Limerick Guide
O’Riordan have wowed stadiums across the globe but other musical artists like Tuesday Blue, Hermitage Green, Windings and Fox Jaw have enjoyed success also. Brad Pitt Light Orchestra, Niamh Dunne of Beoga and Andreas Varady, to name but a few, have carved out niches in the music industry too. Limerick’s music scene is as vibrant as ever with such acts as Rusangano Family, a trio that have been steadily building their own unique brand of dynamic bass-led music. The group recently won the RTE Choice Music Prize. Bill Whelan’s Riverdance, forged an iconic legacy as the soundtrack accompanying the skill of traditional Irish dance in the acclaimed stage show and continues to tour the world today. Classical music is popular here too. The Irish Chamber Orchestra is based at the University of Limerick. The choral tradition is continued by Limerick Choral Union, Ancór Chamber Choir and Limerick Gospel Choir and festivals that celebrate the choral tradition, with the Limerick Choral Festival and Limerick Sings. Artists like John Shinnors and Sean Keating, along with Ireland’s only biennial art exhibition, Eva
International, have put Limerick on the wider visual art map. Limerick City Gallery of Art holds work by both these artists in their permanent collection. Limerick boasts a wealth of working artists, art collectives and galleries including Ormston House, a cultural resource centre in the heart of the city, which runs a programme of exhibitions and events. Limerick School of Art and Design has an excellent reputation, not alone for fine art but its fashion department is ranked as one of the world’s top 50 fashion colleges too. Limerick now has the Irish Fashion Incubator which is building on the International
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Honed their craft in Limerick and brought it to international fame
The University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology and Mary Immaculate College have established themselves among the best third level colleges in Ireland— cultivating creativity in all areas of local life, from business to architecture and from technology to sport. The diverse offering in everything from practitioners to performances was one of the reasons why Limerick was chosen as the first National City of Culture in 2014 and a shortlisted candidate city for European Capital of Culture 2020; the legacy is expected to continue for many years. It would be impossible to sum up Limerick’s plentiful cultural offering in its entirety except to say that city and county have it down to a fine art.
reputation of LSAD fashion and will provide the space and supports to foster enterprise and creativity in the field of fashion through research and development, commercial enterprise and training for industry needs. The Best Of Ireland Series
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