Hopkins Festival 2013

We begin with a Concert on Friday 19th by the remarkable Swedish pianist, Hans Palsson. Palsson was recently awarded the Gold Medal of The Swedish Academy - described as ‘The Nobel prize for Music’ and presented by King Gustaf -for his achievements as a performer internationally where he enjoys a reputation as one of the great living pianists. More about Hans Palsson Concert.

Tickets for Individual Events:

Tickets for individual events can be purchased at our Secure Ticket Portal Event Elephant

UK Ambassador will Open Festival

The Opening Reception and Ceremony will take place on Saturday July 20 at 3 pm at Newbridge College. Dominick Chilcott UK Ambassador will open the Festival .

Visual Arts Exhibition

The Group Visual Art Exhibition will also be opened. This year it will feature work by Charles Cullen, James McKenna, John Behan, Benedict Byrne and others.

Stellar List of Lecturers

A stellar list of Lecturers includes James Mackey, who will deliver the Keynote Address; Robert Smart and Richard Murphy from USA; Duc Dau - a Hopkins scholar from Australia; Thomas Berenato; Patrick Murray; Miho Takahashi (Japan); William Adamson (Germany); leading Portuguese scholar, Amador Frias Martins; Kevin Mc Eneaney (USA); Francis Fennell noted Hopkins scholar from Chicago, Michael Raiger; Courtney Dombroski... and others. Special events will include a talk by Graphologist Denis Sexton on Hopkins's handwriting; and an illustrated talk on the landscape of Hopkins's Ireland by naturalist Michael Jacob.

Concerts: Traditional Irish and Classical Music

There will be a Concert of Irish Music by Frankie Gavin, with some vocals by Michele Lally of De Danann.

When: Tuesday July 23rd. 2013 evening at 20.00 hours
Where: College Theatre.

Further Irish Music will be provided during the week by Diarmuid Johnson (Poland), Kildare Uileann
piper, Tom Poole and Conor Mahony on the guitar.

One of the highlights will undoubtedly be the Architecture Forum when Shelley McNamara, recent winner of an Internationall Award at the Venice Biennale will give an illustrated lecture.

Poetry at Hopkins Festival

Poets will include Rainer Schuttler (Germany), Donald Gardner (The Netherlands), Shizue Ogawa (Japan); Jean Luc Havard (France); painter Michael Kane (and Prose and Film-
script writer), Niall Donnelly and Desmond Egan.

FIELDTRIPS

There will be Field Trips to Great Connell Abbey and our visit to Maynooth College will also feature the annual Hopkins Banquet, one of the highlights of a very busy week.

Thomas Kinsella at Hopkins Festival 2012.

Listen to Festival Artistic Director, Desmond Egan, reading PEACE on YouTube

Gathering News! Unique Bloomsbury Event in Bray

If you plan on being in Dublin in late June 2013, you might like to check out this great Bloomsbury Celebration run by Liz MacManus. What makes this programme unique for me is that Liz is hosting the Festival in her magnificent home at  Martello Tce, Bray, Co. Wicklow. This historic house, built in 1860 with delightful Regency style balcony with its decorative geometric Chinoiserie railings isd a unique venue for a  James Joyce event - Joyce himself lived in this property between 1887 and 1891. I just love visiting interesting old houses, so I think it is wonderful that Liz will invite her guests into this lovely venue. (The Programme looks equally exciting!)
Dates : Saturday June 15 -  Friday 21st June. More info on this exciting Bloomsbury Celebration here.