#KAF22 First Announcements

It’s a great thrill for us to look forward to welcoming you back to a rich and jam-packed programme in Kilkenny this August - and what a programme we have lined up for you (if we do say so ourselves!).

Our award-winning partnership with Rough Magic will continue to weave its special magic for the first time in the stunning setting of Kilkenny Castle Park in a new production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Postponed since 2020, we are delighted to finally present Handel’s sublime opera, Semele, in partnership with Opera Collective Ireland and featuring Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
AKAMUS will also perform An Evening with Handel and Friends - a celebration of the vibrant music scene of Baroque London.

We present Ireland’s most dynamic ensembles, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir Ireland with a line-up of very special guests including Ailish Tynan, Tara Erraught, and Sharon Carty in repertoire from Deirdre Gribbin to Verdi, and lots in between. Filmed last year in St Canice's Cathedral, we are very excited to be able to finally present Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Irish Chamber Orchestra's Róisín ReImagined to a live audience.

It’s a particular delight to welcome the extraordinary Carducci String Quartet to bring their exquisite survey of the complete Shostakovich Quartet Cycle, and no festival would be complete with the incomparable Malcolm Proud continuing his nearly 50-year association with the festival in the seminal repertoire of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1. Bell X1 play St Canice's Cathedral along with Dowry Strings, while Grammy Award-winning Johnny Gandelsman performs his unique version of Bach's Cello Suite on violin.

While the full programme will be announced shortly we hope that these First Announcements will whet the appetite for what's to come this August!!