Choral festival clashed with Ed Sheeran gigs

The organisers of the Cork International Choral Festival say it has suffered “reputational damage”, after they rescheduled it to avoid clashing with Ed Sheeran’s gigs.

The music event, founded in 1954, is the city’s longest-running festival and is one of the top-five choral festivals in Europe.

Worth €11.8m to the local economy, it has been staged in the three-day run-up to — and across — the May Bank Holiday weekend since 1994.

However, this year’s event has been rescheduled to April 18-22, because it would have clashed with Ed Sheeran’s May 4, 5, and 6 gigs in Pairc Uí Chaoimh.

The festival’s executive board said it welcomed the “addition of the redesigned Páirc Uí Chaoimh to Cork’s sporting and cultural landscape”.

Sheeran is set to play Cork's Pairc Uí Chaoimh in May.

It added: “It was with total surprise we learned, last July, that the GAA, in collaboration with Aiken Promotions, was presenting three concerts by Ed Sheeran in the [stadium], during the festival’s 2018 dates.

“Having discussed the implications for the festival, including the fact that accommodation costs had quadrupled, and we could not be assured that the large number of visitors we attract would be in a position to either access accommodation or pay the huge increased costs, it was agreed that we had no option but to change our dates for 2018.

“The impact of the change of dates has been significant, for us, and we have certainly suffered reputational damage, at international and national level.”

The cancellation of “key professional and participating groups” also proved problematic, the board said.

It said “it may just have been an oversight” on the part of the GAA.

“We are confident that the GAA, as an equal leader in the cultural landscape of Cork, will be in a position to work with us going forward, to safeguard the future May bank holiday weekend for the festival,” the board said.