Sounds From A Safe Harbour festival in Cork announces first headliners for 2023
Feist, Wilco and Bonny Light Horseman feature among the lineup for Sounds from a Safe Harbour.
The Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival in Cork has released the initial list of headliners for its fourth incarnation later this year.
Taking place from Thursday, September 7, to Sunday, September 10, the festival will again be curated by event director Mary Hickson, Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National, actor Cillian Murphy and playwright Enda Walsh. Cork Opera House will be the main venue for the headline concerts, with a raft of smaller gigs and other events expected to be announced in the coming months.
Feist played a sold-out gig at a previous SFSH festival in 2019, and is due to return for the opening concert of the 2023 event. The Canadian singer-songwriter recently released an album, Multitudes, but cut short a tour with Arcade Fire following the controversy around the band’s singer Win Butler.
The Friday night is headlined Bonny Light Horseman and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the type of collaborative project that’s become synonymous with the festival. Bonny Light Horseman are made up of folk trio Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D Johnson and Josh Kaufman, and the orchestral arrangements on the night will be by National member Bryce Dessner.
The orchestra will be conducted by Robert Ames, who has previously worked with the likes of Radiohead and Frank Ocean, and the ensemble will carry on from Cork to the National Concert Hall, Dublin (Sept 14), and the Barbican, London (Sept 15).
On the Saturday, Chicago-based band Wilco will conclude their European tour with a gig at Cork Opera House, with support from Wicklow singer songwriter Anna Mieke.
The closing concert at the venue on Sunday will feature Irish duo Ye Vagabonds playing with a number of the other SFSH acts.
Speculation had been rife that The National would again play in Cork, not least as they have a Dublin date on September 21, but it now seems the American outfit are unlikely to fit Leeside into their current tour. Individual members of the group may be in Cork over the weekend.
Sounds From a Safe Harbour was first created in 2015 as a biennial event, though the pandemic scuppered plans for recent festivals. Founder Mary Hickson is delighted to get SFSH back on track in her hometown.
“It’s a lovely feeling to be able to bring projects that are close to my heart back to Cork to share with you, particularly projects and artists I have a deep connection with and have nurtured since the last version of SFSH19,” said Hickson.
As well as being involved in numerous other eclectic projects in the arts world, the Fermoy woman has been working with Feist as creative producer for the past four years, and also singled out the Bonny Light Horseman project as a special event for Cork.
“Being in the room for the inception of Bonny Light Horseman as a band back in 2017 was a moment I will never forget. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to expand the orchestral programme we started with them at MusicNOW (2021/Ohio) with Bryce Dessner and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.”
Tickets for Feist, Bonny Light Horseman with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Wilco, and Ye Vagabonds will go on sale on Friday, May 12, from corkoperahouse.ie
