Kilkenny Arts Festival announces early highlights from classical music programme
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From theatre to contemporary dance, from visual arts to music of all genres, literature and so much more, Kilkenny Arts Festival (KAF) presents each August an exciting programme of events of the highest calibre, thrilling audiences of all kinds in some of the loveliest buildings in Kilkenny.
Classical music has been at the core of the festival from the very beginning and the team announced some of the classical music highlights of the 2026 Kilkenny Arts Festival programme.
- Land of Winter - the Grammy Award-winning work from Donnacha Dennehy, performed by Crash Ensemble with conductor Ryan McAdams
- After astonishing festival audiences in 2025 the team behind Secret Byrd returns with the Irish premiere of The Death of Gesualdo.
- Irish Chamber Orchestra will bring us on a journey through the supernatural imagination of Europe.
- Following his epic performance in KAF last year, James McVinnie will return to St Canice’s Cathedral with a programme of works for both piano and organ by JS Bach.
- Chamber Choir Ireland, under the baton of Conductor Gabriel Crouch perform works from the great Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, Michael Gordon and Emma O’Halloran.
Speaking of the announcement, Festival Director Olga Barry said, “We’re announcing the big and bold in our ‘classical’ music series all staged at the iconic St Canice’s Cathedral - from Donnacha Dennehy’s tone poem Land of Winter, an epic journey through light, time and sound, to Emma O Halloran’s gone as part of a programme about ‘Forgotten People’ - the marginalised and dispossessed. From the iconic organ master works of JS Bach and the staging of the Irish premiere of Death of Gesualdo, to a theatrical journey across the supernatural imagination of Europe across the centuries from Hildegard von Bingen to Mussorgsky to Henning Kraggerud. We’re delighted to present our three wonderful resident ensembles - Crash Ensemble, Irish Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir Ireland along with international guests James McVinnie and The Gesualdo Six/Concert Theatre Works and guest leader of the ICO, Carla De Kleuver-Leurs for this massive series at St Canice’s Cathedral.”