Kilkenny Arts Festival Programme 2004

Kilkenny Arts Festival Box Office City Centre

Kilkenny

Tel 00 353 (0)56 775 2175

Fax 00 353 (0)56 775 1704

E:info@kilkennyarts.ie

Web:www.kilkennyarts.ie

Board of Directors

John Purcell (Chair),Tony Canny,Fergus Cronin,Ali Curran, Brian Kiely,Vincent O’Shea,Susan Proud,John Ryan

Festival Team

Director Claudia Woolgar

Festival Manager Marion Gowran

Administrator Teenagh Cunningham

Technical Director David Stuttard

Katapult Outreach Coordinator Sinead Ní Fhoghlú

Katapult Arts Training Consultant Tony Fegan

Katapult Workshop Artist Thierry Lawson

National PR Manager Nik Quaife:Tel 087 799 7989 & Conleth Teevan

Local PR Manager Renata McDonnell

UK PR Beacon PR:Tel 00 44 1572 748800 & Kean Lanyon Ltd:Tel 00 44 207 354 3574

Administrative Assistant Eddie Bolger

Production Assistant Anne Brodie

Special thanks is extended to the team of volunteers for their energy,enthusiasm and time – the Festival would be lost without you!

Our thanks,also,to David Zee,Íde Deloughry,Tony Walsh, Claire Murphy,Mary Butler,John Delaney,Kilkenny Castle and the residents of Woodstock Estate.

Technical Crew Eileen Branagh,Anne Brodie,Derval Byrne,Michael Kyle, Michael Lonergan,Conor Mullen,Paula Tierney,Ian Wilford,Maurice Drohan - and all those who joined us after we went to print!

Lighting supplied by Production Services Ireland

Sound supplied by Gerry Bannon

Woodstock Event Controller Caroline McGee

Volunteer and Transport Coordinator Trish Duff

Group Hosts Festival volunteers

Friends Liaison Trish Duff

Box Office Manager Steph Hogan

Box Office Team Caitriona Anglin,Helen Byrne, Lori Comerford,Tracy Power

Work Experience Assistants Gael Martineau, Melissa Morrison,Sylvain Orvoen

Graphic Design A&D:Tel 091 561378

IT Manager Fintan Blake-Kelly

Website Henry Tubritt

Music Notes Jon Baxendale

Programme devised by Claudia Woolgar

Classical Music devised by Susan Proud

Young People’s Programme devised by Teenagh Cunningham

Cover image Chris Judge

elcome to Kilkenny Arts Festival 2004

It’s been an amazing year,with a huge number of fantastic developments as the Festival continues to grow.We have a programme full of work from exceptional artists from abroad and at home.They bring their imagination and vision to Kilkenny,and we urge you to go and see what they’re up to,enjoy the surprises,and join us in a magical ten days of events county-wide.

This year sees some new additions to the programme. Katapult, our community outreach programme kicked into life with workshops taking place in May and June involving 25 young people from around the county.They were inspiring days spent developing a performance piece together,which will open this year’s Festival on Friday 6th August.The involvement of this enthusiastic and talented group brought the Festival out into the county outside of Festival time,and we are all reaping the rewards of working with people who have not been involved in the Festival before.

There are more events taking place out in the county.Whether you live in Kilkenny or are visiting for the Festival, get on the special Festival buses leaving from the Castle and go and see what the beautiful county of Kilkenny has to offer.Visit the stunning Woodstock Gardens in Inistioge for the Fireworks Concert and for Woodstock 2004.Go to a magical glen in Kilfane Gardens for a sound and light performance by a waterfall.Visit Grennan Mill in Thomastown and see two young Irish sculptors with a difference.Go and discover what County Kilkenny has to offer.

The Festival has also opened its doors to more local artists with Verge.Working in collaboration with Kilkenny County Council Arts Office,12 local artists at the beginning of their careers are exhibiting their work in Kilkenny, Thomastown and Castlecomer.Their vision and inventiveness heralds a rich future for Kilkenny,“the creative heart of Ireland”and we are thrilled to include them in the Festival programme.

And if you want to know more,don’t miss the chance to Meet the Artists at The Hibernian,see page 40,and we also have a new writing series with Barnstorm Theatre,see page 61.

That’s just a few of the exciting new elements in this year’s programme that we wanted to share with you.And there’s much more.We’ve had a great year putting the programme together.Now it’s over to you!

Discover more! Go exploring!

Claudia Woolgar

Kilkenny Arts Festival 2004

5th - 14th August

KATAPULT is a Kilkenny Arts Festival initiative for children and young people in the rural villages and communities in the region who have in many cases been excluded from arts provision.Its central aim is to provide opportunities for young people to participate in the arts and experience the excitement of professional arts making.

The group of young people who launched KATAPULT this year have created a performance piece entitled Dream City.

Dream City

Ever felt that the reality of everyday life is just skin deep?

Ever felt life was like living in a film?

Ever wished for all your dreams to be fulfilled?

Dream City weaves stories,performance,video/animation and sound to conjure an alternative reality that may provide some of the answers to life, the universe and more besides.

Friday 6 - Saturday 7 August City Centre - check with Box Office 7pm & 9pm daily

Admission Free

This project has been part funded by Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development under the LEADER + Programme

Opening Fireworks Concert Northern Chamber Orchestra and Walk the Plank (England)

Back by popular demand after the Tower of Light last year, Walk the Plank join forces with the Northern Chamber Orchestra for an evening of music and magic in the stunning setting of Woodstock Gardens,Inistioge.

Performing on a specially constructed stage,the Northern Chamber Orchestra offer a delightful evening of popular music mainly of the baroque and classical period,which is given contrast by English music from the early twentieth century.

The concert reaches a grande finale with Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, set to a dazzling synchronised display of fireworks by pyrotechnics wizards, Walk the Plank.The perfect end to this magical evening,this will be an unmissable event for all the family.

Bring a picnic and enjoy a magical summer’s evening in the beautiful surroundings of one of Ireland’s best-loved gardens.

For full concert programme details,see page 11.

Woodstock 2004

With a name like that,there has to be a music festival.

Bringing the very best of Ireland’s singer/songwriters together for a day to remember, Woodstock 2004 is a fantastic day out for all the family featuring: Hothouse Flowers,Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club,Mundy, Rodrigo y Gabriela,Mark Geary,Declan O’Rourke,Reverie.

Standing out from other summer music events, Woodstock 2004 shows the Festival’s commitment to giving a stage to young artists.As local band Reverie join Declan O’Rourke, Mark Geary and Rodrigo y Gabriela, come and listen to a new world of music alongside some established favourites,all compéred by the irrepressible Jerry Fish.

The stage from the Fireworks Concert will be turned into an all-day music arena,with a catering village on site.Bring a rug,the family and friends, and enjoy an afternoon with some of Ireland’s finest musicians in this breathtaking setting.

Saturday 7 August

Woodstock Gardens, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny.

Gates 6.30pm for 7.30pm concert

Ends 10pm

Admission €20 seated/ €7.50 Standing/ €15 Family Standing (Max 2 adults, total 4)

Buses will depart from the Parade, Kilkenny Castle, €10 return. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the Festival Box Office.

Corporate tables are available for a pre-concert dinner at Mount Juliet Conrad Hotel. Please contact the Festival office for details.

Subject to Licence at the time of going to print. Warm clothing advised.

Sunday 8 August

Woodstock Gardens, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny Gates 3pm for 4pm concert. Ends 10pm.

Admission €25

Buses will depart from the Parade, Kilkenny Castle, €10 return. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the Festival Box Office.

Special Thanks to the Order of Malta.

Subject to Licence at the time of going to print.

If you would like to join in supporting the further restoration of Woodstock house and gardens by becoming a Friend of Woodstock Gardens,please contact 056 7794033/email claire.murphy@kilkennycoco.ie/www.woodstock.ie

Dr. Ledbetter’s Experiment

By Tom Swift

Murder,Darwinian science and the quest for eternal life.Not your everyday conversation as you wander the bustling streets of Kilkenny - but put on your headphones,follow the voices and you might just learn the secret of Dr. Ledbetter’s Experiment.

This virtuoso production from award-winning Irish company The Performance Corporation leads the audience through the shadows,into the murky world of a man who has been inexplicably airbrushed out of Kilkenny’s history:Dr.Saul Ledbetter,the once-renowned physician and philanthropist.

Dr.Ledbetter’s Experiment is a first in world theatre.A gothic journey that fuses live performance with high technology to create a new theatrical experience. The audience become “audio detectives”as the sounds and voices of the past lead them through historic Kilkenny to the heart of the mystery - the fate of a man tainted by rumours of occultism and the mysterious disappearance of a string of women.

Directed by Jo Mangan and featuring original musical composition by Rob Canning,soundscape by Paul Brennan and art installations by Almha Roche, The Performance Corporation will conjure up a macabre and magical performance in evocative settings,making this a Festival show not to be missed.Full of surprising interventions,audiences familiar with the company's signature performance style of physically dynamic,visually arresting theatre, will know to book early.(Audience capacity is limited.)

“An unending banquet of brilliant writing and superbly inventive acting… The Performance Corporation delivers in glorious measure.”

The Irish Times

Previews Friday 6 August

Saturday 7 - Sunday 15 August (excl.Mon 9 & Tues 10)

The Streets of Kilkenny: meet outside Rothe House, Parliament Street 1pm, 2.30pm, 7pm & 8.30pm daily

Previews 7pm & 8.30pm

Admission €16/€14, Preview €11/€9

www.ThePerformanceCorporation.com

Comfortable shoes advised.

Meet the director: See page 40.

The Performance Corporation (Ireland) and Kilkenny Arts Festival present

Stellar Quines Theatre Company (Scotland) in a co-production with the Tron Theatre, Glasgow and The Byre Theatre of St. Andrews

The Memory of Water

Written by Shelagh Stephenson

Directed by Muriel Romanes

Winner of the 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy, The Memory of Water is affectionate,sharp,brilliant and blackly funny. Three sisters meet on the eve of their mother’s funeral.Together they rummage through clothes,memories,and old stories.Each has evolved their own way of dealing (or not) with the past,but as emotion,disputed memory and alcohol all take their toll,they gradually dissolve into a chaos of hilarity and grief.

Preview Friday 6 August

Saturday 7 - Thursday 12 August

Watergate Theatre 8pm

Admission €20/€18

Preview €16/€14

Meet the director: See page 40.

“Combines a flair for witty dialogue and a relish for the dynamics of theatre…

Stephenson, a mistress of comic anguish, is clearly a real find.”

The Guardian

“a master-class on how to make popular theatre” The Times

“Beautifully paced, meticulously detailed, but passionately performed” **** The Times

The British Council

CoisCéim Dance Theatre (Ireland) presents

Chamber MadeRoom 409

Created by David Bolger and Katie Read

Room 409 has stories to tell!

Three couples with three reservations…

A young couple burst into the hotel room with a wild and playful energy.A single man in his thirties meticulously grooms himself for his big moment.Meanwhile,an older married couple pack and unpack past memories.

The three stories unfold in their individual timeframes and overlap to comment on the greater theme of couples and their ever changing stages of love.

The intimate setting allows the audience an immediate and voyeuristic experience. Chamber Made - Room 409 is a quintessential story of passion,love and coupledom.

Dance up close and personal.

Audience capacity is very limited,so book early to avoid disappointment.

Swept

Choreographer:David Bolger

Taking place in a bar,this touching duet fuses dance, text,music,light and sound.Boy meets girl in a story which is permeated with a playful and knowing regard for the everyday.The two performers dance on and around the bar and up and down walls,in a playful physical journey of fun and friendship.

At times casual and funny, Swept is full of moments that magically transform into a world of colour and theatrical opulence.

Founded in 1995, CoisCéim Dance Theatre has created seventeen original dance theatre pieces,and the company’s work has been shown throughout Ireland,London,Edinburgh,Tasmania,the US and more recently China.CoisCéim has made one dance film, HIT AND RUN which was screened at national and international film festivals and won five awards. CoisCéim created A DASH OF COLOUR which involved 75,000 people as part of the Opening Ceremony at the Special Olympics in June 2003.

Saturday 7 - Wednesday 11 August

2pm & 6pm daily

Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel – meet in the foyer.

Admission €16/€14

Meet the choreographer: See page 40.

Swept was an Abbey Theatre-CoisCéim co-production at the Abbey Theatre

Wednesday 11 – Sunday 15 August

Venue Bar, Ormonde Street

2pm & 6pm daily

Admission €16/€14

“There is a playfulness and joyousness in the performance that transmits itself directly to the audience”

The Irish Times

Comic Trust Theatre Company (Russia)

White Side Story

Directed by Vadim Fisson

“There are many beautiful stories to tell but we are going to tell you the story of a white kingdom and its white Queens. Imagine, if you will, an imaginary history in a time of endless raining bubbles…”

The story of the mystical medieval White Kingdom is a tale of intrigue and poison,of brave heroes and cunning nobles,of power and loneliness as a kingdom is caught in a power struggle between the heartless White Queen and her daughter.Three white clowns appear and reveal the folly of the Queen’s passion for power,in an evening of laughter and buffoonery.

Told without a word of text,using dance,mime and music, White Side Story brings smiles and laughter to the faces of children and adults alike.

This award-winning comic theatre company from St Petersburg have toured extensively worldwide, and they transcend all language barriers with their energy and physical performance.

Friday 13 - Sunday 15 August

Watergate Theatre, 6pm

Admission €11/€9

Suitable for all the family, age 5+

“Visually stunning. Not to be missed!”

The Guardian

“The only salvation is unrestrained laughter”

Le Figaro

“…the Northern Chamber Orchestra… quite simply world-class”

Opera Magazine,2003

Northern Chamber Orchestra (England)

Director and leader:Nicholas Ward

The Northern Chamber Orchestra, formed in 1967,is an exciting and versatile group of musicians.Directed in concert from the violin by Nicholas Ward, the orchestra has,for several years now,accompanied the main production at the Buxton Festival,and its repertoire includes a wide range from Corelli to Stravinsky and beyond.The members of the orchestra are distinguished chamber musicians who play as principals with other orchestras and regularly appear as soloists.

The orchestra gives over forty concerts a year throughout the North of England, and,whilst this is their first visit to Ireland,Director Nicholas Ward has appeared in Kilkenny before.With over thirty CDs to its name,the orchestra is known on every continent and in May of this year recorded four of Boccherini’s Cello Concertos with Raphael Wallfisch for Naxos.

Programme

Haydn Symphony No 94 “The Surprise”

Malcolm Arnold Sinfonietta No 1

Handel The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Bach Air and Dances from Suite No 3

Elgar Chanson de Matin and Chanson de Nuit

Percy Grainger Shepherds Hey

Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks

Saturday 7 August

Woodstock Gardens, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny.

Gates 6.30pm for 7.30pm concert Ends 10pm.

Admission €20 seated/ €7.50 Standing/ €15 Family Standing (Max 2 adults, total 4)

Buses will depart from the Parade, Kilkenny Castle, €10 return. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the Festival Box Office.

Corporate tables are available for a pre-concert dinner at Mount Juliet Conrad Hotel. Please contact the Festival office for details.

Subject to Licence at the time of going to print.

Warm clothing advised.

Colin Currie (Scotland)

Born in Edinburgh in 1976,solo percussionist Colin Currie won the Shell/London Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship at the age of fifteen.In 1994 he won the first percussion prize in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, giving the world première of Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for Percussion in the final at London’s Barbican Centre.

Since then Currie has appeared as soloist with major orchestras around the world,working with some of the leading conductors and composers of our day.He has made a significant contribution to the solo percussion repertoire by regularly commissioning and recording new works.In 2001

Colin Currie was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award for his outstanding contribution to innovative music-making.

Currie has been selected as a BBC New Generation Artist from the 2003/4 season.He performs solo and chamber recitals in Rome,Lucerne,Glasgow,Oxford and London and has recently appeared with orchestras in The Netherlands, Germany,the USA and the UK.An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as the Peterson Quartet, Dawn Upshaw,Viktoria Mullova and jazz musicians Peter Erskine,Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor.His first solo album, Striking a Balance,was released on EMI in February 1998. Since then he has made two recordings for Naxos.

Colin Currie first performed in Kilkenny last year,as part of the Trans-Fusion residency.Those who saw him then will know to book early to see this energetic and virtuoso performer.

Programme

Matthias Schitt Ghanaia

Ney Rosauro Sinfonietta No 1

Per Norgard Fire over Water

Dave Maric Sense and Innocence

Steve Reich Nagoya Marimbas

Paul Smadbeck Rhythm Song

Dave Maric Trilogy

Monday 9 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 8pm

Admission €17/€15

Callino Quartet (Ireland)

Ioana Petcu-Colan - violin

Sarah Sexton - violin

Samantha Hutchins - viola

Sarah McMahon - cello with guest appearances by Robin Michael and Malachy Robinson

The Callino Quartet was formed in June 1999 following a publicly and critically acclaimed appearance at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival.The Quartet still comprises the four original members,all Honours graduates of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Collaborations have seen the Callino Quartet perform alongside such established and renowned artists as the Vanbrugh and the Vogler Quartets, violists Paul Silverthorne and Rivka Golani,oboist Neil Black and the Paris Bastille Wind Octet.They have also enjoyed quintet performances with contemporaries Finghin Collins,Gunilla Sussman,Inon Barnatan,(piano) and Malachy Robinson,(double-bass).

The Quartet’s critically acclaimed début concert took place in the National Concert Hall,Dublin in October of 2001.Since then the Quartet has been busy touring extensively around Ireland,as well as to the UK,the Netherlands,Italy, Norway,Austria and Germany.They have appeared live on both RTÉ television and radio and have been broadcast on BBC and Norwegian radio stations.

CONCERT 1

Mozart Quartet in D minor

Bartok Quartet No 3

Arensky Quartet for violin, viola and 2 cellos with Robin Michael

Tuesday 10 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 8pm

Admission €17/€15

CONCERT 2

Dvorak Bass Quintet and Nocturne with Malachy Robinson

Wednesday 11 August

St John’s Church, John Street, 1pm

Admission €12/€10

The Irish Times

“The Callino Quartet is now, by a long shot, the most polished young string quartet that Ireland has recently produced”

Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 August The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle. 9am & 2pm

Trans-Fusion

Director:Lucy van Dael

Lucy van Dael - violin

Claire Duff - violin

Stefano Rossi - viola

Robin Michael - cello

Sarah McMahon - cello

Nicholas Milne - viola da gamba

Monika Knoblochova - harpsichord with guest appearance by Malcolm Proud

Once again the Festival offers a residency opportunity for professional development to six young international musicians.The residency will be led by Lucy van Dael,who founded the Orchestra of the 18th Century with Frans Brüggen and was for 18 years its concertmaster.She is currently a member of the Amsterdam Fortepiano Trio and of L’Archibudelli,and performs regularly with harpsichordist Bob van Asperen and cellist Jaap ter Linden.

Lucy van Dael began her career as a member of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Szimon Goldberg,but soon became interested in the baroque violin. She collaborated extensively with Gustav Leonhardt,Frans Brüggen,Ton Koopman (Musica da Camera),and the Kuijken brothers,becoming in the process one of the leading figures in the revival of authentic string playing.She has appeared with many ensembles and orchestras - among them the Leonhardt Consort and La Petite Bande - as violin or viola soloist.Van Dael is internationally sought after as a pedagogue.

Van Dael brings together six young musicians: Robin Michael (UK) cello, Nicholas Milne (Ireland) viola da gamba, Monika Knoblochova (Czech Republic) harpsichord, Sarah McMahon (Ireland) cello, Claire Duff (Ireland) violin,and Stefano Rossi (Italy) viola.Kilkenny Arts Festival is delighted to be their host for an intensive two-day residency, culminating in four concerts in which the young musicians will perform with van Dael.

The two-day residency is open to the public and the four-hour sessions are 9am - 1pm and 2pm - 6pm daily. Re-admittance for the public once a session has started will not be permitted until a suitable break.

CONCERT 1

Lucy van Dael - violin

Malcolm Proud - harpsichord

J.S. Bach

Sonata for obligato harpsichord and violin

I Sonata No 4 in C min. BWV 1017

IISolo

IIISonata No 5 in F min. BWV 1018

IVSonata No 6 in G maj. BWV 1019

V Sonata No 3 in E maj. BWV 1016 ma non tanto

Thursday 12 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 8pm

Admission €17/€15

CONCERT 2

Claire Duff - violin

Nicholas Milne - viola da gamba

Monika Knoblochova - harpsichord

Dietrich Buxtehude

Sonata Op. 1 No 3 in A minor (1637-1707) Sonata for violin and viola da gamba with harpsichord, Hamburg 1694

J.S. Bach

Sonata in G major BWV 1027 (1685-1750) for viola da gamba and harpsichord

J.S. Bach

Preludium and Fuge in F sharp minor (The Well-Tempered Klavier ll)

Heinrich I.F.von Biber

Sonata for violin

Representativa: (1644-1704) Kromeriz library, c.1669

Nightingale - Cuckoo - Frog - Cock & Hen - Quail - Cat -

Musketeer's March - Allemande

Dietrich Buxtehude

Sonata Op. 1 No 5 in C major (1637-1707) Sonata for violin and viola da gamba with harpsichord, Hamburg 1694

Friday 13 August

The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, 1pm

Admission €12/€10

CONCERT 3

Lucy van Dael - violin

Stefano Rossi - violin

Nicholas Milne - viola da gamba

Monika Knoblochova - harpsichord

Francois Couperin

From “Les Nations”, Troisieme Ordre : l’Imperiale

M.Marais

“Les Cloches de St Genevieve”

J.S. Bach

Triosonate in D maj. BWV 1028

J.S. Bach

Triosonate in E major BWV 1032

Jean-Philippe Rameau

From “Pieces de clavecin en concert” No III

Saturday 14 August

The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, 1pm

Admission €12/€10

CONCERT 4

Lucy van Dael - violin

Claire Duff - violin

Stefano Rossi - viola

Robin Michael - cello

Sarah McMahon - cello

Luigi Boccherini (“The Stringking”)

I String trio in C minor

II String quartet in A major Op. 39

III String quintet in G minor Op. 29 No 6

Saturday 14 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 8pm

Admission €17/€15

Lucy van DaelNicholas MilneMonika KnoblochovaClaire Duff

Steven Isserlis cello

Performing with Prussia Cove musicians

Arisa Fujita - violin

Rachel Roberts - viola

Sarah Tysman - piano

Steven Isserlis is a cellist acclaimed worldwide for his musicality and technique,and whose passion for music captures the audience,whether in an intimate chamber music setting or on the concert platform with some of the world's most prestigious orchestras and conductors.

Recent concerto engagements have taken Isserlis to some of the world’s greatest orchestras,including the Boston,Atlanta,Detroit and London Symphony orchestras,the New York,Berlin,Rotterdam,Czech and Israel Philharmonics and the Philharmonia and Philadelphia orchestras.He also enjoys regular collaborations with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sakari Oramo,Sir Colin Davis,Ton Koopman and Christoph Eschenbach.

A strong interest in musical education makes Isserlis much in demand for teaching - he is Artistic Director of the International Masterclass and Chamber Music forum IMS Prussia Cove and is regularly invited to teach at academies in the US,Europe and Australia.Awarded a CBE in 1998 in recognition of his services to music,Steven Isserlis is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music and in 2000 received the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau (Schumann’s birthplace).

CONCERT 1

Beethoven String trio in C minor

Dvorak F minor trio

Suk Piano Quartet

Friday 13 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 8pm

Admission €20/€18

CONCERT 2

Beethoven Eyeglass obbligato duo Smetana Trio

Dvorak E flat Piano Quartet

Sunday 15 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 7pm

Admission €20/€18

Arisa FujitaRachel RobertsSarah Tysman

Turlitawa & Les Manouches (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, UK)

For this concert of Turlitawa and Les Manouches, two bands have joined together specially for Kilkenny,offering a rare opportunity to experience highlights of gypsy music from the East and West,the music of Roma and Sinti in one concert.

The bandleaders Mustafa Zekirov (singing,guitar & oud) and Pesso Kraus (violin) with their musicians from Macedonia,Bulgaria,Germany and Britain perform the best of their repertoire.The name Turlitawa refers to a hot,spicy blended Balkan dish:you will hear the far oriental tunes reminiscent of the Indian home of gypsies,raucous Balkan music coming to you directly from a bar or wedding party somewhere in remote Macedonia,and then the stylish Sinti Swing with Pesso Kraus’s emotional violin playing.

With an extraordinary history of survived repression in the former Yugoslavia and internment in Auschwitz and Treblinka,the main musicians,Mustafa Zekirov and Pesso Kraus join forces with Roma and Sinti musicians whose musicality goes back generations for a very special evening.The project aims to join together the different ingredients of gypsy music from all over the continent with a contemporary twist,reflecting Gypsy culture as European culture.

And don’t expect a straight concert.These musicians offer a high energy evening of theatre and performance as well as great music.

“Virtuoso musicians!”

The Guardian

“Impressive playing”

The Independent Friday 6 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 10pm

Admission €17/€15

Saturday 7 August

Carroll’s Pub, Thomastown, 2pm Kieran Street, Kilkenny, 4.30pm

“Monica Akihary… producer of one of the most beautiful jazz cd’s of this year” Trouw 2000

“You would have to be from another planet not to be moved by the warmth and positive energy of Monica Akihary” Opzij

Boi Akih (Haruku, Indonesia)

The wonderful and subtle voice of Moluccan singer Monica Akihary and the compositions of virtuoso guitarist Niels Brouwer characterise the typical sound of Boi Akih, where the delightful vocal sounds from Haruku,one of the Moluccan islands,guide you through musical images of jazz,world and contemporary music.

Akihary and Brouwer’s collaboration led to the amazingly original repertoire of Boi Akih,with influences clearly beyond all “World”or “Jazz”boundaries. Compositions based on jazz and improvised music are intertwined with South and North Indian classical music and the traditional music of the Moluccan Islands (Indonesia).The rhythm section,changed from the traditional western bass/drum idiom,features the fantastic cellist Ernst Reijseger and renowned tabla player Sandip Bhattacharya, creating room for improvisation inspired by different musical traditions.Monica developed her own style of singing, adding Indian and African techniques,and,uniquely,singing in the Moluccan language of her ancestors.

Join Monica and her band for an unforgettable evening of world music.

Saturday 7 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 11pm

Admission €17/€15

Andy Sheppard & Joanna McGregor (UK)

Andy Sheppard is one of Britain’s foremost tenor and soprano saxophonists.After a string of awards following his first two albums,Sheppard formed his Soft On The Inside Big Band in 1990 - which included Ernst Reisjeger,performing with Boi Akih on Saturday 7th.The band produced an album which was credited as one of the finest releases of the year and confirmed Sheppard’s status as a composer.

Sheppard moved from his original acoustic style to a punchier,electronic sound for his next band. In CoMotion was a potent mix of funk and rock grooves, complex ensemble lines,and solos that moved from lyrical ballad passages to exciting free jazz.Since then Sheppard has toured the world and has also been in demand as a writer.He is often described as a serial collaborator with an astonishing range of musical partners to his name as well as an eclectic range of recordings.

Joanna McGregor is widely thought of as one of the most innovative and wide-ranging of today’s pianists and divides her time between playing classical,jazz and contemporary music.Classically trained,McGregor has since spent her time pushing classical music into new territories.Her art is a collaborative process,with much of her life spent abroad,each trip acting as another excuse to find someone to work with.

These two great collaborators offer a very special evening which magically combines their talents in one dynamic concert.

Sunday 8 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 11pm

Admission €17/€15

Woodstock 2004

Hothouse Flowers | Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club | Mundy

Rodrigo y Gabriela | Mark Geary |

Declan O’Rourke | Reverie

Bringing the very best of Ireland’s singer/songwriters together for a day to remember, Woodstock2004 is unlike any other summer music event.In bringing together this line-up of musicians,Kilkenny Arts Festival is continuing its commitment to giving a stage to young artists alongside those already established.Local band Reverie join Declan O’Rourke, Mark Geary and Rodrigo y Gabriela on the same stage as Hothouse Flowers, Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club and Mundy It is an exceptional line-up,presenting the best of Ireland’s own and heralding new unmissable talent.

The afternoon concert will be compéred by Jerry Fish, as Woodstock Gardens is transformed into a music arena.A specially constructed stage will stand next to the ruins of Woodstock House,a catering village will be set up on site,and an afternoon of fantastic music is assured.

Bring a rug,the family and friends,and enjoy an afternoon with some of Ireland’s finest musicians in this breathtaking setting.

Sunday 8 August

Woodstock Gardens, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny Gates 3pm for 4pm concert. Ends 10pm.

Admission €25

Buses will depart from the Parade, Kilkenny Castle, €10 return. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the Festival Box Office.

Subject to Licence at the time of going to print. Warm clothing advised.

Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club, Rodrigo y Gabriela & Declan O’Rourke photographs by Siobhán Dempsey, Latitude Imaging.

The Irish Times

“Most impressive…

An outstanding talent”

The Sunday Tribune

“the hottest ticket in town”

The Irish Times

Camille O’Sullivan (Ireland)

Camille sings BrelThe Right to Dream

Camille O’Sullivan has a stage presence like no other.Unpredictable,daring, sultry,witty,O’Sullivan breathes new life into Brel’s songs,making them her own.With her French parentage and love of story-telling,she performs in German,French and English and gives a mesmerising and stunning performance.

Jacques Brel was one of the great modern troubadours (1929 - 1978),a poet, singer and composer of extraordinary passion and emotional power.He became a leading singer/songwriter of the French stage with his extraordinary stage presence and profound,powerful songs.

In Camille’s hands,each song lives a life of its own,infused with character and linked by Brel’s comic and tragic view of life.A sell-out success at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2003,an evening with Camille O’Sullivan is not to be missed.

Camille was last seen at the Festival in 2002,performing in Finola Cronin’s TheMurder Ballads

Monday 9 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 10pm

Admission €17/€15

“Sensational… sexy and provocative, O’Sullivan is possessed of an exceptional voice. This is pure joy”

Shooglenifty (Scotland)

Tuesday 10 August

Kilkenny River Court Hotel, 10pm

Admission €17/€15

Hailed as one of the key pioneers,and continuing frontrunners,in the field of Celtic/clubland fusion.

Over the past dozen years Shooglenifty’s unique twist on trad has won them an extensive and devoted fanbase not only across Europe,the US and Australasia,but as far afield as India,Malaysia and Japan.

Previous career highlights include performing for Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela and Emperor Akihito of Japan (not all at once),and a tour to Cuba.Back in 1996,Shooglenifty became the first band ever to incite a stage invasion at Sydney Opera House.

Beneath the folky-looking exterior of these “acid croft,hypnofolkedelic ambient trance”ambassadors,lurks an on-going romance between Scottish traditional music and contemporary dance sounds,all brought to life with electric guitar,samples and programming,as well as "real" percussion and the finest traditional tunes.All six players are maestros of effects,distortion,feedback and - crucially - improvisation.

The resulting sound marries traditionally-based tunes - primarily Scottish in style,but featuring a wealth of other world-music flavourswith the rhythmic energy,inventiveness and sophistication of contemporary dance music.Dazzling,multi-layered intricacy and intoxicating grooves deliver a pure musical experience which is “Still the original and the best” Scotsman.

Daniel Figgis’ Motor (Ireland)

In the magical,haunting setting of a hidden glen in Kilfane Gardens, this installation by legendary figure, Daniel Figgis, will be a unique musical and performance experience.

As darkness falls,the natural surrounds are sculpted and imposed upon by live musicians,surround-sound and an integrated video/lighting design.The rural setting is transformed into a highly charged public performance space.Exploring new approaches to sound generation and design,with the backdrop of a thundering waterfall,Figgis promises daring uses of technologies old and new in an evening full of surprises.

This is a music and visual event like no other from one of Ireland’s leading artists.

Figgis,currently composer-in-residence at Dublin’s Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown,has made several live performance installations,and produced the classic CD, Skipper (“The strange familiarity of a David Lynch film, the harmonic simplicity of John Tavener - Skipper is their musical lovechild. Curious, but true.” Classical FM Magazine (UK)).Earlier this year Figgis was the subject of a tribute CD by various artists entitled When It’s Ajar - The Music of Daniel Figgis?

Wednesday 11 - Saturday 14 August

Kilfane Glen & Waterfall, Thomastown. Gates 8.30pm for 9.30pm performance

Buses will depart from the Parade, Kilkenny Castle, at 8.30pm, €10 return. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the Festival Box Office.

Warm clothing and sensible shoes recommended

Admission €16/€14

Hot Press

“extremely talented - you’ll be hearing a lot more from Figgis”

Lyric FM

“the sonic equivalent of an abstract painter…”

Independent Album of the Week (UK)

“world-beating… marvellous… hyperintelligent… full of the noise and clamour of humanity, profoundly meticulous but thrumming with child-like fun and warm absurdity…”

Asere (Cuba)

Asere is a group of young musicians who came together to play traditional Cuban son.Their career took off when the Colombian singer,Totó la Momposina,came across them on a visit to Cuba in 1996 and was immediately struck by their energy,rich songwriting and powerful delivery.

Comfortable with classical son,respectful of their musical forefathers and yet keen to step into the future,in Asere we find the son tradition dressed up in baseball caps and trainers - an expression of young urban Cuba.These musicians seek to develop the music through their inventive songwriting and arrangements,building a fresh sound for a new generation.

Since 1998 Asere have performed across Europe,impressing many with their dynamic show and infectious energy.They have performed with Totó la Momposina in 1999,with legendary drummer Billy Cobham,and as the backing band for Papa Noel’s ‘Bana Congo’ project in 2002.Asere’s new album, Destinos,was released in June of this year and marks a new chapter in their musical development.

This will be a gig to fight to get in to - Asere’s Irish debut and an exclusive with this sensational band.You won’t have heard Cuban music like it.

“It’s time to meet the lads who will take son into the new millennium” Mojo

“Asere are proof that the future of Son is in very safe hands indeed’ ”

Straight no Chaser

Friday 13 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 10pm

Admission €17/€15

DJ Steve (Ireland)

Steve Shannon is a Dublin-based producer and DJ.He is the co-founder of the Audiodelic collective who have brought eclectic DJs like Luke Vibert,Mr Scruff and DJ Food to these shores.His music career has spanned fourteen years from performing with punk,reggae and electronic bands,to working with various acts as a producer.As well as being at home in a recording studio twiddling knobs and pushing buttons,he plays drums,guitar,bass, keyboards,melodica,banjo and glockenspiel.He started DJing at house parties before moving on to many legendary free parties over the years. A regular on the DJ scene,he has had DJ residencies in Dublin venues Coyote, Voodoo,Sosume and Handels.

When he’s not DJing or making his own music,he is the central cog in electronic band Halfset who will release their debut album later this year on Elusive Recordings.

He is a fanatical record hoarder and is running out of room for his five thousand-plus cherished pieces of vinyl.His collection includes everything from indie to jazz,soul to drum ’n’ bass,Motown to reggae.His current set fuses old skool funk with Latin grooves,modern breaks and eclectic rhythms.

The emphasis is always on good times and on shaking up the dance floor. So join in an evening of dancing from an eclectic range of influences and energetic mixes in the Festival’s hot DJ slot.

Saturday 14 August

Coda Club, Parliament St, 10pm

Admission €10

New Cool Collective (The Netherlands)

New Cool Collective, founded in 1994,includes some of the coolest musicians on the Dutch music scene.Their music is a fresh and exciting mix of highly danceable soul and funky jazz,spiced with Latin flavours and accompanied by a great grooving rhythm section.

Benjamin Herman, New Cool Collective’s awardwinning bandleader and lead saxophonist,is a wellknown musician on the European jazz circuit.Inspired by New York’s club Giant Steps,he started organising parties in Amsterdam.Soul Kitchen was the first club to pick up the idea of hosting a (jazz) band and a DJ on the same night,and the gigs were such a hit that the band had to move to larger premises,Naar Boven.

Performances at major festivals and parties followed, including the North Sea Jazz Festival (The Hague),Club 802 parties in Paradiso (Amsterdam),the Jazz Bop and Beach Bop parties (Bloemendaal),the North Sea Capetown Festival (South Africa),London’s famous Jazz Café,and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,as well as several concerts featuring Roy Hargrove.

In 2001 the band received the Heineken Crossover Award and signed with Sony Music.Their fourth album Bring it on was released in September 2002.The album was nominated for the Edison Jazz Award 2003 (the Dutch Grammy).

Saturday 14 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 10pm

Admission €17/€15

Liam O’Flynn & The Piper’s Call Band

From County Kildare,master uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn was born to a fiddle-playing father and a mother who came from a family of famous Clare musicians,ensuring that O’Flynn was keenly aware at an early age of his rich tradition and lineage.

In his teens,O’Flynn attended music “seisiúns”in the Kildare village of Prosperous where he met many of the people with whom he would later make his name and tour the concert-halls of the world.These were musicians like Christy Moore,Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine with whom,in the early seventies,he formed the legendary Planxty.

O’Flynn has taken the pipes into previously unexplored territory - be it as a member of Planxty, as a soloist with an orchestra or working with artists as diverse as John Cage,The Everly Brothers,Van Morrison and Kate Bush.But whatever the situation, he has remained resolutely true to the music itself, securing his reputation as Ireland’s Master Uilleann Piper.

In 1999,O’Flynn and the Piper’s Call Band (Arty McGlynn,Rod McVey,Liam Bradley) were chosen for a unique performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, when,for the very first time,there was a special evening devoted to Irish music as part of the BBC Proms.They were rapturously received then,and this concert,taking place in the wonderful surrounds of St Canice’s Cathedral,promises to be another legendary night.

Wednesday 11 August

St Canice’s Cathedral, 9pm

Admission €20/€18

“When I’m playing, I’m certainly lost within it. The only way to describe it, is that it's like looking inwards… like a spell is cast and a terrific passage of feelings moves from the musician to the audience and back again”

Liam O’Flynn

“His pedigree is immaculate and traditional music is very evidently in his blood. Yet in his swooping style there is also a very real sense of the impromptu and willingness to explore areas beyond the natural roots.”

Colin Irwin,Folk Roots

Michael McGoldrick Quartet

If you know Michael McGoldrick’s playing,respected music critic Colin Irwin’s review (above),will come as no great surprise.If you haven’t heard him yet,be prepared - his music will grab you by the ears,lift you up,dust you down and leave you feeling alive.

1995 winner of the BBC Radio Two Young Tradition Award and BBC Radio Two Instrumentalist of the Year 2000,McGoldrick’s first solo album, Morning Rory, charted at No.1 for 5 weeks in the Irish Folk & Roots charts.The follow-up, Fused, released in January 2000,picked up the Best Overseas Album at the Irish Music Magazine awards.

Joined by Dezi Donnelly on fiddle,(“His technique is an example to all young players” Paddy Glackin), Ed Boyd (guitar) and Jonjo Kelly (bodhran) of the phenomenon that is Flook! (the tightest,freshest & funkiest rhythm section that you are likely to hear),these are four absolutely spellbounding musicians. Miss them at your peril!

Thursday 12 August Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 10pm Admission €17/€15

Kíla

Formed in 1987 when they were 16,their first gig was upstairs in the Baggot Inn,Dublin.Three people attended.

It was 1997 before the band got their office and first wage,having gone through many different line-ups. Tóg é go Bog é and a single Ón Taobh Tuathail Amach were released that year,with the single reaching 24 in the charts.The band toured to the States for the first time and their music was used for the feature film Gold on the Streets Playing Womex in Marseilles gave them even greater exposure,and they have since played at festivals world-wide.

In 2002 Kíla won the Meteor Award for Best Traditional Music Act,but they remain unique and outside the fold. “Never successfully corralled in the traditional, new age or world music slums… Rather they are the children of Planxty gone feral in the sewers under the gaudy carnival grounds.” Hot Press

An explosive afternoon gig in the beautiful setting of Ballykeefe Quarry.

Sunday 15 August

Ballykeefe Quarry, near Callan, 3pm

Admission €18/€16

Presented with the assistance of KBK

“Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, Kíla make music that’s impossible to ignore.” The Irish Times

“Kíla explode traditional music from the inside out.

Kila rock” Hot Press

“Kíla – a totally kick butt band from Dublin”

The Boston Globe

Business Friends of Kilkenny Arts Festival

Our Business Friends are a lively and diverse group.Each has their own interests and each their unique contribution to make.What unites them is their appreciation of the Festival and commitment to it.Their ability to see its scope and embrace its risks.Their enthusiasm and sense of pride.

It’s not too late to join us as a Business Friend.From as little as €12.50 per month you can help us continue to present this wonderful Festival.For more information contact us 056 7763663 or email info@kilkennyarts.ie

Tax Relief may be available on donations over €250. Please ask us for details.

Thank you to:

Partners

Bambu,Langtons Bar,Hotel & Restaurant,Kilkenny Vintners Association, Pordylos,J.A.Canny & Co., Brannigan’s

Associates

Aubergine/Farrell Foods, Bank of Ireland,Bluett & O’Donoghue,Boyd Auctioneers,Carroll’s Bar, State Street International, Butler Solicitors,Duggan Steel Group,Kilkenny Book

Centre,Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce,Kyteler’s Inn

Lacken House,Sentry Security,W.A.Smithwick & Sons,Zuni Restaurant & Townhouse

Business Patrons

Crotty’s Coffee House, Café Sol,Ailish’s Beauty & Body Clinic,Clubhouse

Hotel,Dean Street Medical

Centre,Springhill Court

Hotel,John’s Green Medical

Centre,Sherwoods,John

O’Connell’s Chemist, Lautrecs,Manning Travel, Michael O’Connell’s Chemist,Murphy’s Jewellers,Ormonde

Brick,Sabo,Jeff Howes

Golf Design,MRI

Worldwide,Margaret

Gowen & Co.

Marble City Transport

Booking Information

Telephone & Credit Card Hotline 00 353 (0)56 775 2175

Online Booking www.kilkennyarts.ie

Box Office hours Mon-Fri,10am-6pm

Advance booking is recommended.

Note: Tickets for buses are only available at the Box Office.

Booking opens Monday 5 July.

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

Booking Form

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

Concessions are not available for online bookings. 10% discount for bookings of 10 or more people.

Kilkenny Arts Festival reserve the right to alter the advertised programme.

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

Postal Bookings to:Kilkenny Arts Festival,9/10 Abbey Business Centre,Abbey Street,Kilkenny,Ireland

Tel +353 56 775 2175,Fax +353 56 775 1704,www.kilkennyarts.ie

ADDRESS

Ticket prices include booking fee.

Tickets purchased at outlets outside of Kilkenny are subject to a €2 agents fee.

Tickets purchased online and over the phone by credit card are subject to a credit card booking fee.

Tickets purchased directly from the Festival Box Office are not subject to any additional charges,unless payment is made using a credit card.

Please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope with order.Cheques/POs should be made payable to Kilkenny Arts Festival Ltd.Please read the booking information carefully and check totals to avoid delays. Whilst every effort will be made to adhere to the advertised programme,KAF will not be responsible for any changes that occur.

Kilkenny PeopleFriends of Kilkenny Arts Festival

People are the lifeblood of this Festival.People who every year journey with us as we offer new and exciting work.Whose interest,enthusiasm and commitment match ours.People whose participation at events - on the streets,at a concert,theatre show,reading or gighelp make it special.Simply,People who relish everything that the Festival has to offer.

These people are Kilkenny People and our Friends.

We’d like you to become one of our Kilkenny People. Membership costs €75 only (€60 for our Student Friends and Older Friends) or €150 for the whole family.Join us and you’ll enjoy a host of benefits including:

• Brochure mailed out for your convenience

• Acknowledgment in Kilkenny People Festival supplement

•Two invitations to Opening Reception

•Two complimentary Festival Club memberships

• Special ticket offers

•Friends-only reception during the Festival

•Festival Friend sticker for your car

• Regular Festival updates throughout the year

• Special ‘Family Friend’ discount to family events

•‘Family Friend’ notice of all young people’s and family events

•‘Family Friend’ opportunities to go behind the scenes at a play or exhibition

If you’d like a copy of our Kilkenny People FRIENDS brochure please phone us on 056 7763663 or email info@kilkennyarts.ie

Sharon Shannon & Friends

Sharon Shannon – the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion. Acclaimed international artist and performer. Queen of the squeezebox.

Sharon Shannon comes from Co.Clare on the West coast, a region of Ireland where musicianship and song are integral facets of daily life.Her love of music developed at an early age and she began learning to play accordion, whistle and a host of traditional instruments at the age of six.Her musical career began in earnest while still in her teens when she was asked by renowned Irish film director, Jim Sheridan,to compose the music for his stage production of Brendan Behan’s The Hostage.

1992 saw the release of Shannon’s self-titled debut album - a vibrant cocktail of Portuguese,Swedish,Cajun,Scottish and French/Canadian influences that quickly secured the coveted title of biggest selling Irish traditional music album ever released,with 120,000 copies sold.

She has retained her position as one of Ireland’s leading female musicians,with a string of collaborations to her names with virtuoso performers like Kirsty MacColl, Sinead O’Connor,Donal Lunny,Philip King,Mary Custy, Adam Clayton,Steve Wickham,Mike Scott and Nigel Kennedy,amongst others.

For Kilkenny Arts Festival,Sharon is joined by Jim Murray, Pauline Scanlon and Mary Shannon. Don’t miss this final celebratory night as Sharon closes the 31st Kilkenny Arts Festival in true Irish fashion.

Sunday 15 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 10pm

Admission €20

“Kilroy has strikingly combined a poetic sense of language with a commitment to the narrative thrills required for good storytelling… We have here an unusual phenomenon: a novelist who knows the occult powers of descriptive language.”

The Irish Times

Claire Kilroy in conversation with Tobias Hill

Winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2004 and shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2004, Claire Kilroy was born in Dublin in 1973 where she still lives.She was the star pupil of the prestigious Trinity College Writing Programme and then worked for some years in television editing.In 2002 she received an Arts Council Literature Award,and since then has received immense critical acclaim for her debut novel, All Summer

Born in London in 1970, Tobias Hill leapt to prominence with two collections of poetry, Year of the Dog, and Midnight in the City of Clocks (“impressively controlled”).Since then Hill has won over 100 awards for his work.His collection of short stories, Skin, first published to considerable acclaim in June 1997,won the 1998 Macmillan/Pen Award and was runner-up for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 1998.Hill’s first novel, Underground,was published by Faber in April 1999 and in its new format in April 2000,and won an Arts Council Writers’ Award and a Betty Trask Award. Hill was rock critic for the Sunday Telegraph and is a regular reviewer for the paper.His latest novel, The Cryptographer,was published in August 2003.

“Tobias Hill has his own elegant, clear and complex, meditative way of inventing worlds. He is one of the two or three most interesting novelists working in Britain today.”

A.S.Byatt,Guardian

Wednesday 11 August Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 6pm Admission €12/€10

“Joyce, O’Flaherty, Brian Moore, John McGahern, a fistful of O’Briens. This is a succulent Who’s Who of Irish Writing, and Dermot Bolger is of the same ilk… an exceptional literary gift.”

The Independent

Dermot Bolger in conversation with Sean O’Reilly

Born in Dublin in 1959,Bolger’s eight novels include The Woman’s Daughter, The Journey Home, Father’s Music, Temptation and The Valparaiso Voyage.A poet and playwright, Dermot Bolger has been Playwright in Association with The Abbey Theatre,Writer Fellow in Trinity College,Dublin,and in 2002 received the inaugural Hennessy Irish Literature Hall of Fame Award.Bolger is an energetic champion of new Irish writers as founder-publisher of Raven Arts Press,which he ran until 1992,when he co-founded New Island Books.

Born in Derry in 1969, Sean O’Reilly is the acclaimed author of the short story collection Curfew, and the novel Love and Sleep, recently named by the Irish Times as one of the Top 50 Irish novels.He lives in Ireland.His second book, The Swing of Things serves as a ringing confirmation of O’Reilly’s standing as one of the most powerful and relevant writers at work today.

“A writer of massive range and impressive innovation.”

Thursday 12 August Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 6pm Admission €12/€10

“One of the very finest contemporary writers.’”

Alan Warner

Eoin McNamee

Brian Keenan

“The scope and grandeur of his reflections is supported by the concrete detail of his narrative. It is a moving and remarkable triumph”

Sebastian Faulks,Independent on Sunday

“From this horror has come something wonderful. An Evil Cradling is a great book… With [its] publication… Brian Keenan is not letting the world forget. This is a mighty achievement by a magnificent writer.”

Frank McGuinness,The Irish Times

Brian Keenan was born in Belfast in 1950.He went to Beirut in 1985 for a change of scene from his native Belfast.He became headline news when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi’ite militiamen and held in the suburbs of Beirut for the next four and a half years.For much of that time he was shut off from all news and contact with anyone other than his jailers and,later,his fellow hostages,amongst them John McCarthy.

Keenan’s book, An Evil Cradling, is his account of being held hostage.Published in 1992 the book has recently been made into a film,entitled Blind Flight starring Ian Hart and Linus Roache.

Saturday 14 August

Kilbride Suite, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 4pm

Admission €12/€10

Meet the Artists at the Hibernian

This year the Festival offers you,the audience,the chance to meet some of the artists.Ask questions,hear them talk about their work,and enjoy chatting to some of the Festival’s extraordinary visiting artists in the informal setting of the upstairs bar at Morrisson’s during the Festival.

Pat Keck - Puppets, Ghosts, and Zombies.

Monday 9 August

David Bolger, CoisCéim, talks about his work and his latest two site-specific pieces.

Tuesday 10 August

Muriel Ramones and the cast of The Memory of Water.

Wednesday 11 August

Shane Cullen talks about The Agreement, his influences, and the (artistic) politics of the work.

Thursday 12 August

Daniel Figgis in conversation.

Friday 13 August

Jo Mangan & Tom Swift, The Performance Corporation, talk about their work, and Dr. Ledbetter’s Experiment.

Saturday 14 August

Upstairs bar at Morrisson’s, Ormonde Street, 4pm daily

Admission Free

Shane Cullen The Agreement

This large scale sculptural work was commissioned by Beaconsfield (London) to commemorate the signing of the British-Irish Peace Agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations of 1998,known as the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement.

Delivered to every Irish household for mass consumption,the text of this public document is of celebrated ambiguity.Cullen’s piece lays out the text and facilitates a live encounter between Politics and Art,whilst presenting a neutral space in which to consider the seemingly irreconcilable.

Having toured to Dublin,Derry,Belfast,London and Portadown,the installation of the piece in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle recontextualises the work yet again,both within a historical context,and a contemporary one45,362 out of a total poll of 48,651 people in the Kilkenny-Carlow area overwhelmingly endorsed the Agreement.

It is the audience’s response which completes this work.

“We have come to realise that looking is not just looking but that looking is invested with identity… aesthetics are politics.”

Friday 6 - Sunday 15 August

Kilkenny Castle Grounds

Admission Free

Meet the artist: See page 40.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

“There is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended.”

Former Senator George Mitchell,2002

Jim Collins (USA) Watchers

A truly prolific artist in many mediums, Jim Collins’ work is in many private collections,museums,churches and public spaces across America.Grounded in the human form,Collins’ works also incorporate a sense of environmental awareness,frequently using discarded industrial components in his sculpture and creating mixed media collages.

Collins’ materials vary from wood,copper,bronze and rejected industrial bits, to animal skins,neon,fabric and polyvinyl.

He brings his Watchers series to Kilkenny – pieces in steel and wood,some of which have been fashioned specially for Kilkenny and in celebration of the Ulysses anniversary.Each is unique either by material,colour,size or location.

The first Watcher was a life-sized silhouette made of polished stainless steel on a park bench – nearly denied existence by reflecting everything around it. There are ten Watchers around Kilkenny.Festival Watchers to be discovered.

Friday 6 - Sunday 15 August Streets of Kilkenny

“It has always been my experience that art attracts the wrong kind of people.”

Jim Collins

Pat Keck (USA)

Puppets, Ghosts, and Zombies: The Sculpture of Pat Keck

A retrospective exhibition featuring works by one of America’s most fascinating yet under-recognised sculptors.Since the late 1970s, Pat Keck (from Andover, Massachusetts) has created painted wood figurative sculptures,many of them mechanical and interactive.

Pat Keck’s characteristic style is based on an idiosyncratic abstraction of the human face and figure: frontal and symmetrical,with highly finished and brightly-coloured surfaces,and an anatomical articulation more mechanical than organic.The figures are gorgeously crafted,and each detail - from the wood joinery,to the clothing,to the moving parts - is designed and fabricated by the artist herself.

Keck’s imaginative world is influenced by many sources that point roughly in the same direction.She is interested in folk and vernacular arts,especially those associated with carnivals,fairs,and the circus,as well as visual elements of other performing arts,most notably vaudeville and popular music of the 1970s and 1980s (Glam Rock,Punk,and New Wave Music).

Friday 6 - Sunday 15 August

Butler House, Patrick Street

Admission Free

Meet the artist: See page 40.

Alan Phelan

Gordon-Bennett

We all know the expression,but do we know its origins? Gordon-Bennett was a notorious playboy and newspaper tycoon from the late 19th century. The works in this exhibition take several historical references and connections and reshape them into a new dynamic across a range of objects,images and situations.The various elements explore ideas surrounding popular myth and celebrity routed through language.

Phelan’s practice is concerned with relational aspects of photography, sculpture,installation and social interaction.

This new body of work consists of several sculptures,photographs and drawings.They explore aspects of representation and media manipulation, connected across a biographical narrative.Gordon-Bennett sponsored sporting events to create media spectacles that were covered by his newspaper,The New York Herald.These works reverse this process by creating a series of spectacles that manipulate or misrepresent his life.They are not so much memorials to Gordon-Bennett’s extravagant lifestyle,but starting points for a conversation about how social events and perceptions are constructed and remembered.

A display of modified cars,commonly known as ‘boy racers’,is included in the exhibition.These young contemporary car enthusiasts will take the place of the original twelve drivers from the 1903 Gordon-Bennett Race in Co. Kildare and compete for prizes.

Friday 6 - Sunday 15 August

Grennan Mill, Thomastown

Admission Free

Baron Pierre de Caters approaches the grandstand at Ballyshannon during the 1903 “Gordon Bennett Cup Road Race”.Photograph courtesy of the Gordon-Bennett Race

Lúghaidh Ó Braonain Circle 1 and Scribe

Add your own graffiti and see the results.

Lúghaidh Ó Braonain invites you to create his next piece of work.Entirely originated in Kilkenny,you are invited to leave your graffiti mark on a window in the city centre.Through a shop window performance,this graffiti will then be inscribed onto an acrylic sheet.With the aid of the latest materials and light effects,this will then be formed into the final piece that closes the circle in Ó Braonain’s monumental light sculpture.

Drawing on the drama of the megalithic circle setting,but dealing with contemporary issues of politics and youth culture,2-3m high perspex tubes, illuminated from above,will create a modern mythic space where the banalities of contemporary expressions play in contrast to their oracular ancestors.

Circle is the installation.Scribe is your input.

Daniel Figgis’ Motor

Friday 6 - Sunday 15 August

City Centre & (a few days later)

Grennan Mill, Thomastown

Admission Free

This music and sound installation takes the idea of sculpture into a different realm as a natural space is shaped and mutated by a surround-sound and light installation with live musicians.Set in a hidden clearing in Kilfane Gardens,this is a sculptured space with a difference.See page 24.

Ernesto Neto

Born in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil where he currently lives and works, Ernesto Neto has exhibited internationally with solo shows world-wide.His work is represented in several museum collections,among them the Centre Pompidou,Centro de Arte Reina Sofia,Tate Modern,MoCA,Carnegie Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum.

In his installations,the choice of materials is quite crucial.Lycra,a textile typically used for women’s hosiery,polyamide fabrics,sand and styrofoam produce a soft and fantastic impact, where volume is balanced with the impression of ethereal lightness.

For the Butler Gallery,his sculptures take into account the specific appeal of the space along with a perception that includes all the senses, which will transform his exhibition into an intense experience.His work creates an atmosphere of intimacy in space.

Currents

An exhibition of forty new art works acquired by the Department of Finance and Personnel,Northern Ireland and the Office of Public Works. It is the seventh joint exhibition shared by the two Departments,and the fourteenth in the OPW touring Art of the State exhibition series.

The exhibition comprises of works ‘currently’ being purchased by both Departments.It features art works that have been recently acquired, covering a wide range of styles and media to include landscape, figurative and abstract paintings,graphics and contemporary photography.A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

Saturday 7 August - Sunday 17 October

Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Castle

Admission Free

Friday 6 - Saturday 28 August

Augustinian Friary, Callan

Admission Free

Norwegian Contemporary Jewellery

The National Craft Gallery hosts a major exhibition of contemporary Norwegian jewellery.This work challenges conventions and displays a sense of intimacy,a sense of humour and above all,a sense of style.

Friday 6 August - Sunday 3 October

National Craft Gallery, Castle Yard

Admission Free

Sculpture at Kells

Sculpture at Kells 2004 features Irish and international artists working in performance,installation and sculpture,all sited in the magnificent ten-acre monastic ruins of Kells Priory.Participating artists include Alannah O’Kellywho will be devising a site specific performance in response to the site - Ben Reilly and Alan Mongey from Ireland, Sharon Kallis (Canada), Ginny Hutchison (Scotland),British sculptor Glynn Williams and Irish-based artist, Nigel Rolfe.

Friday 6 -Sunday 15 August

Kells Priory

Admission Free

Philip Cullen

90 Days

An exhibition of drawings,painting,sculpture,photographs and sound.The work is concerned with themes such as the oppression of time,the artist and the Muse,the darkness and light within us all and the attempted escape from reality.Sound work includes original improvised piano and guitar music,along with the sounds of wind and rain and digitally constructed effects.The artist wishes to acknowledge the importance of the audience,the desire of artists to engage with other people and the attempt to elicit an emotional response.

Philip Cullen trained as a sculptor in the Crawford College of Art and Design. He has long experience in working in arts education in a variety of disciplines, and works as a freelance photojournalist.

Sunday 1 - Tuesday 31 August

Watergate Theatre Gallery

Admission Free

Opening - Neighbourhood Watch Stilts International The Butterfly Collection

What could be more miraculous and memorable than the arrival of a giant flock of butterflies? High above the crowds on stilts,these noble butterflies offer a colourful start to the Festival.Based on British butterflies,the Swallow Tail,the Oak Blue,the Adonis Blue and the Red Admiral – these stilt insects will adorn the streets in celebration of the opening of the Festival.So come along and meet these gentle butterflies – and watch out for their antennae!

Closing Festival Drumcircle

We did it last year,and you turned up in force.So here we go again! Come along and drum to your heart’s delight as part of Kilkenny’s second Festival Drumcircle.It’s the last Sunday of the Festival,so come and bring ten days of Festival fever to a resounding close with a beat to beat ‘em all and a rhythm to rock Kilkenny!

Friday 6 August Streets of Kilkenny, 1pm & 5pm

Admission Free

Sunday 15 August

Kilkenny Castle Grounds, 4pm

Admission Free - If you have a drum, bring it along and a spare to share. If you don'tthere'll be plenty.

Photograph Colm Hogan

Walk the Plank (England)

Festival favourites in 2003, Walk the Plank return by popular demand to create a pyromusical for the opening of Kilkenny Arts Festival 2004.

With a wealth of experience of firing to music - and having done so at both the Sefton Summer Classics concert and at the Gunnersbury Park outdoor classical concert in England in 2003 - pyrotechnics designer Lucy Carlin brings her magic to Woodstock Gardens.

The audience can expect both an exquisitely timed and visually spectacular performance.Fireworks will be fired alongside the Northern Chamber Orchestra performing Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworksa perfect end to this magical evening.

Walk the Plank promises an unforgettable opening to Kilkenny Arts Festival 2004.An unmissable event for all the family.Bring a picnic and enjoy a magical summer’s evening in the beautiful surroundings of one of Ireland’s best-loved gardens.

For full concert programme details,see page 11.

Saturday 7 August Woodstock Gardens, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny. Gates 6.30pm for 7.30pm concert Ends 10pm.

Admission €20 seated/ €7.50 Standing/ €15 Family Standing (Max 2 adults, total 4) Buses will depart from the Parade, Kilkenny Castle, €10 return. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the Festival Box Office.

Corporate tables are available for a pre-concert dinner at Mount Juliet Conrad Hotel. Please contact the Festival office for details.

Subject to Licence at the time of going to print. Warm clothing advised.

Osadia (Spain)

Have you ever dreamt of the ultimate punk hair-style but been too afraid of your mother to do it? What about multicoloured spiky,or goth black? Renaissance regal or just a shocker to stun the office on Monday morning?

Well now’s your chance!

This daring and impudent Spanish street animation company make it all OK. Because it’s creative and innovative hairart.Taking place entirely before a captivated audience,you can be the centre of the show.Climb up there,get in the chair,and free yourself into the capable hands of Petra Rochau and Sonia Gomez for a daring and original hairsculpture.

Stand back in curiosity,wonder or horror, and watch the transformation.

Whose hair dares!

Wednesday 11 & Thursday 12 August Market Cross Shopping Centre

Friday 13 & Saturday 14 August Streets of Kilkenny

12 noon - 1.30pm & 2.30pm - 4pm daily

Admission Free

“Osadia gathered crowds as they performed free psychedelic hairdos…”

“Art has gone to people’s heads” CNN,The Art Club

The Times

Cuban Films

This year Kilkenny Arts Festival presents the films of three of Cuba’s leading film directors.All internationally recognised and award winners,these directors’ films are classics of their time – the 60’s,70’s and 80’s - and depict life in Cuba in a raw,touching,and thought-provoking light.A hidden Cuba that says much about its history and contemporary influences,and a rare chance to see these films.

La Ultima Cena (The Last Supper)

Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

1976, colour, 120 mins

This beautifully made film tells the story of a slave revolt during Holy Week on a sugar plantation in late eighteenth-century Havana.Alea presents a fierce indictment of religious hypocrisy and sinks his teeth into every historical colonial influence,crying out for a selfdetermined Cuban identity.

Tuesday 10 August

Parade Tower,7.30pm

Lucia

Directed by Humberto Solas

1969, B&W, 160 mins

This classic of Cuban cinema looks at the life and deeds of women in Cuban modern history from the war of Independence in 1895 to the Revolution of 1959.An anthology film,this tour de force offers a triptych of stories,employing a different idiom and visual style for each section.Each story is hung on a love drama as three women,from three different classes,grapple with the role of women in revolution.

Wednesday 11 August Parade Tower,7.30pm

All films have English subtitles,and are not suitable for children.

Cuban band, Asere, play what promises to be a sensational gig on Friday 13 August. See page 25.

Clandestinos (Underground)

Directed by Fernando Perez

1987, colour, 98 mins

This classic Cuban film centers on a love affair between two youths and their struggle in the urban underground movement against dictator Fulgencio Batista in the late 1950s.Full of suspense,this inspirational film portrays the heroism of the Cuban youth and their sacrifices that brought the Revolution to fruition.Fernando Perez,who began his film career as assistant director to Tomás

Gutiérrez Alea and Santiago Alvarez,stands apart from his Cuban counterparts for his ability to portray human dilemmas in quirky, unpredictable ways.

Friday 13 August Parade Tower,7.30pm

Banyan Theatre Company (Northern Ireland)

The Emperor’s New Clothes

“A puppet version of the emperor’s new clothes’ with deceptive simplicity and easy, persuasive humour… a richly colourful, gently witty and eloquently performed piece of theatre. Highly recommended” Time Out,London

Two swindlers come into town pretending to be master tailors.The vain Emperor summons them to make him a set of clothes the like of which has never been seen before….

This charming and humorous adaptation is told through puppetry, original music and storytelling,and will delight younger audiences with its magical and evocative simplicity.

Saturday 7 August

Paulstown Community Hall, 11am Augustinian Priory, Callan, 4pm

Saturday 14 August

Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, 3pm

Admission €6

This project has been part funded by Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development under the LEADER + Programme

Papyrus Theatre Company (Belgium)

The Little People of the Mist

One of those unforgettable gentle tales – a blasted heath,mysteriously cold and quite deserted… But what’s this? There are people living here,hidden under rocks and in little holes in the ground – small sweet people,but very frightened people.

And no wonder.The lake houses a dragon,and a not very happy looking dragon at that.When the dragon and the little people finally come together the land begins to look a bit rosier.

Tiny rod puppets and live music make this a must for everyone over 6.

Monday 9 & Tuesday 10 August City Centre (see Box Office for details), 1pm & 4pm daily Admission €8

Comic Trust Theatre Company (Russia) White Side Story

Told without a word of text,using dance,mime and music,White Side Story brings smiles and laughter to the faces of children and adults alike.

See page 10 for full details.

Young People’s Film

Belleville Rendezvous

Director Didier Brunner

80 mins

Recently adopted by an old lady,Champion is not a happy boy.He leads a very lonely life and so the old lady buys him everything she can think of to make him happy - a train set,a dog,a TV,but none of it works.She sees him cutting out articles on famous cyclists from the papers and,inspired,she buys him a tricycle.And how it changes their lives!

From Darkness will also be shown before this film (see panel on this page).

Tuesday 10 August

Kirikou and the Sorceress

Director Michel Ocelot

70 mins

The classic African folk tale of Kirikou,a brave little boy,the bravest in all the world,who is not in the least bit afraid to take on the Sorceress.So what if she is evil,and dangerous, he’s Kirikou,the bravest little boy on the planet! He’s also very clever, outsmarting the Sorceress when she least expects it.

From Darkness will also be shown before this film.

Wednesday 11 August

The Boy Who Wanted to be a Bear

Director Jannik Hastrup

75 mins

11-year-old Pablo dreams of becoming initiated as a bear,the chosen representative of a village, the one in contact with the gods.Pablo is sent off to work at a coffee plantation because he is careless in his job as a shepherd,and his dream of becoming a bear is shattered.But eventually his father comes for him.Pablo is going to participate in the annual pilgrimage to the God of the Snow Mountains,so his dream of becoming initiated as a bear is awakened once more.

From Darkness will also be shown before this film.

All Watergate Theatre, 2pm Admission €2.50

All films PG 10 years +

From Darkness

Director Nora Twomey General Cert. 10 mins

A stunning animated short film from Kilkenny’s own animation studio Cartoon Saloon.Shortlisted for an Oscar Nomination for best animated film in 2003 and winner of Best Animated Film at Galway Film Fleadh, Boston Irish Film Festival and the Kerry Film Festival, this is a truly beautiful wordless depiction of the Inuit folk-tale of a lonely fisherman who drifts into haunted waters in search of food and finds more then he bargained for.

Thursday 12 August

A season of the best of animated film at the Watergate Theatre including: From Darkness the locally-produced animated film,shortlisted for an Oscar nomination – made by Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny.

This short film will be shown before each main film.

This project has been part funded by Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development under the LEADER + Programme

Martin Waddell

Martin Waddell has twice won the Smarties Book Prize - for Can’t You Sleep,Little Bear? and Farmer Duck - as well as the Best Books for Babies Award for Rosie’s Babies and the Kurt Maschler Award for The Park in the Dark.In May of this year Waddell won the Hans Christian Andersen Author Award.A wonderful reader as well as storyteller,a chance to spend some time hearing Martin Waddell read from his books for young children must not be missed.

A reading for children 5 to 9 years,and of course anyone else who loves books.

“Kate Thompson writes with marvellous and magical ease” Times Educational Supplement

“(The Beguilers) is a miracle of a book and one to be taken seriously by any reader who expects a book to teach, enrich, bewilder, seduce and well, beguile.”

The Irish Times

Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson, twice winner of The Bisto Award for The Beguilers and The Alchemist's Apprentice is one of the most exciting writers currently writing for children.She was shortlisted again this year for Origins, the third title in the excellent trilogy which explores genetic engineering,a trilogy that began with Missing Link.A gifted storyteller,Kate Thompson has also trained race horses in England and the USA,studied law in London and travelled extensively in India.

A reading for young people from 10 upwards.

Wednesday 11 August

Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 12 noon

Admission €5

Both Kate and Martin will be signing copies of their books after the readings.

Saturday 14 August

Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 4pm

Admission €5

Workshops

This year,we introduce a few new elements – sure don’t we always? Craft is the focus for many of our workshops;weaving,willow-work, instrument-making and serious recycling are all part of the programme this year.And we’ve gone further than ever this year too,out to Kells and Freshford,as well as our usual haunts of Thomastown,Graiguenamanagh, Callan,Urllingford and of course The City,with puppet performances in Paulstown and Callan – so no excuses now,it’s practically on your doorstep.

Step into your dreams

Video animation,design and 3D performance workshop.After their experience with Katapult, some of the young people involved in the outreach programme share their new skills and creative talent with their younger contemporaries.Work alongside these inspiring young people and create your own artwork. Age 12 years upwards

Make A Show

Karen Torley,master puppeteer of Banyan Theatre Company,and puppetmaker extraordinary leads a five-day workshop for young people. Write the story,make the cast,draw and build the set,sort out the music, and by Friday you should be ready to do your own show! You know you can, and Karen can help you.

Weave!

Unless otherwise stated all workshops are for children aged 8 years upwards.

All materials are supplied, but we do supply a “gather list” for some of the workshops, particularly ones that focus on recycling and found objects. Ask at Box Office. And Wear Old Clothes!

Sunday 8 August

The Barn at Barnstorm Theatre Company, Church Lane, 11am - 1pm Admission €15

Monday 9 - Friday 13 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 10am - 3pm daily (bring lunch, half-hour break on the premises)

Performance for an invited audience at 2pm on Friday – this is going to be the hottest ticket in town, these kids won’t let just anybody in!

The smallest of working looms,(each) set up on a table-top,get your bag of fabric out,old denims,feathers, beautiful silks,ribbons,you name it,you can weave it.All it takes is your imagination.And just a little help from magic weaver Krisztina Dragoman to weave a wee thing to take home with you.Ages 8 upwards

Monday 9 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 10am - 12am & 3pm - 5pm

Tuesday 10 August

Freshford: 20/20 Building, Freshford, 11am - 1pm

Wednesday 11 August

Graiguenamanagh Library, 11am - 1pm

Thursday 12 August

Loughboy Library, 11am - 1pm

For some exciting new plays for children,please see page 61.

Friday 13 August

Mullins Mill, Kells, 11am - 1pm

Saturday 14 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 2pm - 4pm

Adult and Children workshop –Bring Your Favourite Grown-Up!

Scrap Sculpture workshop - Happiness is a Load of Rubbish!

Led by Gerry Foran aka Professor Phullbinn - Master Recycologist

Create sculptural pieces in a weird and wacky way.Come and see what you can do with cereal boxes,cardboard inner tubes,potato sacks,baling twine, feathers,newspapers,leaves,twigs,egg cartons,wire coat hangers...you name it! Let your imagination run riot - design your own wedding hat,or a cowboy’s Stetson!

Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 10am - 12pm (2 day workshop)

Get recycling! Only this time,make a musical instrument with recycled materials and make music! You’ll explore the music and rhythms of other countries – Irish Traditional,Africa,India,Native America… Move to the music, write your own songs,and discover the fun and thrill of sounds and rhythms, with recycling thrown in! Absolutely No Musical Experience Necessary.

Willow-weaving

Heike Kahle and Klaus Hartmann return to the Festival this year,following their hugely successful Willow Weaving workshops last year.This year they will give workshops in the county,as well as in the city,and once again young people will have an opportunity to learn this ancient craft,one which has been alive in Ireland for many centuries,and still flourishes in many parts of the country today.

Percussion Make and Do Paint It!

Let’s just enjoy painting!

Let’s not worry!

Let’s not think!

Let’s just… PAINT!!

No longer do you have to worry about painting a masterpiece! This workshop is all about freeing up those arms,leaving those worries at home,painting for pure enjoyment.This two hour workshop will give you a taste of community painting,rhythm games,singing and above all,laughing!!

Wednesday 11 & Thursday 12 August

The Hall, Kells, 3pm - 5pm

Thursday 12 & Friday 13 August

Grennan Mill, Thomastown, 11am - 1pm

(2 day workshops)

Wednesday 11 August

Grennan Mill, Thomastown, 10am - 12pm & Castlecomer Library, 2pm - 4pm

Thursday 12 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 10am - 12pm & 2pm - 4pm

Friday 13 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 10am - 12pm

Saturday 14 August

Urlingford Library, 11am - 1pm

Saturday 14 August

Kilkenny City School, New Street, 11am & 1pm, 3pm & 5pm

Adult and Children workshop –Bring Your Favourite Grown-Up!

Workshop costs:

1-day €15 (2 hours)

2-day €25 (2 x 2 hours)

5-day €75 (5 x 4 hours)

This project has been part funded by Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development under the LEADER + Programme

In recognition of the extraordinary number of talented local artists,this year Kilkenny Arts Festival,in partnership with Kilkenny County Council Arts Office,invited proposals from local artists for inclusion in this programme.

Proposals were invited from artists working in a range of media,and specifically from those who considered themselves as emerging artists.Kilkenny Arts Festival is proud to include the following 12 local artists in the 2004 programme.All exhibitions are admission free and run from 6th - 15th August,unless otherwise stated.

Group Show: Endangered

Jean Conroy, Ailis Phelan, Richard Coghlan, Brigid Teehan, Steven Aylin and David Beattie

Endangered is a group exhibition using various media.The work draws influence from the experience of a residency,initiated by Kilkenny County Council Arts Office,and based on the former Chadwick’s site in Kilkenny.This is the first supported artists’ studio based in Kilkenny. (Exhibition includes the work of other artists.)

Friday 6 August - Friday 17 September County Hall and 72 John Street, 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm

Home: Debra Bowden

“This exhibition is a personal celebration of returning home after five years away. It has always been important for me to base the subject matter of my work on my immediate environment, and the views from the front window of my house and the back window of my studio have been the most significant influence in my work.”

Berkeley Gallery, Thomastown

Shoes with News: Maria Casey

“A combination of being in a shop, and the ‘footwork’ of the journalists and photographers who cover such a large county, led me to the idea to make shoes with news. Shoes can indicate a person’s job, social life, sport and personal taste.”

“fifteen”, Sabo Shoes & Bags, Caza Choo & Grahams Shoe Shop

Lucy McKenna

“I like to experiment with materials and see how they work together. In this collection I have mixed acrylics with handmade papers, threads, and sand among other materials. Texture, form and colour are as important as each other in my work, which is inspired by my Kilkenny surroundings. These paintings are particularly energetic and colourful.”

Langton’s, John Street

Solstice: Jimmy Meaney

“Working with whatever type of wood he can find, from bog oak thousands of years old to discarded pieces of mahogany, Meaney sees ‘different things in different pieces. I get my inspiration from the shape and try to bring out what’s already there, show it, highlight it, rather than force something that’s not there’.”

Kilkenny Castle Park

Collette O’Brien

“My chosen theme for this exhibition is Roman and Greek mythology, Titans, Trojans, lovers in the traditional style. Also metal and stone sculptures, combined with mosaic granite and marble.” (Exhibition includes the work of another artist)

Arran Suite, Kilkenny River Court Hotel

Universal Map: Ailis Phelan

“The ‘Universal Map’, is available in various venues around the city. This is a unique map in that it doesn’t refer to your specific geographical location, but rather, is a reminder of your physical location in a place and at that point in time. It is a study of tourist behaviour, the need to define geographical position, and how difficult this is without having any sense of the area, street names, landmarks etc.”

Siân Price

“Having relocated from Manchester to Co Kilkenny just over nine months ago, the county has had a huge influence on me and my work. The images in the exhibition are colourful, yet I hope to capture an eerie quality that reflects the aura around nature and the self.”

Castlecomer Library

Collectors’ Corner Collect@NCG

For the discerning collector,the Crafts Council of Ireland and National Craft Gallery are pleased to present Collect@NCG.

Curator Brian Kennedy has selected work by leading applied artists from Ireland and Norway.Stunning work in glass,textiles,wood,metal and ceramics.

These artists already feature in some of the world’s most prestigious public collections.Visit Collect@NCG and open your eyes to the beauty of contemporary craft.Collect@NCG is one of a series of exhibitions that will travel to Dublin,London, Chicago and Philadelphia.

And fresh from New York’s Museum of Arts and Design,Ireland’s top contemporary jewellers will be showing their work.Our 13 artists stole the show at LOOT! 2004.This is the first opportunity to see that work in Ireland.

There’s more jewellery downstairs in the National Craft Gallery,where Contemporary Norwegian Jewellery runs until October 3.

Friday 13 - Sunday 15 August

Upstairs at the National Craft Gallery, 6pm

Admission Free

“Who Killed Granny?”

Barnstorm presents New Plays for Young Audiences

Who’s writing for children in Ireland today? How do we excite children about theatre? What does the future hold for theatre in Ireland if we don’t nurture our young audiences?

Led by well-known playwright Ken Bourke (Wild Harvest, The Hunt for Red Willie, The Ballad of Rory Roe) and Barnstorm’s Artistic Director Philip Hardy,Barnstorm Theatre Company’s New Plays project has been working with several writers over the last seven months focusing on the specific demands of writing for children and young audiences in Ireland today.

The plays,which include Who Killed Granny? by John Connolly,will be read, rather than performed,by an ensemble of actors,followed by a discussion of the play between playwright and audience.Come and tell us what you think…

Monday 9 & Thursday 12 August

Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, 3pm & 4.30pm

Tuesday 10 August

Wednesday 11 August

The Garden Room, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 3pm & 4.30pm

Admission €5 per day (i.e. for two readings), season ticket for all four days €15.00

Plays range in suitability from 6 yrs to older teens - please check details of specific readings with the Box Office.

Plays on Words - What’s so special about Irish theatre? Open discussion

To wrap up the New Plays for Young Audiences programme, on Friday August 13th there will be an open discussion (chair to be confirmed),with a panel of well-known,leading theatre practitioners.The discussion will explore creating theatre in a changing Ireland,in particular the writer’s role in the process.All welcome.

Friday 13 August

Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, 4pm

Admission Free

Barnstorm is Ireland’s leading producer of theatre for children and young audiences whose work is experienced by more than 30,000 young people annually. Barnstorm is funded by the Arts Council and Kilkenny County Council.

Funding Bodies

Programme Sponsors

Media PartnersGeneral SponsorsHotel Sponsors

The KK Ormonde Hotel is the official accommodation provider to Kilkenny Arts Festival. Festival volunteers supported by National Irish Bank. Stena Line is the official maritime transporter for the Festival.

The British Council

Kilkenny City and County Map

Day-by-day Main Programme

Day-by-day Young People’s Programme

• Young People’s Theatre, Film, Readings and Workshops