Kilkenny Arts Festival

The Kilkenny Arts Festival, formally known as Kilkenny Arts Week, was founded in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1974. It covers a number of art forms, including classical music and performance. Playwright and poet Seamus Heaney gave a reading of some of his works during the inaugural event.[1]

Kilkenny Arts Festival
St Canice's Cathedral ahead of a festival performance in 2013
StatusActive
GenreArts festival
Date(s)August
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Kilkenny
CountryIreland
Years active1974–present
Most recent2019
Websitekilkennyarts.ie

As of 2016, the event included theatre, dance, visual arts, and other forms of music and literature. The festival commissions works for the event locally and from abroad.[2]

Format

The ten-day festival takes place each August in Kilkenny and is intended to be a showcase for Irish and international arts.

Around 50,000 people have attended previous festivals, with performances taking place on the streets as well as in indoor venues. Former venues across the city have ranged from rooms in pubs, to St Canice's Cathedral and Kilkenny Castle.[3]

The festival's annual schedule includes a parade through the centre of the city.

Performers

Performances have included US poet laureate Robert Pinsky, pianist Sir András Schiff, Malian virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, musician Alexander Lingas, historian Roy Foster, Irish portraitist Mick O'Dea, Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, and Chinese-born pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei. Other performers have included Brooklyn Rider, Jordi Savall, Garrison Keillor, Susan Philipsz, Colm Tóibín, and Dawn Upshaw.[4][5][6] Giant inflatable sculptures by Architects of Air have previously been a fixture. Other notable performers have included Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Company, Liz Roche's Company, Martin Hayes, and Junk Ensemble.[7][8][9][4][10]

References
  1. "Kilkenny Arts Festival". Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  2. "Visit Kilkenny". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  3. "Visitors numbers". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  4. "Kilkenny Arts Festival goes back to Bach and the shock of the old". The Irish Times. 15 July 2015.
  5. "Kilkenny Arts Festival announces 2015 programme". RTÉ.
  6. "Pinsky leads readings of favourite poems in Kilkenny". irishtimes.com.
  7. "Kilkenny Arts Festival kicks off its jam packed programme". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  8. "Kilkenny Arts Festival". Journal of Music. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  9. "Highlights of 2014 Kilkenny Arts Festival announced". irishcentral.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  10. "9 things we learned at Kilkenny Arts Festival". Irish Times. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
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