Five for your radar: Cian Ducrot in Limerick, trad music in Bantry, dance in Kerry
Martin Hayes is at Masters of Tradition in Bantry, and The End of Oak Street is in Irish cinemas on Friday, August 14.
After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighbourhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognisable surroundings. Directed by David Robert Mitchell ( ), it stars Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor.
One of Ireland's biggest musical exports, having claimed a Grammy in his ascent in recent years, Cian Ducrot brings The Dream Ship Tour to Limerick. The Cork singer-songwriter is known for his soaring pop ballads and powerful vocals, with hits including and . Live at the Docklands begins on Friday with Queen tribute band Qween, Block Rockin’ Beats on Saturday, and three shows from Amble beginning next Thursday.
The Esker Festival Orchestra and Choir festival returns from August 18-23 with an ambitious programme. The festival's first-ever opera, Mascagni's will be performed in Galway and Dublin, while the wider programme includes music by Brahms, Copland and Ethel Smyth. New family-friendly performances of Prokofiev's also feature, as emerging musicians from Ireland and abroad join established international artists for six days of concerts and collaboration.
Curated by internationally renowned fiddle player Martin Hayes, the five-day Masters of Tradition festival features concerts in Bantry House, Marino Church, and innovative venues including Whiddy Island and Future Forests. Highlights include a candlelit performance in Bantry House by singer and composer Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, with other performers over the week including Ciarán Ó Gealbháin and Louise Mulcahy, Portuguese musician Tiago Matias, cellist Clíodhna Ní Aodáin, and fiddle virtuoso Ryan Young.
After a sold-out run of , Teaċ Daṁsa returns to its home studio on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Continuously inspired by a sense of place, identity and community, artistic director Michael Keegan-Dolan returned to Teaċ Daṁsa’s 2024 production with renewed clarity and vision. is a new production that builds from ’s original music and soundscape to be its own cathartic meditation on grief and love, and marks a new chapter in its collaboration with folk singer Sam Amidon.
