Time to spread the wings a bit, as the festival season takes over. Clonmel’s Junction Festival, (4-12 July) has established itself as one of the most inclusive festivals around, remaining faithful to its local base but also definitely worth travelling to (about 2 ½ hrs from Dublin). Making excellent use of empty spaces, one of this year’s innovations is a series of drop-in cafes where you can do everything from entertaining your canine friend to donating your precious baubles to a shrine. A lusty music programme ranges from Delorentos and Duke Special to Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill and Les Espoirs de Coronthie from Guinea Bassau. Other performance highlights include an Aerial Dance double bill and The Angel and the Woodcutter, a haunting folktale from Korea (also playing at the Pavilion in Dun Laoghaire on Sat 11). More info @ www.junctionfestival.com
The big one of course is Galway (13-26 July) which needs no introduction. Suffice it to say the city will be jammed for the likes of Bon Iver, Femi Kuti, Spiritualized, Michael Clark (dance), some riotous Shakespeare from the UK’s Propeller, physical theatre from Australia’s Circa, the Kronos Quartet, the New York Dolls and Booker T. www.galwayartsfestival.com
In August it’s Kilkenny (7-16), with Peter Brook’s take on Shakespearian sonnets, baroque choral ensemble Le Concert Spirituel, Serbian pianist Alexsandar Madzar, writers Garrison Keillor, Seamus Heaney, Eugene McCabe et al, world music from China and West Africa, indie sounds from American band Low and left-field Icelandic group Amiina and a wide range of visual art. www.kilkennyarts.ie. And at the tale-end of the summer (Sat 29 & Sun 30), Dun Laoghaire’s incomparable Festival of World Cultures, of which more anon. www.festivalofworldcultures.com
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