Kilkenny Arts Festival have announced their 2026 programme, filled with award-winning work, premieres, exclusive Irish performances, new commissions and faces and the return of some festival favourites.
Tickets for all events are on sale as of Wednesday from KilkennyArts.ie.
From theatre to contemporary dance, visual arts to music of all genres, literature and more, this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival programme features “a spectacular selection of new projects and commissions, exquisite performances, new collaborations, intriguing installations and much, much more.”
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Running 6-16 August in venues and locations around Kilkenny city and county, some of the highlights for 2026 include
- The world premiere of The Curing Line from the thrilling company Straymaker, which won the Fedora Prize
- Land of Winter – the Grammy Award-winning work from Donnacha Dennehy, performed by Crash Ensemble with conductor Ryan McAdams
- The world premiere of Equal from Dennehy, a new work for two pianos, with festival debuts from David Kaplan and Timo Andres
- The Irish premiere of The Last Tape, a new operatic version of Beckett’s beloved text with Gare St Lazare Ireland
- The Death of Gesualdo, from the team behind last year’s standout, Secret Byrd (more here)
- A community and citywide theatrical retelling of the story of the Kilkenny witch trials in The Alice Project with Asylum Productions
- Anchorpoint, a thrilling aerial performance where the performers use the strength of their hair to bear their body weight
- The Hubert Butler Lecture, delivered by former President of Ireland Mary Robinson.
- Pop-up performances in secret gardens around the city
“We’re thrilled to announce the 53rd Edition of Kilkenny Arts Festival – a programme where bold new work sits front and centre at Kilkenny – where Kilkenny audiences see and hear work first, staged in unique ways, and where major projects are made especially for Kilkenny”, said Festival Director Olga Barry at Wednesday’s launch.
“With opera, theatre, music and performance all changing the boundaries of artistic expression, Kilkenny Arts Festival welcomes those with curious minds and open hearts -welcoming the blurring of lines and discarding the ‘labels’. This programme brings the celebration of humanity to the fore – we can’t wait to welcome audiences to the Marble City in August.”
On the music front, the Marble City Sessions are returning, co-curated again by Martin Hayes, with performances lined up this year from Kyle Sanna, Danny O’Mahony, The Breath with Rioghnach Connolly, Liz Knowles, Aoife Ní Bhriain, Síle Denvir, and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and more.
The iconic Cate Le Bon takes to the stage at St. Canice’s Cathedral for her only performance in Ireland this year; while other music acts that defy definition that audiences won’t ever forget are the Ukulele Death Squad – ‘the world’s most dangerous ukulele band’ and 64skana, a Korean techno dance trio.
We’ll go through all the music offerings coming into the weekend and over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, check kilkennyarts.ie for the full programme.
