The Farmleigh Music & Arts Festival devised and curated by Dave Flynn takes place from 28 November to 1 December

The Farmleigh Music & Arts Festival is a four-day feast of music, poetry, literature, drama and film at Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park.

The inaugural festival which is presented by the Office of Public Works (OPW) marks Dave Flynn’s Composer-in-Residence at Farmleigh. The Composer-in-Residence was developed by the OPW and Farmleigh in consultation with CMC and was awarded to Dave Flynn during the summer following an open call.

The four-day festival features a diverse range of artists, include actors Stephen Rea and Barry McGovern, poet Moya Cannon, traditional musicians Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Mick O'Brien and Paddy Glackin, harpist Cliona Doris, conductor David Brophy and Laura Snowden, who is the festival’s guest international composer/guitarist-in-residence.

Music performed includes three premieres by Dave Flynn, with music by Irish composers Brian Boydell, Joan Trimble and Anne-Marie O’Farrell performed by harpist Cliona Doris also represented. Members of Dave Flynn’s ensemble the Irish Memory Orchestra will also perform the composer’s Stories from the Old World on 28 November. While on 29 November, a concert entitled Between the Jigs and the Reels features music by Paddy Fahey, Neil Martin, Liz Carroll, Tommy Peoples, Dave Flynn, Imelda Roland, Ed Reavy, Junior Crehan, Paddy Glackin and more.

Flynn has also worked with previous Writers-in-Residence at Farmleigh Theo Dorgan and Peter Sheridan to explore new collaborations, with the premiere of The Farmleigh Tree Alphabet, a collaboration with Theo Dorgan on 30 November. Peter Sheridan, Barry McGovern and Dave Flynn have devised a new show on 1 December exploring the theme of repetition in the writings of Samuel Beckett and how this influenced the development of minimalist composers like Philip Glass.

The screening of films by Des Bell on Irish cultural figures Patrick MacGill and Michael MacGowan which feature the music of several Irish composers also takes place on 30 November, with Stephen Rea interviewed by Bell.

Further information here and tickets are available on Eventbrite.