FESTIVAL: BIRR FESTIVAL OF MUSIC
The annual classical music festival in Co. Offaly returns for the May bank Holiday weekend with an eclectic programme that includes a Celebrity Gala Concert on Friday, May 3rd with Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy and pianist Malcom Martineau, performing works by Debussy, Berlioz, Benjamin Britten, Vaughan Williams and Ina Boyle. Elsewhere you'll find jazz vocalist Stella Bass celebrating the songs of Ella Fitzgerald, The Laetare Vocal Ensemble, the Birr Young Voices’ project and The Trench Award 2024, showcasing young singers and musicians of the future. plus pop-up performances around the town and masterclasses in the Birr Theatre & Arts Centre (Various venues, Birr Co. Offaly, 2nd - 6th May)
THEATRE: GALWAY THEATRE FESTIVAL
The west is alive (when is the west not alive?) with 9 days of exciting theatre, circus, spectacle, and storytelling; highlights include the return of Party Scene by THISISPOPBABY, a pulsing dance theatre show exploring the complexities of desire, intimacy, isolation and addiction, and Kate Finegan's Gammy, a rural portrait of lost potential, inexpression and female rage featuring a powerful performance by Eimear Keating (Various venues, Galway City, May 3rd - 11th)
May 3rd is only around the corner and tickets for #GTF24 are selling fast! 📷
— Galway Theatre Festival (@GwayTheatreFest) April 17, 2024
Don't miss out! Check out https://t.co/e4y2bawvQM to browse today or purchase tickets 📷 pic.twitter.com/7ydxdRxyvj
VISUAL ART: IRISH GOTHIC
South Tipperary Arts Centre (STAC) present a major retrospective of work by artist Patricia Hurl, the latest in a welcome series of events celebrating the formidable body of work by the Dubliner, for many years, a lecturer in Fine Art Painting at the Dublin Institute of Technology while, at the same time, creating a formidable body of work in a range of media dealing with loss, pain, frustration and loneliness – in particular in the lives of women. Now, in her ninth decade, she remains as active and vital a force in Irish art as ever (South Tipperary Arts Centre, Co. Tipperary, 2nd May - 21st June)
EVENT: CORK INTERNATIONAL CHORAL FESTIVAL
The city of Cork will be in tune this weekend; the Cork International Choral Festival is one of Europe's most prestigious choral events, bringing together singers from all over Ireland, Europe, and beyond. With over 90 venues hosting gala performances, competitions, fringe concerts, and free public performances, there will be music everywhere you turn in Cork city and county. As well as the prestigious Fleischmann International Trophy competition, the Cork School of Music Symphony Orchestra, a Fringe Choral Festival in Cobh and performances by renowned choirs like the State Choir Latvija and Chamber Choir Ireland, the festival also features the exciting finale of Ireland's Choir of the Year competition, showcasing the best Irish choirs alongside international talent (Various venues, Cork city and county, 1st – 5th May)
MUSIC: LEMONCELLO
The eagerly anticipated self-titled album from the indie-folk duo Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella, through its nine tracks, chronicles 'the journey of learning how to hold your own in life, amidst the growth, ending and renewal of relationships with ourselves and with others'. (Claddagh Records, Out now)
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