

Headline event partners

o’neill foley

Upper1790Court Unique Events in Freshford, Kilkenny

event partners

media partners

cultural partners

Embassy of Russian Federation in Ireland

Check out our GREAT PLACES to Stay, Eat and Drink with our loyal Festival Partners, pages 62-3.

Front cover image: Bob and Roberta Smith, Art Soapbox, 2012. Signwriter’s paint on board, 20x52x83cm (each). Image courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery, London. © the artist.

K∆LKENNY ARTS FEST∆VAL

01

Celebrating 40 years Book online now at

kilkennyarts.ie

How to Book your tickets

Online today at kilkennyarts.ie

By phone from 8 July on +353 56 775 2175

In person at the festival box office, 76 John Street (Kilkenny County Council Arts Office).

From 8 July: weekdays 10am-6pm. Weekends from 27 July: 12 noon-5pm.

During the festival: daily 10.30am-7.30pm Ticket Concessions

Don’t Be Late!

Post

Ticket Bundles

Ticket concessions are available for students, senior citizens and the unwaged. Appropriate ID will be requested on presentation of your ticket at the venue.

If you have purchased your tickets online and have opted to have them posted out to you, tickets will arrive two weeks before the event.

A fee of €2.50 applies to international post while a fee of €1 applies to domestic post.

Ticket Collection

If you have purchased your tickets online and have opted to collect them, tickets can be collected from the box office from 8 July.

To locate the box office see the map on the inside back cover.

Weather

Many of our performances are outdoors so please dress appropriately for the weather!

Refunds

Kilkenny Arts Festival has a no refund or exchange policy on all tickets purchased.

Gift Cards

Share the festival experience with someone you love and buy a festival gift card online at kilkennyarts.ie/festival/gift-card

Please arrive at the venue at least 15 minutes before the performance and allow 15 minutes for traffic and parking. Late admission is not guaranteed but will be offered if possible.

Check out our fantastic ticket bundles, available online at kilkennyarts.ie

Exclusive Offers

Avail of exclusive festival offers and updates by joining our mailing list online at kilkennyarts.ie/festival

Booking Fees

A booking fee of 50 cents per ticket applies on all credit card transactions.

Group Bookings: If there are 10 or more people in your group please contact the box office management about group discounts on boxoffice@kilkennyarts.ie or phone 056 775 2175.

St Canice’s Cathedral: Please note seating is unreserved at this venue and there may be restricted views.

02 credits credits

Special thanks A big thank you to the curators, artists and performers who make the festival such a

unique experience, and to the Kilkenny Arts Festival Board for their wisdom, drive and encouragement.

Thanks to our enthusiastic and hard-working volunteers who give their time so generously. Thanks to the festival partners and friends - we simply could not do this without your support.

Special thanks also to the many people who helped to make the festival happen including: Tom Bird, Tamsin Palmer & the SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE THEATRE team, Joe Crockett and the board of Kilkenny Civic Trust, Alan Slattery & all at Mycrofilms, all the staff at Kilkenny Castle (OPW), Amanda Horan, Andrew Nangle, Anthony Brady, Barry Douglas, Bob and Roberta Smith, Brendan Whyte, Brian Keyes, Brian Tyrrell & Kilkenny Borough Council, Business2Arts, Caroline Coode, Catriona Crowe, Céire Duggan, Cian O’Brien, Con Horgan, Conor Power, Donal O’Brien & Kilkenny Civic Trust, Donnacha Dennehy, Eamonn & Eddie Langton, Edel Mitchell, Father James Dunleavy, Ger & staff at the Heritage Council, Gary Breen, Gavin O’Sullivan, Ger Cody & the Watergate Theatre, Grace O’Sullivan, Jane Russell, Jen Coppinger, Jennifer Churchward & Fáilte Ireland, Joe Crockett & Kilkenny County Council, John Purcell, Julia Crampton, Kate Ellis, Karen Hennessy & Ann Mulrooney & the Crafts Council of Ireland, Kathleen Moran, Grace Fegan & all at Kilkenny Design Centre, Ken McGuire, Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce, Kilkenny Tourism, Krystle Fennelly, Lincoln Nelson & Brian Keane & Keith Nevin, Mado Ehrenborg, Maria Comerford and the children of St Canice’s N.S., Maria Kelly, Mary Butler & Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, Mary Cody, Mayor Séan Ó hÁrgáin, Megan & Jessica Kennedy, Neva Elliott & Crash Ensemble, Niall Ó Donnchú & staff at Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, Noeline Kavanagh, Roisin McQuillan & staff at Rothe House, Ruadhán, Margaret & Pat Collier, Sabine O’Dwyer, Sergeant Gary Gordon, St Canice’s Kilkenny Credit Union, Sue Nunn, Susan Cleary & the US Embassy, the Dean, Chapter & staff of St Canice’s Cathedral, Una McCarthy & all at the Arts Council, Vincent Dempsey & all at Barnstorm and Willie Meighan.

Festival team

Curators

Board of Directors

Festival Director & CEO Rosemary Collier Office Manager Valerie Ryan Production Manager Aidan Wallace Marketing Manager Tracy Ryan Fundraising & Development Manager Marian Flannery Programme Co-ordinator Rose Mulvey Box Office Manager Cathy Hogan Programme Editor Alistair Daniel Publicity Gerry Lundberg PR Graphic Design Íde Deloughry Web Design Pixel Design Official IT Provider BITS Marketing & Development Intern Cormac O’Flaherty Production Intern Hazel Doyle Festival Image Bob and Roberta Smith

Theatre & Dance Rosemary Collier Classical Music Rosemary Collier Music Gerry Godley Wired/Music Matthew Nolan Literature Cormac Kinsella Craft Angela O’Kelly Visual Art Josephine Kelliher Family Rosemary Collier Street, Spectacle & Special Events & Talks Rosemary Collier

Emer Foley (Chair) Fergus Cronin Susan Proud Maureen Kennelly Anna O’Sullivan Conor Langton Thomas O’Toole Michael O’Toole Isabell Smyth Orla Kelly Gobnait Kearney

welcome 03 Welcome

When the lights went down at St Canice’s Cathedral on 25 August 1974, and Dutch ensemble Musica Da Camara took up their instruments, few people could have imagined that in 2013 we’d be celebrating the fortieth year of one of the longest-running and – if we may say so – the best arts festival in Ireland!

The festival has expanded enormously since then and so many amazing artists have performed that we couldn’t possibly mention them all here. Nor do we have space to thank all the wonderful committee members, staff, curators, volunteers (and audiences!) that have given so generously of themselves over the years, but a special word of thanks must go to the Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Fáilte Ireland and Kilkenny Local Authorities, without whose steadfast support over the years the festival could never have grown to become the spectacular celebration it is today. To all our friends and supporters since 1974, happy 40th festival and thank you!

Emer Foley Kilkenny Arts Festival Chair

I’m delighted to welcome you to the 40th edition of Ireland’s oldest multi-disciplinary arts festival. In programming this year’s event I sought to reflect the artistic legacy of the festival. The tradition of world-class classical music programming continues through collaborations with Crash Ensemble and Camerata Ireland, and it is a personal pleasure to present Dawn Upshaw’s first solo recital in Ireland. The quality of visual arts programming over 40 years has been extraordinary and this year we present the inimitable Bob and Roberta Smith, who has created a bespoke city-wide project sure to live long in the memory. The festival has always supported Irish artists and commissioning new work is central to this year’s programme. You’ll find an exciting array of new projects in dance, opera, theatre, classical music, jazz, visual arts and spectacle!

As always, our team of curators has been a source of inspiration and wisdom. I’d like to thank the local supporters of the festival who give so generously, and my wonderful team for their unfaltering enthusiasm. So it only remains for me to invite you all to join us on 9 August to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and to enjoy ten days of world-class events. KAF is truly fab at 40!

Rosemary Collier Director & CEO

Curators

Rosemary Collier Festival Director

Gerry Godley Music

Josephine Kelliher Visual Art

Cormac Kinsella Literature

Matthew Nolan Wired/Music

Angela O’Kelly Craft

04 SPECTACLE

Architects of Air UK

MIRACOCO

If you’ve never been inside a luminarium, now’s your chance! A luminarium is a light-filled, inflatable sculpture, somewhere between a womb and a cathedral, designed to invoke wonder and awe, and UK-based luminarium specialists Architects of Air are bringing one of their most magical creations to the Castle Park. Throughout the festival, visitors will be able to wander freely inside the Miracoco – a cavernous, temple-like construction – exploring its tunnels and domes and the shimmering patterns of light and colour inside. It’s a mesmerising experience loved by children and adults alike, so come along and reawaken your sense of wonder.

The luminarium is wheelchair accessible.

Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Kilkenny Castle Park

Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 August 10am-6pm Monday 12 - Friday 16 August 12pm-6pm Saturday 17 August 10am-6pm

Admission €5

STREET 05

Macnas Ireland

CHAOSMOS IRISH PREMIERE Concept & direction Noeline Kavanagh

Something magical is afoot on the streets of Kilkenny this festival: the award-winning Macnas is bringing a brand new show to the city for its Irish debut. Chaosmos is a walkabout street show where wild beasts, masked performers, an ethereal Alchemist and a curious insect peddling a penny farthing meander through the streets of Kilkenny from the Castle Park to the Courthouse. Combining music, spectacle and live performance, Chaosmos is a family-friendly feast for the senses from “the ultimate creators of fantasy” (The Irish Independent), and it’s all free!

Macnas is a “dazzlingly inventive” (The Sunday Business Post) theatre and performance company based in Galway.

It has staged spectacular shows in more than 20 countries all over the world.

FREE event!

Castle Park – the Tholsel – Courthouse

Wednesday 14 August

2pm & 7.30pm

06 Theatre

The Globe Theatre’s first visit to Ireland was a coup for Kilkenny Arts Festival The Irish Examiner

Theatre 07

Shakespeare’s Globe On Tour UK Presents

The Taming of the Shrew

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Joe Murphy

Designed by Hannah Clark

Composed by

Corin Buckeridge

Cast Katherina Kate Lamb

Petruchio

Leah Whitaker

Associated special events: James Shapiro see page 45 Talking Theatre see page 42 Setting the Scene see page 42

The Castle Yard at Kilkenny Design

It was supposed to be a one-off. Last year, Shakespeare’s Globe came to Ireland for the very first time, bringing its uproarious production of As You Like It to Kilkenny. But after playing to packed audiences in the Castle Yard for nine glorious – if occasionally damp! – summer nights, the response was so overwhelming that we had to have them back.

This year, director Joe Murphy brings another of the Bard’s great comedies to the mediaeval splendor of the Castle Yard: The Taming of the Shrew. Two wealthy sisters in Padua must be married off. The modest, demure Bianca has no shortage of suitors, but who on earth will take the wild, ungovernable, ‘shrewish’ Katherina? Performed on a recreated Elizabethan ‘Booth stage’ with an all-female cast, and featuring one of theatre’s great double-acts, The Taming of the Shrew is a frenetic and linguistically gymnastic screwball comedy tailor-made for this beautiful space.

This is an outdoor performance – please dress for the weather.

NEW! Tiered seating.

Friday 9 - Sunday 18 August 7.30pm No show on Wednesday 14 August Matinee on 18 August at 2pm

Admission €25/€22

08 Theatre

TheEmergencyRoom Ireland

RIVERRUN Adapted and performed by Olwen Fouéré through the voice of the river in James Joyce’s famous ‘book of the night’ Finnegan’s Wake Directed by Olwen Fouéré

Fouéré’s work towards the creation of this work began by listening for the voice of ALP (Anna Livia Plurabelle) in her guise as the river ‘Life’, whose never-ending course through the Wake generates a powerful transformative energy as she dissolves into the great ocean of time.

A force of constant renewal, the river’s voice in the Wake becomes a universal call to wake up, to surrender past narratives whilst confronting the betrayals that might lie at the heart of our histories.

Co-directed by Kellie Hughes Sound Design/ Composition by Alma Kelliher Costume Design by Monica Frawley Lighting Design by Stephen Dodd

The Watergate Theatre

“…Soft morning, city! Lsp! I am leafy speafing. Lpf! Folty and folty all the nights have being falling on to long my hair. Not a sound, falling...”

Finnegan’s Wake

Fouéré, one of Ireland leading theatre makers, in collaboration with an exciting creative team, takes a unique approach to Joyce’s extraordinary ‘sounddance’. A performance not to be missed.

Production Support provided by Rough Magic. riverrun is made possible with the support of The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Thursday 15 August 7.30pm Friday 16 August 6pm Saturday 17 August 1pm & 6pm Sunday 18 August 6pm

Admission €23/€20

Duration 70 mins

Photo: Colm Hogan

Theatre 09

Olwen Fouéré achieves a pure theatricality that is rare indeed Fintan O’Toole Fouéré is a real artist Michael Billington

10 dance

They have guts and ingenuity The Irish Times

dance 11

Junk Ensemble & Kilkenny Arts Festival present

Dusk Ahead World premiere

Creation and Choreography Jessica Kennedy Megan Kennedy Visual & Costume Design Sabine Dargent Sound Composition & Design Denis Clohessy Lighting Design Sarah Jane Shiels

junk ensemble are a multi-award-winning company whose innovative productions stretch the boundaries of dance theatre, creating a rich sensory mix that challenges the relationship between audience and performer. Artists in residence at Tate Britain last year, they often stage productions in unusual spaces, and they’re coming to the Watergate to celebrate the festival’s 40th birthday with the world premiere of a specially-commissioned piece, co-produced by Kilkenny Arts Festival and Project Arts Centre.

Performers Justine Cooper Miguel do Vale Ramona Nagabczynski Ryan O’Neill Jaiotz Osa

Dusk Ahead is a powerful new work exploring that mysterious time of day when it is difficult to distinguish what is real from what is imagined.

With a high-calibre cast of international and Irish performers, who also act as the band playing live music throughout, Dusk Ahead is a captivating new work from one of Ireland’s most dynamic dance companies.

Musician Zoe Reardon

junk ensemble are part of Project Catalysts, an initiative of Project Arts Centre.

Photography Fionn McCann The Watergate Theatre

Supported by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Dublin City Council, Project Arts Centre, Dance City Newcastle and Dance Ireland.

Saturday 10 August 9pm Sunday 11 August 6pm Monday 12 August 8pm

Admission €25/€22

Duration 60 mins

12 Music

The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon Solo) Northern Ireland

Margie Lewis Australia

Since releasing his first album as a teenager, Neil Hannon (aka The Divine Comedy) has cut a unique and rather dashing figure in the music industry, bringing a little continental sophistication to the bubblegum world of pop, and he has continued to forge his own path, releasing a string of gorgeous pop symphonies infused with lyrical intelligence and delivered in his deep, rich vocals. Over the years he’s performed in a range of magnificent venues from the Folies Bergère to the Royal Albert Hall, but there’s nowhere better than St Canice’s to show off the full range of his talents.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Margie Lewis experiments with surprising combinations of sounds, and “her intricate cocktail of loop station, zither, violin and vocals” (Hot Press) has made her one of the acts to watch out for this year.

St Canice’s Cathedral

Friday 9 August 8.30pm

Admission €32/€28

music 13

a young group full of promise All About Jazz

PHISQA Ireland Phisqa means “five” in Quechua, a native language of Peru, the birthplace of one of the members of this cosmopolitan quintet, whose other members hail from Italy, South Africa, Venezuela and Ireland. But it was Dublin that drew them together, and now they’re fast becoming one of the most exciting new jazz ensembles in Ireland. Driven by drummer Jose Calmet, their music blends jazz with the rich textures of Peruvian rhythms to create a dynamic, fresh and exciting new sound.

This is music to delight the ear, to capture the imagination, and even to dance to, and they’re sure to have you on your feet in Cleere’s.

Cleere’s Bar

Saturday 10 August 8pm

Admission €15/€13

14 music

Anthony Joseph & THE SPASM BAND UK

Anthony Joseph grew up in Trinidad, an island full of troubadours, storytellers and carnivals, and when he moved to London in 1989 he brought it all with him. A novelist, lecturer and author of several acclaimed collections of poetry, Joseph quickly established himself as a unique figure on the cultural scene, but for him “poetry is music. It has to be chanted, sung and declaimed” and, since the release of his debut album, he has been marrying his lyrics to a soundtrack of wildly infectious grooves.

Accompanied by The Spasm Band, Joseph mixes funk with jazz, rock and Afrobeat in a fusion that celebrates the sounds of the African diaspora. His latest album, Rubber Orchestras, is “a set of incredibly strong liberation songs” (Mojo) that sounds like James Brown, Fela Kuti and Gil Scott-Heron all rolled into one. Onstage, Joseph and his band are hypnotic performers, and will have you dancing the night away in the Set.

Set Theatre

Saturday 10 August 10pm

Admission €20/€17.50

Photo: Edwige Hampbem

Joseph intones funny, funky Gil ScottHeron-ish rhymes as his Spasm band … produces a remarkable racket Uncut

music 15

The new Ensemble Marsyas … get the bit between their teeth, and deliver their chosen music with communicative relish The Irish Times

ENSEMBLE MARSYAS INTERNATIONAL

Handel and the Dresden Court Programme GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL

Trio Sonata in G minor HWV 393 JOHANN FRIEDRICH FASCH

Bassoon Sonata in C GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL

Oboe Sonata in F JOHANN FRIEDRICH FASCH

Quadro for 2 oboes, bassoon and continuo in G minor JOHN DOWLAND

Frog Galliard, Pavane Lute solo JOHANN FRIEDRICH FASCH

Quadro for 2 oboes, bassoon and continuo in B flat

Ensemble Marsyas only formed in 2011, but its members have been playing together for years. They first met in the European Union Baroque Orchestra (which delighted St Canice’s in 2011) and since joining forces the ensemble has established itself at the forefront of baroque music. They’ve played all over Europe, and this afternoon they gather in Kilkenny for an intriguing programme ranging from the Frog Galliard – one of the most popular pieces of Renaissance composer and lutenist John Dowland – to the baroque stylings of Handel and his lesser-known but talented compatriot, Johann Friedrich Fasch.

Featuring Irish “ace bassoonist” (The Irish Times) Peter Whelan, this is a wonderful chance to catch one of the freshest and most exciting new baroque ensembles in Europe.

The Black Abbey

Sunday 11 August 2pm

Admission €18/€16

Duration 70 mins

16 music

Camerata Ireland Barry Douglas piano Ireland

alison balsom trumpet UK

In 1999, pianist and conductor Barry Douglas founded Camerata Ireland, an ensemble that brings together the finest musicians – both young and established – to celebrate the wealth of Irish musical talent. Since then the ensemble has toured all over the world, gaining an international reputation for excellence, and now, fresh from a European tour celebrating Ireland’s presidency of the EU, the orchestra comes to Kilkenny to perform an exciting selection of orchestral pieces by three of the great twentieth-century composers, including Elgar’s Serenade and Shostakovich’s playful Concerto in C minor (performed with the great English trumpeter Alison Balsom). This year sees the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, and to mark the occasion the ensemble performs two key early works: Young Apollo and the work that first brought him to international attention, the Frank Bridge Variations.

St Canice’s Cathedral

Sunday 11 August 8pm

Admission €30/€26

o’neill foley

Duration 2 hrs

music 17

Every now and then, amid the hectic New York concert season, there is an evening that reminds me how much I love my reviewing job; the chamber orchestra Camerata Ireland ‌ provided just such an occasion New York Concert Review

Programme EDWARD ELGAR

Serenade for Strings, op. 20 BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Young Apollo, op. 16 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, op. 35 LENNOX BERKELEY

Serenade for Strings, op. 12 BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Frank Bridge Variations, op. 10

18 Music

Kitt’s vocals are a thing of beauty … there’s a warmth to his singing that rarely fails to leave an impact Irish Independent

David Kitt Seamus Fogarty ireland

Since his first long player - the mesmerising Small Moments - won rave reviews and a host of famous fans back in 2000, David Kitt has been building a loyal following with his singular blend of hushed vocals and mellow beats. His last album, The Nightsaver, found him experimenting with fresh new sounds (including disco, hip-hop, house and even shades of Kraftwerk). Since then he’s revisited Small Moments live, toured with Tindersticks, formed electronic outfit New Jackson with Diamond Dagger and recorded music for the acclaimed short film Irish Folk Furniture.

Since supporting Mick Flannery at last year’s festival, Seamus Fogarty has soaked up the acclaim for his “startlingly good” (The Skinny) debut album, God Damn You Mountain, full of stripped-back acoustic songs underpinned with subtle electronics.

Set Theatre

Sunday 11 August 8.30pm

Admission €20/€17.50

music 19

KALEIDOSCOPE Ireland Programme A SELECTION OF MUSIC FROM THE 17th CENTURY

The Gregory Walkers: Laoise O’Brien Malachy Robinson Eamonn Sweeney Francesco Turrisi WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Duo no.1 in G major for Violin and Viola, K423 Clíodhna Ryan & Cian Ó Dúill JUDITH RING

Up to my f-holes Kate Ellis

Kaleidoscope brings you on a journey through centuries of beautiful music in a relaxed and intimate setting. Curated by the violinist Clíodhna Ryan and the cellist Kate Ellis, these celebrated nights feature innovative and imaginative programming and performances from Ireland’s finest musicians.

Kaleidoscope’s first appearance at the festival in 2011 was a sell-out success; this year, Kaleidoscope returns for one night only with a typically tantalising and eclectic line-up of musicians at the Left Bank for an evening spanning five hundred years of music from Ireland, Europe and beyond. If you haven’t tried Kaleidoscope before, come along and find out why it’s still “one of the coolest things going” (The Irish Times).

GYÖRGY LIGETI

Selection of Bagatelles Dublin Guitar Quartet TAN DUN

Concerto for Six Deirdre O’Leary, Kate Ellis, Malachy Robinson, Niwel Tsumbu, Steve Kelly & Izumi Kimura

Left Bank

Monday 12 August 10pm

Admission €18/€16

Duration 90 mins

20 music

Ian Wilson Ireland

THE HOURS featuring

Ronan Guilfoyle Cathal Roche Matthew Jacobson ConTempo Quartet

Ian Wilson is one of Ireland’s most prolific and inventive composers. He has worked with everyone from traditional Irish singers to Chinese pipa players, and The Hours is perhaps his most ambitious project yet. The Hours brings together three innovative jazz musicians: bassist Ronan Guilfoyle, saxophonist Cathal Roche and drummer Matthew Jacobson, with the ConTempo Quartet – one of the most adventurous classical music ensembles in Ireland – for a ‘concerto’ that offers a genuinely groundbreaking fusion of jazz improvisation and classical composition.

Inspired by the seven monastic prayer times, The Hours leads the listener on a journey through a single day. This unique project is one to savour.

St John’s Priory

Tuesday 13 August 1pm

Admission €15/€13

Duration 50 mins

Photo: Dániel Vass/ECM Records

music 21

BOBO STENSON TRIO Sweden TRYGVE Seim & FRODE HALTLI Norway Scandinavia has produced some of the best jazz in recent years, and we’re excited to present this double bill of major ECM recording artists whose music is synonymous with the lyrical Nordic sound.

Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson has long been one of the most influential jazz musicians in Europe. In a forty-year career he has played with many of the jazz greats, but it’s the work of the Bobo Stenson Trio that has sealed his reputation.

Don’t miss this chance to see why “Bobo Stenson’s trio … belongs on the short list with the great piano trios of our time” (JazzTimes).

The combination of a saxophone and an accordion is a rare sight – and sound – in jazz or any other genre, but the understanding between long-time collaborators Trygve Seim and Frode Haltli ensures that it works. Seim is rapidly establishing himself as one of Europe’s great saxophonists, while Haltli coaxes an astonishing range of sounds from his accordion. “If the opportunity arises to hear them live,” says RootsWorld, “do not let it pass by.”

St Canice’s Cathedral

Tuesday 13 August 8pm

Admission €25/€23

22 music

CIARÁN TOURISH, CATHAL HAYDEN & KEVIN DOHERTY Ireland A trio of outstanding traditional musicians converge on St John’s for this very special lunchtime concert. Donegal’s Ciarán Tourish and Kevin Doherty first played together at the age of six when they took tin whistle lessons from the legendary fiddle player Dinny McLaughlin. Tourish went on to become the fiddle player with Altan and has collaborated on a wide range of projects with the likes of Mary Black, Máirtín O’Connor and Dolores Keane. Doherty, meanwhile, joined Four Men and a Dog, the group founded by fiddle and banjo player Cathal Hayden whose high-octane live performances and eclectic mix of tunes made it one of the most popular and successful bands on the trad music circuit. This is a rare opportunity to catch three of our most celebrated traditional musicians in performance.

St John’s Priory

Wednesday 14 August 1pm

Admission €15/€13

Music 23

NEW MUSIC NIGHT Featuring

BIGGLES FLYS AGAIN SETI THE FIRST THOMAS DONOGHUE BAND The ever-popular New Music Night returns to the Set this year with another eclectic mix of up-and-coming talent. It’s not every day that a viola da gamba, a ukelin and a marxophone feature among a band’s instruments, but Seti the First is no ordinary band. The Waterboys’ Mike Scott has described them as “brilliant chamber rock weirdos” and after appearing on RTÉ’s The View they already count Cillian Murphy and Danish band Efterklang among their admirers.

As Biggles Flys Again, Dubliner Conor Deasy makes “a wistful, enchantingly gentle brand of day-glo alt-pop” (The Sunday Business Post). His debut album Remember Saturday is an “unassuming, unpretentious and brilliantly executed” (The Sunday Times) collection of songs recorded on vintage keyboards. Flying the flag for Kilkenny, The Thomas Donoghue Band completes this year’s lineup with its powerful rock sound leavened by touches of roots and folk.

Set Theatre

Wednesday 14 August 8.30pm

Kilkenny County Council’s Arts Office working in partnership with Kilkenny Arts Festival to support the finest in Irish bands.

Admission €12/€10

24 music

Photo: Dario Acosta

Upshaw’s performances are the stuff of legend The Los Angeles Times

music 25

DAWN UPSHAW soprano & Gilbert Kalish piano US

Programme includes works by Charles Ives Franz Schubert Béla Bartók Maurice Ravel William Bolcom

St Canice’s Cathedral

Upper1790Court Unique Events in Freshford, Kilkenny

Few singers can boast four Grammy awards and a “genius” fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation, but Dawn Upshaw is no ordinary soprano. Even before she appeared on Henryk Górecki’s million-selling Symphony no. 3 in the early 1990s, Upshaw was feted both for the quality of her voice and for her rare ability to cut to the heart of the music. Over a career spanning more than two decades she has developed a reputation as a tireless innovator, embracing everything from Bach to Broadway show tunes while working with cutting-edge composers like Kaija Saariaho and Donnacha Dennehy. For Kilkenny Upshaw teams up with renowned pianist Gilbert Kalish to present a broad-ranging programme encompassing everything from Schubert’s beautiful lied Im Frühling to the cabaret-style Song of Black Max. This is her first ever solo recital in Ireland, and a rare opportunity to hear one of classical music’s most magnetic and groundbreaking stars.

Wednesday 14 August 8pm

Admission €40/€35

Duration 2 hrs

26 Music

MALCOLM PROUD Ireland Programme JS BACH

Partita No. 6 in E minor (BWV 830) FRANÇOIS COUPERIN

22nd Ordre in D major

Since he appeared at the very first Kilkenny Arts Festival back in 1974, pianist, harpsichordist and organist Malcolm Proud has won the Edinburgh International Harpischord Competition, performed all over the world and made more than thirty recordings with leading orchestras and ensembles, including the English Baroque Soloists, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. These days he combines an international career as a harpsichordist and pianist with a senior lectureship at Waterford Institute of Technology. He’s returned to the festival many times, as a solo performer and with the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Camerata Kilkenny (which he founded with Maya Homburger), often performing in St Canice’s, where he is organist and choirmaster, but this afternoon he comes to St John’s Priory for a solo harpsichord recital featuring Bach’s Partita No. 6, one of his final harpsichord suites.

something of a musical visionary The Irish Times St John’s Priory

Thursday 15 August 1pm

Admission €15/€13

Duration 60 mins

Music 27

FIGHT LIKE APES Ireland

BITCHES UK

If all bands were as fun as [Fight Like Apes], there’d be no reason to do anything other than watch them 24/7 BBC Across the Line

It’s five years since Dubliners Fight Like Apes released a debut album full of snarling energy and wicked humour. Since then the band has perfected a unique form of ‘karate rock’ – two parts pop frenzy, four parts spleen – toured with the likes of Kasabian, The Prodigy and The Ting Tings, been described as the fourth best musical act of their generation

by The Irish Times, and built a reputation for anarchic live shows.

According to NME, bass-and-drums duo Bitches “make one helluva racket”. Whether singing – or rather screaming – about topics as diverse as Henry VIII or cop soap The Bill, their fuzzy, riotous noise pop is drunk and disorderly in all the right ways.

Billy Byrne’s

Thursday 15 August 8.30pm

Admission €20/€17.50

28 music

Photo: Mark Tierney

THE NAOMHÓG AND THE BEGLEYS

Ireland

Every so often the festival throws up one of those events so unique it will be talked about for years. This is one of those events. In 2011, Kilkenny artist Liam Holden and walker-poet Danny Sheehy decided to craft and build a naomhóg (otherwise known as a curragh) by hand, and every summer they’ve teamed up with Brendan Begley – one of the finest box players in the country – and an eclectic group of musicians, artists and sailors to sail the boat up the rivers of Ireland and over the seas, like maritime troubadours, stopping en route to perform. This summer, photographer Anne Burke joins Brendan, Liam and Danny on their latest adventure up the River Nore. Mooring overnight at a secret location, they will row downriver to the River (where else?) Court Hotel for a night’s shore leave and a special performance with the Begley family. Mixing dancing, shanties and tales of the high seas, The Naomhóg and the Begleys is a one-off celebration of Irish craftsmanship and maritime traditions.

Featuring Brendan Begley box-accordion

Anne Burke photographer

Liam Holden artist

Danny Sheehy poet

Bréanainn Begley guitar

Cormac Begley concertina

Conchúbhair Begley accordion

Cliodhna Begley Kilkenny River Court Hotel

Thursday 15 August 9pm

Admission €20/€17.50

fiddle

[Mark E Smith is] the most terrifying man in independent music The Guardian

Music 25 29

THE FALL UK

Tujacques Ireland

Kilkenny Arts Festival was barely three years old when The Fall played its first gig in the basement of North West Arts in Manchester. Since then the line-up has changed as often as the sound, but one thing remains constant: Mark E Smith.

Described by NME as “punk’s snarling poet laureate”, Smith is one of the most idiosyncratic, cantankerous and charismatic frontmen in pop, a songwriter celebrated for his lyrical dexterity and wit and a singer blessed with a unique style. For almost forty years Smith has ploughed his own highly individual furrow, releasing thirty studio albums, turning down a spot on I’m a Celebrity, inspiring a host of younger bands, and building a devoted cult following.

Fronted by Texas-born Dubliner (and Trinity College professor) Matthew Causey, Tujacques brings together some of Ireland’s most innovative musicians in a fusion of punk, alternative country, beat poetry and Delta blues, all wrapped up with a dash of Southern Gothic theatricality.

Set Theatre

Friday 16 August 10pm

Admission €25/€22

30 music

Crash ensemble Ireland

Alan Pierson conductor dawn upshaw soprano US

St Canice’s Cathedral

Friday 16 August 8pm

Admission €28/€25

Upper1790Court Unique Events in Freshford, Kilkenny

Duration 2 hrs

music 31

Programme MICHAEL GORDON

Dry (WORLD PREMIERE) NICO MUHLY

Drones, Variations, Ornaments DONNACHA DENNEHY

That the Night Come

Associated special events: Michael Gordon will give a pre-concert talk: see page 42 for details.

For details of Soundworks, curated by Crash Ensemble, see page 43.

Over the last 16 years, Crash Ensemble has established itself as a “a powerhouse of new music” (The Irish Times) renowned for commissioning, producing and performing the most exciting new works. That tradition continues tonight in this mouthwatering concert that showcases the work of some of the best contemporary Irish and American composers.

The programme opens with the world premiere of a new piece – specially commissioned for the fortieth anniversary of the festival – by Michael Gordon, a composer whose work embodies “the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism” (Alex Ross), and continues with Drones, Variations, Ornaments by Nico Muhly, one of the rising stars of contemporary classical music.

The ensemble recently returned from an acclaimed US tour, and tonight they’re joined by Grammy-winning soprano Dawn Upshaw to perform That the Night Come, Donnacha Dennehy’s haunting song cycle based on poems by WB Yeats.

30 wired

32 Music

KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL CHOIR AND ENSEMBLE ireland CARMINA BURANA Carl Orff

Fergus Sheil conductor

Claudia Boyle soprano

Stephen Wallace counter-tenor

Mark Holland baritone

Peter Tuite piano

Fionnuala Moynihan piano

In just three years, the Kilkenny Arts Festival Choir and Ensemble has established itself as one of the must-see events in our annual programme, drawing packed crowds to St Canice’s for its spectacular end-of-festival performances, and this year’s choir is our biggest yet.

To mark the year of The Gathering Ireland 2013, our Gathering of Voices brings choral singers from across the globe to experience the magic of participating in Ireland’s only dedicated festival chorus. After an intensive week of workshops and rehearsals under the watchful eye of conductor Fergus Sheil, the Kilkenny Arts Festival Choir will perform one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century music: Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Based on the eponymous collection of mediaeval poems celebrating the transience of life and the fickleness of fortune, Orff’s cantata finds its perfect setting in the 13th century cathedral of St Canice.

Presented with support from The Gathering Ireland 2013.

St Canice’s Cathedral

Saturday 17 August 8pm

Admission €30/€26

Upper1790Court Unique Events in Freshford, Kilkenny

Duration 2 hrs

music 33

BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA Mali

Despite the turmoil in the country, Mali continues to produce a seemingly endless succession of world-class musicians, from Tinariwen to Ali Farka Touré, and since his debut album won two BBC World Music Awards in 2006, Bassekou Kouyate has set about joining them. Kouyate plays the ngoni, an ancient stringed instrument that’s been central to Malian culture for centuries.

Traditionally the ngoni is four-stringed and played sitting down, but Kouyate brings the instrument bang up to date, adding extra strings and wah-wah pedals and slinging it over his shoulder like a guitar. He has even formed an ensemble featuring seventeen ngoni! The line-up of his band Ngoni Ba is a little more restrained, but their playing is anything but. Their “furiously exciting live shows” (The Daily Telegraph) combine traditional rhythms with raucous blues riffs and exuberant funk. The title of his new album, Jama Ko, translates as “big gathering of people”. Come and be part of the Set’s.

Photo: Jens Schwarz

one of the world’s most celebrated players of the ngoni The Guardian

Set Theatre

Saturday 17 August 10pm

Admission €22/€19

34 Music

END OF FESTIVAL PARTY

R.S.A.G.

Replete Donal Dineen (dj set) Ireland

Local hero R.S.A.G. (aka Jeremy Hickey) is known as much for his spectacular audio-visual live shows as for his innovative mix of funky drumming and pulsing electronica.

Whether using a dog as a backing (or should that be ‘barking’?) singer on ‘Digging’, or discovering his inner crooner on ‘Be It Right or Wrong’, Hickey is always exploring new sounds. A festival favourite, the drummer, singer and multiinstrumentalist returns to the Set with a brand new album and a fresh new sound to round off the festival in style.

After wowing the crowd at the New Music Night in 2012, Kilkenny’s own Peter Lawlor (aka Replete) makes a welcome return this year, bringing his trademark laidback grooves, while pioneering DJ Donal Dineen keeps that end-of-festival vibe going into the wee small hours.

Set Theatre

Sunday 18 August 9pm

Admission €20/€17.50

A robust, beaty and meaty fare, a fabulous mash-up from the Marble City which is one part hardcore-punk to three parts heavyweight funk Jim Carroll

Music/opera 35

[Roger Doyle] may not be a household name … but his name is revered in the realm of theatre, film and dance The Irish Times

Roger Doyle Ireland

#BURNED

A Staged Concert in Two Acts featuring the music of Roger Doyle, including the premiere of Part 1 from his new opera, The Death by Fire of Giordano Bruno Roger Doyle composer

Jocelyn Clarke libretto

Eric Fraad director

Niwel Tsumbu guitar

Vyvienne Long cello Conor Linehan piano

Roger Doyle is “the godfather of Irish electronica” (The Irish Times), a breathlessly inventive composer working in an extraordinary range of styles. In this unique performance for Kilkenny Arts Festival, Doyle presents a selection of his most celebrated works (along with a brand new piece), followed by an exclusive preview of the opening act of his new (and very first) opera: The Death by Fire of Giordano Bruno. Mystic, magus, philosopher, playwright, spy and heretic, Bruno was one of the Renaissance’s most brilliant and subversive figures. Featuring six singers, four acoustic instrumentalists and an electronic orchestra, with a libretto from Jocelyn Clarke and directed by Eric Fraad, The Death

by Fire of Giordano Bruno is a stunning new work in the making.

Nick Roth woodwinds

The Watergate Theatre

Wednesday 14 August 1pm & 6pm

Admission €15/€13

Duration 60 mins

36 Special Events & Talks

Happy Birthday to KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL!

OFFICIAL FESTIVAL OPENING PARTY Now celebrating its fortieth outing, Kilkenny Arts Festival is Ireland’s longest running multidisciplinary arts festival. Every year hundreds of artists from all over the world perform throughout the city and over the years we’ve welcomed some very big names, including Michael Ondaatje, Susan Philipsz, Steven Isserlis and the Tallis Scholars. To mark this special occasion, we’re hosting a garden party in the beautiful surroundings of Butler House.

Everyone is welcome to join us for an afternoon of celebration and reminiscence as festival founders look back at how it all began, and some special guests give us their take on the Kilkenny experience.

Butler House & Gardens

Friday 9 August 5pm

Bob Walk & Talk Join Bob and Roberta Smith and curator Josephine Kelliher for a Kilkenny walkabout, taking in some of the artistic sights of the city.

The Heritage Council Saturday 10 August 1pm Free

All welcome

Costume Curator & Artist Talk Curator Angela O’Kelly explores the world of Costume with Niamh Lunny, head of costume at the Abbey Theatre, and artists Úna Burke, Ana Rajcevic and Andreia Chaves.

National Craft Gallery Saturday 10 August 3pm Free

Special Events & Talks 37

EXHIBITION OPENINGS CONNECTIONS

Bob and Roberta Smith

MADE in Kilkenny Connections MADE

Butler Gallery Opening Saturday 10 August 3pm

Opening Saturday 10 August 12pm

Blackstack Studio Link

Art Makes Children Powerful

See pages 50-3 for details.

Opening Saturday 10 August 2pm

Bernadette Kiely & André van Schaijk The Lie of the Land Opening Friday 9 August 2pm

Gypsy Ray Earthworks Opening Friday 9 August 6pm

Costume

Behind the Scenes & Future Fashion National Craft Gallery Opening Saturday 10 August 4pm See pages 56-9 for details.

See pages 54-5 for details.

Artists Brunch Join us in Billy Byrne’s for a Sunday morning chat and some insights into the work of Kilkenny-based artists featured in the Connections programme.

Representatives from Blackstack Studio and MADE in Kilkenny will be joined by Gypsy Ray, Bernadette Kiely and André van Schaijk in conversation with The Irish Times art critic Gemma Tipton.

Billy Byrne’s Sunday 11 August 12pm Free

Bob AND Roberta Smith in conversation with Steve Bierley In 2008 Guardian tennis correspondent Steve Bierley was covering the French Open at Roland Garros when, as part of a job swap with the art correspondent, he went to the Pompidou Centre to see an exhibition by the 96-year-old artist Louise Bourgeois. He was profoundly unsettled. “This woman is deeply dangerous” he wrote. Inspired by the article, Bob and Roberta Smith created a new work, This Artist is Deeply Dangerous, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival the following year. Now Kilkenny Arts Festival brings them together for a fascinating exchange about art, Bourgeois, and the nature of inspiration.

The Hole in the Wall Sunday 11 August 3pm Free but ticketed

38 Special Events & Talks

KILKENNY GATES: A HIDDEN BEAUTY Speakers Shem Caulfield Dr Pat Wallace Chaired by Catriona Crowe

Newpark Hotel

The making of wrought iron (literally, iron worked by hand) is an age-old skill that has left its mark on thousands of elegant buildings and gates all over Ireland. In this special event chaired by Catriona Crowe, Kilkenny archaeologist Shem Caulfield tells the story of how these extraordinary objects came to be made, who made them and why. Caulfield has been photographing wrought-iron gates for many years, and this evening he shares some of his images, inviting us all to appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of wrought iron.

Following his talk there will be a demonstration by a working blacksmith, and Dr Pat Wallace (former director of the National Museum of Ireland) will respond to Shem’s presentation.

Tuesday 13 August 6pm

Admission €13/€11

Duration 70 mins

Special Events & Talks 39

1913 – 2013

THE IRISH TRADE UNION MOVEMENT: BIRTH, DEVELOPMENT, VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Speakers Padraig Yeates author of Lockout Therese Moriarty author of articles on women in the labour movement Jack O’Connor General President of SIPTU Sheila Nunan General Secretary of INTO Chaired by Fintan O’Toole

In 1913 the most momentous confrontation between labour and capital ever seen in Ireland took place. The Lockout in Dublin, in which employers locked out workers who refused to sign a pledge undertaking not to join the ITGWU, lasted seven months and resulted in the birth of the modern mass trade union movement, but the movement has undergone significant changes since those heady days when James Larkin preached his “divine gospel of discontent”.

While most discussion about the Irish trade union movement takes place in an atmosphere of confrontation, accusation and division, this evening Fintan O’Toole brings together leading historians and trade unionists to examine the origins and development of the labour movement and to ask whether trade unions could once again become the powerful democratic civic society organisations they once were.

St Canice’s Cathedral

Thursday 15 August 6pm

Admission €13/€11

Duration 90 mins

40 Special Events & Talks

Banter is a hugely popular talk forum invented and hosted by The Irish Times music writer Jim Carroll. Since 2009 Banter discussions have been cropping up in venues all over Ireland, covering a vast array of topics from politics, media and pop culture to running,

Banter on Music Everybody Loves our Town

Everybody Loves this Town

When it comes to the story of the Seattle grunge explosion and bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Mark Yarm’s oral history Everybody Loves Our Town is one of the definitive reads. The Guardian called it “a Herculean work of interviewing and editing which gives everyone a voice.” Mark joins us at Banter to talk about the book, the Seattle scene and the grunge legacy.

Around the same time as Seattle was blowing up, Kilkenny was having its own moment in the sun thanks to a host of local bands, a brilliant dive venue called the New Park Inn and a host of other factors. Cormac Battle (Kerbdog, 2fm), Canice Kenealy (Engine Alley) and Malcom Noonan (Jerusalem Taxis) rewind the Marble City’s musical legacy.

Set Theatre

Saturday 10 August 2pm

The Neil Hannon Retrospective in 35 Minutes The story of Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy, ‘My Lovely Horse’ and the Duckworth Lewis Method in 35 minutes. Yes, we’ll bring a stopwatch.

Banter On Music will also feature special guest performances during the course of the afternoon. You never know who will drop in.

Admission €13/€11

Music Art Media Culture DIY & more

Special Events & Talks 41

Talks about everything and anything… craft beer and feminism, with guests including Paul Muldoon, Bill O’Herlihy and Nile Rodgers. In recent months Carroll has taken the Banter salon on the road, and now he’s coming to Kilkenny with a clutch of events designed to entertain, stimulate and provoke.

Banter on Fashion

Banter on the Big Issues

What the Hell is Irish Style?

The Campaigners

What is Irish style? Is there such a thing? How does it manifest itself in Irish fashion? Do Irish men know anything about style? What will Irish style look like in the future? Our panel for this walk down the catwalk: Angela Scanlon (TV presenter, fashion writer and stylist) and Sonya Lennon (RTÉ Off the Rails, Lennon Courtney).

National Craft Gallery Wed 14 August 7pm Admission €13/€11

Maeve O’Rourke (Justice for Magdalenes), Orla Tinsley (cystic fibrosis rights campaigner) and John Smith (Trócaire) talk about the work of a campaigner, the inspirations which drive them, the choices they have made and the victories (and setbacks) they have experienced.

State of the Art Kilkenny Arts Festival turns 40 this year so it’s timely to look at the past, present and future of the arts sector in Ireland. Our panel discusses what we’ve The Parade Tower

learned over the last 40 years, the issues which the arts sector believe should be sorted out today and where things go from here. Panellists: Colm Tóibín, Maureen Kennelly, Donnacha Dennehy and Willie White.

Political Reform It is the great cry of the political chattering classes: we need reform! But just how serious are we about reforming the way our political system works – or doesn’t work? Is there real hunger for meaningful change? Featuring a surprising list of big-hitting speakers, this panel tackles the idea of reform head on.

Saturday 17 August 2pm

Admission €13/€11

42 Special Events & Talks

HEAR THEM, SEE THEM SEE THEM, HEAR THEM Talking Theatre

Setting the Scene

Join us in the Parade Tower before the show for a Q&A with the cast of The Taming of the Shrew, in conversation with our festival director, Rosemary Collier. Free but ticketed. Places limited.

Ahead of the penultimate performance, Joe Murphy, director of The Taming of the Shrew, provides an introduction to one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies with the help of Tom Creed, director of Cork Midsummer and former curator of the Theatre & Dance strand at Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Free but ticketed. Places limited.

The Parade Tower Sunday 11 August 5pm Duration 60 mins

Rothe House Saturday 17 August 5pm Duration 60 mins

40TH FESTIVAL COMMISSIONS Michael Gordon in conversation with Rosemary Collier

Megan & Jessica Kennedy in conversation with Cian O’Brien

KAF is delighted to have commissioned a new work from leading American composer Michael Gordon specifically for Crash Ensemble and the 40th festival. Hear Michael Gordon discuss his work and this project in particular with our festival director Rosemary Collier in a very special pre-concert talk.

Free but ticketed. Places limited.

To mark our milestone year, Kilkenny Arts Festival has commissioned a new dance show, working with the talented and industrious duo, Megan & Jessica Kennedy, co-artistic directors of junk ensemble. Join them for a pre-show talk to hear how they approached making this work in a conversation with the director of Project Arts Centre, Cian O’Brien.

Free but ticketed.

Rothe House Friday 16 August 5pm Duration 60 mins

The Watergate Theatre Monday 12 August 6.30pm Duration 60 mins

CRASH ENSEMBLE KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL Residency 2013

Special Events & Talks 43

We are delighted to welcome Crash Ensemble for a miniresidency at this year’s festival.

As part of this collaboration, we present two special projects curated by Crash.

CRASH ENSEMBLE

Soundworks Curated by Kate Ellis, co-artistic director of Crash Ensemble, Soundworks is a bespoke outdoor music and sound installation presented as part of Crash’s residency. This unique aural experience features the works of David Collier, Fergus Kelly, Judith Ring and Gordon Delap, all composers working in the field of electro-acoustic composition.

The Heritage Council Saturday 10 - Sunday 18 August Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Sat & Sun 12noon to 5pm. FREE

COURTNEY ORLANDO US Heralded as a violinist of “tireless energy and bright tone” (The New York Times), American Selections from violinist Courtney Orlando Xenia performs a solo concert as part MARIO DAVIDOVSKY Synchronism no. 9 of Crash Ensemble’s events for Kilkenny Arts Festival. A DONNACHA DENNEHY founding member of the New Overstrung York new music ensembles LUCIANO BERIO Alarm Will Sound and Signal, her Sequenza no. 8 performance will include works

by Louis Andriessen and Crash’s own Donnacha Dennehy.

Programme

LOUIS ANDRIESSEN

The Hole in the Wall Saturday 17 August 3pm Admission €15/€13

44 Special Events & Talks

National Campaign for the Arts

Hot Potatoes presents

The National Campaign for the Arts is a volunteer-led, grass-roots movement seeking to ensure that the arts are recognised as a vital part of contemporary Irish life. Through a series of colloquia taking place this summer, the NCFA brings together artists, policy-makers and academics to challenge the ways in which we think and speak about the arts.

For this Kilkenny Arts Festival colloquium, Evidence, John O’Hagan, Professor of Economics and a Senior Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, is joined by Dr Dave O’Brien, Lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries at City University London.

It’s 1959 and H Williams have just opened 5,000 square feet of selfservice retail on Dublin’s Henry Street, ushering in the age of the supermarket in Ireland. Fast forward to 2013: the independent grocer is a distant memory (so is H Williams), and the supermarket is a ubiquitous sight from town centre to suburb, with five main players controlling a market worth nine billion euros a year. Clearly Irish consumers have voted with their feet, but have we sacrificed too much? Chaired by Gerry Godley, speakers including The Irish Times Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope and Alo Mohan (chairman of the IFA National Poultry Committee) take you down the aisles of the trade to consider the ethical, commercial and behavioural questions that are part and parcel of those shopping trips we all undertake.

New Park Hotel Monday 12 August 2pm Invite Only

The Parade Tower Saturday 17 August 12pm Admission €10

Are You Getting the Messages?

literature 45

JAMES SHAPIRO US FINTAN O’TOOLE Ireland SHAKESPEARE AND IRELAND

Ireland was a hot topic in Shakespeare’s day. The period of his working life coincided with the Nine Years War, the Flight of the Earls and the Plantation of Ulster. Although Shakespeare avoided tackling the subject head on, the spectre of Ireland is everywhere in his plays, from Captain Macmorris (Shakespeare’s only overtly Irish character) in Henry V, to Rosalind’s jokes about Irish rats and wolves in As You Like It. In this special event to celebrate the staging of The Taming of the Shrew, leading Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro joins Fintan O’Toole, author of Shakespeare is Hard, but so is Life, to explore the strange and surprising ways in which Ireland works its way into Shakespeare’s imagination (and vice versa).

Professor of English at Columbia University, Shapiro is the author of Contested Will and 1599, “one of the few genuinely original biographies of Shakespeare” (Jonathan Bate), which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. His recent BBC4 series The King and the Playwright, on Shakespeare in the reign of King James, was shortlisted for a Grierson Award.

The Parade Tower

Saturday 10 August 1pm

Admission €13/€11

46 literature

The Hubert Butler Annual Lecture

AC GRAYLING UK

THE PHILOSOPHY IN LITERATURE The Hubert Butler Annual Lecture was established in 2007 to honour the Kilkenny writer, historian and broadcaster whose remarkable consistency of vision and clarity of mind made him unique among essayists and whose work evinced an unsurpassed moral, political and literary integrity.

St Canice’s Cathedral

In recent years, the cause of humanism and humanist values has found a formidable champion in AC Grayling. A fellow of St Anne’s College Oxford and master of the New College of the Humanities, Grayling is a philosopher, author, lecturer and columnist, an expert on ethics and one of the leading public intellectuals in the UK. In more than thirty books such as What is Good? and The Meaning of Things, Grayling has explored the central question of how we choose the values we live by. Our answer to this question, he says, depends on our understanding of human nature and the human condition, and we find the richest and most subtle explorations of our nature in novels, poems and plays. In this talk, Grayling examines the ways in which great literature offers to enrich all our lives, helping us to reflect on the deepest questions we face. The wise philosopher, he argues, is a reader, and all readers are philosophers.

Saturday 10 August 5pm

Admission €18/€16

literature 47

KEVIN BARRY Ireland RON RASH US Introduced by Sinéad Gleeson

Since he shared a stage at the 2011 festival with Belinda McKeon and Paul Murray, Kevin Barry’s career has gone from strength to strength. His novel, City of Bohane, was recently shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, while his second collection, Dark Lies the Island, consolidated his reputation as “the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands in years” (Irvine Welsh).

Photo: Mark Haskett

“If you haven’t read Ron Rash yet,” wrote Arminta Wallace in The Irish Times, “you have a treat in store.” A professor of Appalachian cultural studies at Western Carolina University, Rash came relatively late to fiction, but with works like The Cove and Burning Bright (which won the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award in 2010) he has more than made up for lost time. His writing invites comparisons with John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy, and his new collection, Nothing Gold Can Stay, confirms him as a writer whose work shows “the great American short story at its best” (The London Times).

[City of Bohane is] an electrifying masterpiece Joseph O’Connor The Watergate Theatre

Rash can create a character in a single sentence The London Times Tuesday 13 August 8pm

Admission €16/€14

48 literature

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 1913

DENIS DONOGHUE & WJ MCCORMACK Introduced by Cormac Kinsella ‘September 1913’ is one of Yeats’ most famous poems: a coruscating response to the Dublin Lockout (see page 39) and an attack on the philistinism of the city’s merchant classes. To celebrate the poem’s centenary, Kilkenny Arts Festival brings together two leading Yeats scholars, introduced by Cormac Kinsella, to explore the world of the poem. Denis Donoghue is Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University and a leading authority on Irish writers.

Professor WJ McCormack is a former Senior Research Fellow at the University of London whose 2005 biography Blood Kindred offered a radical new interpretation of Yeats’ life and work.

The Parade Tower

Wednesday 14 August 6pm

Admission €13/€11

RACHEL KUSHNER US ELIZABETH DAY UK Photo: Lucy Raven

Introduced by Declan Burke

Photo: Suki Dhanda

This exciting double bill presents two young novelists whose new work builds on their award-winning debuts. Fidel Castro’s revolution provided the backdrop for Rachel Kushner’s Telex from Cuba, a cinematic coming of age tale that won her the California Book Award. Her new novel, The Flamethrowers, tells the “brilliant and exhilarating” (Boston Globe) story of Reno, a young artist drawn into the seductive New York art world. Elizabeth Day burst onto the literary scene in 2011 with Scissors Paper Stone, which won the Betty Trask Award. Her follow up, Home Fires, is an intense portrait of loss, focusing on the parents and grandmother of a young officer whose death on his first posting has devastating consequences.

The Parade Tower

Friday 16 August 6pm

Admission €13/€11

literature 49

POETRY, MUSIC & SONG COLM TÓIBÍN, PAULA MEEHAN, NIAMH PARSONS & SCULLION Folk rock band Scullion rounded off the 2011 festival in style with a rousing gig in the Set. Now Sonny Condell, Philip King and Robbie Overson return for this delightful session mixing poetry and song. Featuring poet and playwright Paula Meehan, winner of the Marten Toonder Award for Literature; Colm Tóibín, Booker Prize-winning novelist and curator of the Literature strand for many years, and traditional singer Niamh Parsons, one of the most distinctive voices in Irish music, this unique event brings the Literature strand to a wonderful close.

Kilkenny River Court Hotel

Sunday 18 August 3pm

Admission €20/€17.50

50 visual art

KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL AND BUTLER GALLERY PRESENT

BOB and ROBERTA SMITH UK

Art Makes Children Powerful Curated by

Josephine Kelliher and Anna O’Sullivan

Bob and Roberta Smith is “a sort of Ian Dury of the art world” (The Guardian) who makes witty, polemical, sloganeering artworks in a dazzling range of media. His work is a provocation, a celebration of the democratic power of art and, moreover, a delight, and everyone is invited to join in.

Kilkenny Arts Festival and Butler Gallery present Art Makes Children Powerful: the first major Irish exhibition of the work of Bob and Roberta Smith. The exhibition takes place in Butler Gallery but also makes use of some of Kilkenny City’s historic public spaces.

Explore all of the Bob and Roberta Smith works dotted around the city with the help of a map designed by the artist himself. But Art Makes Children Powerful is more than a celebration of the work of one artist. Smith believes that everyone can make art, and he’s turned the city into an art school, so grab yourself a map from the Butler Gallery and get ready to make some art!

See overleaf for details of some of the happenings taking place at various ‘Bob Centres’ during the festival, and keep your eyes peeled for more!

Butler Gallery BUTLER GALLERY Kilkenny Arts Festival events at various locations Saturday 10 August - Sunday 6 October Saturday 10 – Sunday 18 August 10am-5.30pmBUTLER daily Daily opening hours listed overleaf GALLERY

BUTLER

BUTLER

GALLERY

GALLERY

Opposite: Bob and Roberta Smith, This Artist is Deeply Dangerous, 2008.

Signwriter’s paint on picket fence posts. All images © the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery, London and thanks to Black Dog Publishing.

visual art 51

52 visual art

BOB CENTRES Butler Gallery At Butler Gallery, Smith shows a number of works that explore the importance of culture and art in society, from a letter to Michael Gove (British Minister for Education), to pieces that pay tribute to women artists.

Some works, including a piece entitled Kilkenny Answers Back, have been specially devised for the space. During the festival, Smith poses a series of challenging ‘What?’ questions on vivid banners hung in the city streets (see What’s What? opposite), and your answers will form part of this new artwork taking shape on the Butler Gallery walls, so don’t miss your chance to answer back!

Kilkenny Castle 10 August - 6 October 10am-5.30pm daily

Be Hannah Arendt (why is public space so important?)

culture. Smith invites you to explore Arendt’s work and life through her own and others’ writings, as well as costumes, wigs and props, so take inspiration from Hannah, step into her shoes and speak up for yourself!

Bishops’ Robing Room The Heritage Council Monday - Friday 10am-5pm Saturday & Sunday 12pm-5pm

Centre for Argument In the seventeenth century, Rothe House was the meeting place for supporters of the Confederation of Kilkenny. Drawing on this rebellious heritage, Smith reimagines Rothe House as a space for meeting and discussion, provoking and encouraging visitors literally to get on his Soap Box and start a debate.

Hannah Arendt was a German-American social and political theorist and a key advocate of free speech, feminism, education and

Rothe House Monday - Saturday 10.30am-6pm Sunday 12pm-6pm Art Soapbox, 2012. Signwriter’s paint on board, 20x52x83cm (each).

visual art 53

e What is th ? a ik Tro What is ? p o C dswallu

e What’s th l? a e Big D What is a r?

School fo

What’s What?

What is Greed? What is Good? What is the Solution? Vivid banners displayed in the heart of the city pose a series of thoughtprovoking questions. Bob wants answers, so write down your thoughts and find others at Butler Gallery.

Bateman’s Quay & John’s Quay

The Bob and Roberta Smith Art School Bob sets up a temporary art school, complete with easels, drawing boards, desks and art materials. There are instructions if you need help to get started, and pictures to inspire you (along with a film about Bob’s own work, Make Your Own Damn Art). Or you can just dive in and do your own thing. The artworks you create here will be displayed on site.

The Heritage Council Community Rooms (Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult) Monday - Friday 10am-5pm Saturday & Sunday 12pm-5pm

Bonfire Bob and Roberta Smith often uses the word “scavenging” to describe his method of collecting other people’s anecdotes and funny lines, discarded objects and images,

Bonfire, 2009. Selected paintings by Bob and Roberta Smith, dimensions variable.

all of which are used to make his works.

Inspired by a stork’s nest in Morocco, Bonfire is a collection of precious artworks, stacked in a seemingly haphazard manner, celebrating creation and destruction in one towering, fiery pyre.

County Hall, John Street Monday - Friday 10am-5.30pm Saturday & Sunday 12pm-5.30pm Associated special events: Bob Walk & Talk see page 36 Bob and Roberta Smith in conversation with Steve Bierley see page 37 Solas: Art Makes Children Powerful see page 61

54 connections

CONNECTIONS For forty years, Kilkenny Arts Festival has been showcasing the work of local visual artists and craft-makers in all its variety.

MADE IN KILKENNY Connections MADE

BLACKSTACK STUDIO Link

Celebrating the legacy of the Kilkenny Design Workshops MADE is a collective of 28 professional craftsmen and women formed to foster excellence in the crafts and encourage the growth of the craft industry. Connections MADE looks at the legacy of the Kilkenny Design Workshops (KDW) 50 years after it was founded and at the connections between MADE in Kilkenny and KDW. Each participant’s contribution to the exhibition is an individual response to some aspect of the Kilkenny Design Workshops’ legacy, whether it be its design ethos or a particular product or method of manufacture.

Butler House Friday 9 - Sunday 18 August 10am-6pm

A link can be interpreted as a relationship or a connection between two things or situations – especially where one thing affects the other.

How these concepts, objects or people are connected, how they feel about each other and how they behave towards each other offers up numerous opportunities for the artists to make, form or suggest connections. This theme opens up a new avenue of exploration for each of Blackstack Studio’s artists.

Exhibitors: Victoria Cody, Maeve Coulter, Sylvia Hemmingway, Alé Mercado, Aiseling Noone, Martina Navratilova, Anne Reidy.

42 Parliament Street Friday 9 - Sunday 18 August 10am-6pm

connections 55

This year, the festival is proud to present CONNECTIONS, a series of exhibitions by local visual artists and craft-makers living in, working in, or from Kilkenny.

BERNADETTE KIELY & ANDRÉ VAN SCHAIJK The Lie of the Land

GYPSY RAY Earthworks

This exhibition is a two-person show of existing work and commissioned new work by two Kilkenny-based painters, Bernadette Kiely and André van Schaijk, whose practices find synthesis in the pace and character of the local landscape.

Through the process of creating this exhibition, Kiely and van Schaijk will each make a small, new body of work, commissioned by the Abhainn Rí Festival in Callan. This exhibition is curated by Hollie Kearns and co-presented by Kilkenny Arts Festival and the Abhainn Rí Festival.

Earthworks is a series of drawings based on the observation and interpretation of the rural landscape. This work responds to familiar objects found within the farming area. Created using pencil with ink and/or dry pigments on paper the works are, essentially, not representational but abstractions of the familiar.

The utilisation of a darkened background within the drawings provides an ambiguous space in which gates are detailed, implements of work are cropped and machinery abstracted.

The Friary, Callan, Co. Kilkenny Friday 9 - Sunday 18 August 11am-6pm

The Watergarden Gallery Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny Friday 9 - Sunday 18 August Mon-Sat: 10am-6pm, Sun: 12pm-5pm

56 craft

Curated by

Angela O’Kelly

captivating fashion statements The Upcoming on Úna Burke

COSTUME This year Kilkenny Arts Festival presents ‘Behind the Scenes’ and ‘Future Fashion’, two stunning exhibitions exploring fashion, craft and the theatrical, both on stage and on the catwalk.

Photo: Ros Kavanagh

craft 57

Behind the Scenes The Abbey is Ireland’s national theatre, and home to the only full-time costume production workshop in the country. Turning the traditional idea of a costume exhibition inside out, Behind the Scenes focuses on the undergarment, demonstrating that these complex, functional pieces are beautiful objects in their own right. It follows the team’s journey from initial concept through sketching, designing, patterncutting, sampling, construction and tailoring to the finished pieces themselves. Featuring panniers, hoops, crinolines and bustles, specially created by the Abbey team, the exhibition celebrates the sculptural qualities of these beautiful objects and the superb craft skills employed in making them.

National Craft Gallery Castle Yard

9 Aug - 16 Oct

Festival opening hours: Mon-Sat 10am-5.30pm Sun 11am-5.30pm (except Sun 18 Aug: 11am-1pm and 5-7pm)

Photo: Andrew Bradley

Photo: Fernando Lessa

58 craft

Future Fashion Focusing on innovators of fashion and sculpture for the body, Future Fashion explores the work of fashion, jewellery and shoe designers who are embracing – and transforming – craft skills and techniques through innovative design thinking, sculptural

Marloes ten Bhömer

Ana Rajcevic

Andreia Chaves

Marloes ten Bhömer’s work consistently aims to challenge generic typologies of women’s shoes through experiments with non-traditional technologies and material techniques. By reinventing the process by which footwear is made, the resulting shoes serve as unique examples of new aesthetic and structural possibilities, while also serving to criticise the conventional status of women’s shoes as cultural objects. She is based in London.

Ana Rajcevic has set her art practice at the intersection of sculpture and fashion design, creating unique wearable objects that challenge the traditional context of both disciplines. She is interested in ways of transforming the human figure through complex pieces of adornment or bodysculptures, questioning the established notions of beauty and ‘normality’.

She is based in London.

The ‘Goldsculpt’ series by shoe designer Andreia Chaves explores the concept of movement as she pushes craftsmanship to realise a sculptural aesthetic where material and geometry are integral to the shoe design. The results are fluid structures that involve the foot and create a modern and unique effect.

‘Goldsculpt’ is completely handmade in Italy and Ireland. She is based in Europe and Brazil.

EVENTS and workshops

See pages 36-7 for details of opening and talk. For craft workshops and interactive installations see page 62.

Photo: Stephanie Bila

craft 59

aesthetic, and cutting-edge technology and materials. Including Úna Burke, Andreia Chaves, Marloes ten Bhömer, Stephanie Bila, Ana Rajcevic and Julia Lundsten of FINSK, Future Fashion explores a fascinating range of approaches to contemporary fashion.

Úna Burke

Julia Lundsten

Stephanie Bila

Úna Burke is a leather artist and designer using vegetabletanned leathers and traditional leatherworking techniques to refine her distinct construction of leather panelling and brass fittings. She creates large sculptural art pieces for private collections, exhibitions and museums and seasonal fashion collections, belts, jewellery and handbags.

She is based in London.

FINSK was launched in 2004

by Julia Lundsten. Attention to detail and craftsmanship are paramount, with the shoes being handmade in an atelier in Brazil using luxurious natural materials. Maintaining an ethical production process is essential, and all the leathers used are by-products of other industries. The natural beauty of locally sourced materials is a significant part of each collection. She is based in London.

Stephanie Bila’s collection is an exploration of the ability of jewellery to enhance our perception of the human form. Linear sculptures extend, encase, rest upon and surround the body, creating a new human architecture through design.

Veins of Swarovski Elements run through the pieces, accentuating their organic form and adding a sense of vibrancy to the structures, bringing them to life. She is based in London.

60 family

The Gregory Walkers Ireland

A WALK THROUGH THE DEEP, DARK WOODS Laoise O’Brien recorder

Malachy Robinson double bass

Eamonn Sweeney baroque guitar

Francesco Turrisi piano accordion

In a show specially created for this year’s festival, some of Ireland’s leading musicians join forces to take you on a magical musical adventure through the stories of the deep, dark woods.

Drawing on popular fairytales and legends of Kilkenny’s own witch, Dame Alice Kyteler, A Walk Through the Deep, Dark Woods tells the story of Gregory Walker, a little boy with a love of adventure, and his exploits among the fairies, trolls, witches and princesses that live in Kilkenny Castle and the forests around.

Featuring Laoise O’Brien on recorder, Francesco Turrisi on piano accordion, Malachy Robinson on double bass and Eamonn Sweeney on baroque guitar, A Walk Through the Deep, Dark Woods is a spellbinding family show conjuring a whole world of adventure through the power of music.

Suitable for children aged 4 and over.

The Parade Tower

Monday 12 August 12pm & 2.30pm

Admission €8

Duration 60 mins

family 61

Make a Movie in 3 Hours!

Want to make it to the Oscars? As part of their 21st anniversary celebrations, Young Irish Film-Makers are calling all budding film-makers (aged 13-16) to join them at their studios from 10am to 1pm for a unique workshop that will teach you how to make a movie in just three hours! To book call the festival box office.

Free but places are limited so please book early.

YIFM has long been recognised as the leading youth film-making organisation in Ireland, and in the afternoon (2pm-6pm), everyone is invited to the YIFM studio for a celebration of 21 years of youth film-making featuring screenings, archive photographs and talks.

Young Irish Film-Makers Office St Joseph’s Studios, Waterford Road Saturday 10 August. Workshop: ages 13-16 only

SOLAS

Art Makes Children Powerful Get vocal after exploring the work of Bob and Roberta Smith (see page 50) at the Butler Gallery!

After learning about the artist’s working process, you will have a chance to make your own art about what it means to be a child in Ireland today. Artists Jenny and Jean invite you to participate in this creative workshop that will incorporate stencilling, drawing, painting and lots of fun!

Solas is open to all children aged between 5 and 12 years.

Places are limited and early booking is advised.

Meet at the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Castle Workshops in the Craft Yard/Gallery 1

Mon 12 - Fri 16 August 11am-1pm

Admission €5 per child

Duration 2 hrs

62 family

NATIONAL CRAFT GALLERY WORKSHOPs

Workshops are FREE. Parents/guardians must stay in the Castle Yard area during workshops.

FAMILY WORKSHOPs Willow Woven Skirts with Jean Conroy

Playful Pin Sculptures with Carrie Lynam

Reflecting the layered skirts and crinolines in the Behind the Scenes exhibition, sculptor Jean Conroy will construct a woven willow installation in the Castle Yard. All are welcome to drop in and weave part of the skirts.

Design and craft imaginative costume pieces and bodywear using simple pinning techniques inspired by Úna Burke’s scuptural leather work.

This playful workshop explores form and structure through mixed-media experimentation. Suitable for all the family. All are welcome to drop in.

Castle Yard Fri 9, Sat 10 & Sun 11 August 2pm-5.30pm

National Craft Gallery Sat 10 August 10am-5pm Fri 16 & Sat 17 August 2pm-5pm

Children’s WORKSHOPs

Pattern Print T-Shirts with Maeve Hunter

Clay Costumes & Creatures with Shona Flood

Funky Fibre Badges with Sheila Jordan

Inspired by simple patterns within the Behind the Scenes exhibition, children will ‘upcycle’ their old T-shirts with easy screenprinting techniques.

Please bring a washed cotton T-shirt to print on.

Design and create your own clay characters, sculpt costumes of wizards’ cloaks, princesses’ gowns, astronauts’ space helmets or fairy wings! Once dry, you can paint and decorate them.

This fun workshop explores the endless possibilities of fibre, fabric and felt to create your own unique felt badges and brooches to take home.

Marquee in the Castle Yard

Tues 13, Wed 14 & Thurs 15 August Each workshop runs at 2pm, 3pm & 4pm daily Duration 45 mins per workshop

Suitable for ages 5-13 One workshop per child.

To book call 056 7796151 or email events@nationalcraftgallery.ie

MUSIC & THEATRE WORKSHOPS

family 63

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ARK, A CULTURAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN

To book these workshops call the festival box office on 056 775 2175.

Early Years Theatre The King’s Big Workshops (Ages 2-3 & 3-4) Secret Workshops with Joanna Parkes (Ages 5-7 and 8-10) Come on an imaginative journey with your child!

Drama facilitator Joanna Parkes combines creative play, story and drama to explore delightful fictional worlds. Children must be accompanied by a participating adult.

The king has a secret that he doesn’t want anyone to know about. He has donkey ears! Enjoy an active theatre workshop full of creative storytelling inspired by this old legend found in Ireland, Croatia and Africa.

Barnstorm Theatre, Tues 13 & Wed 14 August 10.30-11.15am (ages 2-3) 12pm-12.45pm (ages 3-4), admission €8

Barnstorm Theatre, Tues 13 & Wed 14 August 2pm-3pm (ages 5-7) 3.15pm-4.45pm (ages 8-10), admission €8

Small Sounds Early Years Surprising Sounds in Workshop (Ages 2-3 & 3-4) Technicolor (Ages 5-7 and with Nick Roth & Judith Ring 8-12) with Karen Power Tiptoe into gentle and interactive music inspired by colours, pictures and lights, in workshops especially created to let the very small discover the joy of music. Led by saxophonist Nick Roth with composer Judith Ring. Children must be accompanied by a participating adult.

The Parade Tower, Thurs 15 & Fri 16 August 10.30am-11.15am (ages 2-3) 12pm-12.45pm (ages 3-4), admission €8

In this workshop composer Karen Power will help you to discover the musical potential hidden in all kinds of everyday objects.

Then, using the colour in films as a source of inspiration, you’ll get to create your own original music soundscapes for film! No previous musical experience necessary.

The Parade Tower, Thurs 15 & Fri 16 August 2pm-3pm (ages 5-7) 3.15pm-4.45pm (ages 8-12), admission €8

64 Family

SIR EDWIN LONGBOTTOM

HAKUNA MATATA

MR H

Ireland

Ireland

Roll up, roll up, and step right into the world of the charming, charismatic buffoon, Mr Edwin Longbottom. Mr Longbottom would be delighted to present to you his world-renowned football juggling act. Marvel as Edwin tosses balls high into the air, spins them delicately on his fingers, bounces them around his entire body and pushes himself right to his physical limits, all for the admiration of the public!

This acrobatic duo performs mindboggling manoeuvres and unbelievable acrobatics with huge, infectious smiles. Mixing acrobatics, comedy, contortion and juggling, this show is a non-stop rollercoaster of skill from beginning to end!

Enjoy the surreal antics of this silent clown as he grapples with everyday objects, attempting to bend them to his will and turn the world inside out and upside down.

This street show, inspired by the silent films and vaudeville shows of old, is a blend of audience, object and selfmanipulation, performed against the backdrop of whatever building or collection of people happens to be behind Mr H at the time!

FREE!

FREE!

Ireland

FREE! Sat 10 August The Parade 12pm MacDonagh Junction 3pm Sun 11 August Rose Garden 12pm Canal Walk 3pm

Sat 10 August Rose Garden 1pm Canal Walk 4pm Sun 11 August The Parade 1pm Market Cross 4pm

Sat 17 August MacDonagh Junction 2pm Canal Walk 4.30pm Sun 18 August Market Cross 2pm The Parade 4.30pm

Wherever you are, Escape to a better place...

Where life sounds better.

96-99fm | On Digital Radio | On the RTÉ Radio Player Twitter@rtelyricfm Facebook/rtelyricfm Web www.rte.ie/lyricfm

66 festival partners For 40 years Kilkenny Arts Festival has survived and thrived with the help of our wonderful festival partners.

We’re grateful for their continuing support.

GOLD PARTNERS Newpark Medical Clinic Reidy & Foley Solicitors Cllr Seán Ó hArgáin Veolia Water Ireland Ltd Waterford Airport SILVER PARTNERS Ayrfield Medical Park Bluett O’Donoghue Boland & Co Solicitors Caulfield’s Supervalu John’s Green Medical Centre

Language Xchange Ireland Meubles Nicholas Mosse Poe Kiely Hogan Lanigan Stone House Books

BRONZE PARTNERS Blaa Blaa Blaa Sandwiches Butler Court Guesthouse Café Mocha Celtic Hearing Chez Pierre Café Cllr Ann Phelan Cllr Malcolm Noonan Coughlan Carroll & Co DeLoughry O’Gorman Accountants Du Pareil au Même FoodWorks Gorgeous Ground Floor Café Happy Times Italian Connection

Kafé Katz Kilkenny Crafts Kilkenny Cycling Tours King’s Shoes La Rivista Lorimat MacEneaney’s Pharmacy Modern Printers Moth to a Flame Mug*Shot Café Murphy Stuart Insurance Murphy’s Jewellers Newpark Pharmacy Nostalgia Café O’Brien’s Butchers

O’Connell’s Chemist Patrick M Farrell Accountants Paul’s Pennyfeather Café Philip Carroll Construction PWC Shutterbug Specsavers The Brewery Corner The Butterslip The Gourmet Store The Office Centre Warren McCreery WH Good

Lamber de Bie Penneys Value Centre Cash and Carry

Walsh Motors Young Motors

Supply PARTNERS BITS Citroën Centre ESB e-cars

great places 67 Great places to stay

1

The Club House Hotel 056 772 1994

6

Kilkenny River Court Hotel 056 772 3388

2

Hotel Kilkenny 056 776 2000

7

Langton House Hotel 056 776 5133

For best rates book your accommodation at kilkennyarts.ie

3

Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel 056 777 1888

8

Lyrath Estate Hotel 056 776 0088

4

5

Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel 056 775 0200

9

10

Newpark Hotel 056 776 0500

Great places to eat

Kilkenny Pembroke Hotel 056 778 3500

Zuni Hotel 056 772 3999

Special Festival menus available

11

12

13

Café Sol 056 776 4987

Campagne 056 777 2858

City Bar and Grill The Grapevine 056 777 1888 056 771 2956

14

15

Kilkenny Design Restaurant 056 772 2118

16

17

18

19

20

The Lady Helen Mount Juliet 056 777 3000

Ristorante Rinuccini 056 776 1575

Sol Bistro Thomastown 056 775 4945

Statham’s Bar & Grill 056 778 3500

Zuni Restaurant 056 772 3999

Great places to drink

21

22

23

24

25

Billy Byrne’s 056 772 1783

The Blue Bar 056 777 1888

Bridies 056 776 5133

Cleere’s Bar 056 776 2573

The Dylan Whisky Bar 056 772 1616

26

27

28

Kyteler’s Inn 056 772 1064

Left Bank 056 775 0016

Marble City Bar 056 776 1143

68 venues

festival venues

Barnstorm Theatre Church Lane, Kilkenny 056 775 1266 www.barnstorm.ie Billy Byrne’s John Street, Kilkenny 056 772 1783 www.billybyrnes.com Bishops’ Robing Room Heritage Council Church Lane, Kilkenny 056 777 0777 www.heritagecouncil.ie The Black Abbey Abbey Street, Kilkenny 056 772 1297 Blackstack Studio 42 Parliament Street www.blackstackstudio.com Butler Gallery Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny 056 776 1106 www.butlergallery.com

Butler House 16 Upper Patrick Street 056 776 5707 www.butler.ie Castle Yard at Kilkenny Design Kilkenny 056 772 2118

Cleere’s Bar Irishtown 056 776 2573 Community Room Heritage Council Church Lane, Kilkenny 056 777 0777 www.heritagecouncil.ie The Courthouse Parliament Street, Kilkenny 056 772 1019 Festival Box Office Kilkenny County Council Arts Office John Street, Kilkenny 056 775 2175 www.kilkennyarts.ie The Heritage Council Church Lane, Kilkenny 056 777 0777 www.heritagecouncil.ie The Hole in the Wall 17 High Street, Kilkenny www.holeinthewall.ie

Kilkenny River Court Hotel John Street, Kilkenny 056 772 3388 www.rivercourthotel.com Left Bank The Parade, Kilkenny 056 775 0016 www.leftbank.ie

National Craft Gallery Castle Yard, Kilkenny 056 779 6147 www.nationalcraftgallery.ie Newpark Hotel Castlecomer Rd, Kilkenny 056 776 0500 www.flynnhotels.com The Parade Tower Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny 056 770 4100 www.kilkennycastle.ie Rothe House Parliament Street, Kilkenny 056 772 2893 www.rothehouse.com

Set Theatre John Street, Kilkenny 056 772 1728 www.set.ie St Canice’s Cathedral Coach Rd, Kilkenny 056 776 4971 www.stcanicescathedral.com St John’s Priory John Street, Kilkenny

The Watergate Theatre Parliament Street, Kilkenny 056 776 1674 www.watergatetheatre.com

Kilkenny City Map With walking trail

map 69

for Visual Art

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70 day by day Castle Yard

St Canice’s Cathedral

Friday 09 Saturday 10 Sunday 11 Monday 12 Tuesday 13

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Divine Comedy 8.30pm, p.12

AC Grayling 5pm, p.46

Camerata Ireland Barry Douglas & Alison Balsom 8pm, p.16

Bobo Stenson Trio, Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli 8pm, p.21

Banter on Music 2pm, p.40

David Kitt & Seamus Fogarty 8.30pm, p.18

Megan & Jessica Kennedy 6.30pm p.42

Ron Rash & Kevin Barry 8pm, p.47

Set Theatre

Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band 10pm, p.14

The Watergate Theatre

Dusk Ahead 9pm, p.10

Dusk Ahead 6pm, p.10

Dusk Ahead 8pm, p.10

Kilkenny Castle Park

Miracoco 10am-6pm, p.4

Miracoco 10am-6pm, p.4

Miracoco 12pm-6pm, p.4

The Parade Tower

James Shapiro & Fintan O’Toole 1pm, p.45

Talking Theatre 5pm, p.42

The Gregory Walkers 12pm & 2.30pm, p.60

Miracoco 12pm-6pm, p.4

Butler Gallery

Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50 Bob & Roberta Smith Opening 3pm

NCG Gallery 1

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 11am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Curator & Artist Talk 3pm, p.36 Costume Opening 4pm

St John’s Priory

Streets of Kilkenny Other City & County Venues

Edwin Longbottom Hakuna Matata p.64

Edwin Longbottom Hakuna Matata p.64

The Hours 1pm, p.20

Festival Opening Party: Butler House & Gardens, 5pm, p.36

Phisqa Cleere’s Bar 8pm p.13

Artists Brunch Billy Byrne’s 12pm, p.37

Kilkenny Gates Newpark Hotel 6pm, p.38

Bob Walk & Talk Heritage Council 1pm, p.36

Ensemble Marsyas The Black Abbey 2pm, p.15

National Campaign for the Arts Newpark Hotel 2pm, p.44

Bob & Roberta Smith & Steve Bierley The Hole in the Wall 3pm, p.37

Kaleidoscope Left Bank, 10pm p.19

Wednesday 14 Thursday 15

Dawn Upshaw 8pm, p.24

Friday 16 Saturday 17 Sunday 18

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

The Taming of the Shrew 7.30pm, p.6

1913 – 2013 Irish Trade Union Movement 6pm, p.39

Crash Ensemble & Dawn Upshaw 8pm, p.30

Festival Choir & Ensemble 8pm, p.32

The Fall 10pm, p.29

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba 10pm, p.33

Festival Closing Party: RSAG, Replete & DJ Donal Dineen 9pm, p.34 Riverrun 6pm, p.8

New Music Night 8.30pm, p.23

#Burned 1pm & 6pm, p.35

Riverrun 7.30pm, p.8

Riverrun 6pm, p.8

Riverrun 1pm & 6pm, p.8

Miracoco 12pm-6pm, p.4

Miracoco 12pm-6pm, p.4

Miracoco 12pm-6pm, p.4

Miracoco 10am-6pm, p.4

Rachel Kushner & Elizabeth Day 6pm, p.48

Hot Potatoes 12pm, p.44

day by day 71

The Taming of the Shrew 2pm & 7.30pm, p.6

Chaosmos 2pm & 7.30pm, p.5 Remembering September 1913 6pm, p.48

BANTER on Big Issues 2pm, p.41

Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith Bob & Roberta Smith 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50 10am-5.30pm, p.50

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 10am-5.30pm, p.56

Costume 11am-1pm & 5-7pm p.56

BANTER on Fashion 7pm, p.41

Ciarán Tourish, Cathal Hayden & Kevin Doherty 1pm, p.22

Malcolm Proud 1pm, p.26

Mr H p.64

Mr H p.64

The Naomhóg & the Begleys Kilkenny River Court Hotel 9pm, p.28

Michael Gordon Rothe House 5pm, p.42

Courtney Orlando The Hole in the Wall 3pm, p.43

Poetry, Music & Song Kilkenny River Court Hotel 3pm, p.49

Fight Like Apes Billy Byrne’s 8.30pm, p.27

Setting the Scene Rothe House 5pm, p.42

Bob Centres Butler Gallery, p.52 The Heritage Council, p.52-3 Rothe House, p.52 Bateman’s Quay, John’s Quay & Kilkenny County Hall, p.53

Connections MADE IN KILKENNY Butler House, p.54 BLACKSTACK STUDIO 42 Parliament St, p.54 BERNADETTE KIELY & ANDRÉ VAN SCHAIJK The Friary, Callan Co. Kilkenny, p.55 GYPSY RAY The Watergarden Gallery, Thomastown Co. Kilkenny, p.55

KK Arts half page 2_Layout 1 28/05/2013 17:07 Page 1

17th -25th August

For all the information on events, competitions and to download our free app.

www.heritageweek.ie

National Heritage Week is coordinated by the Heritage Council with support from Fรกilte Ireland and is part of European Heritage Days, which is celebrated in over 40 countries across Europe.

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28/05/2013 11:06:38

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