Enjoy daring and dynamic arts at Cork Midsummer Festival
Cork City will be transformed into a theatre for midsummer magic and creativity during its innovative 10-day multi-disciplinary arts festival.
2024, Midsummer Parade, Cork Midsummer Festival
Running 13–22 June, the Cork Midsummer Festival uses the city as its backdrop and inspiration, providing a platform for exciting new artists and avant-garde performances and engaging the public in an eclectic range of events.
With theatre, music, dance, visual arts and immersive outdoor performances in the mix, the festival is an authentic Irish celebration of arts, culture, and local and international talent. A thrilling programme of events will take place across the city’s heritage spaces, including the beautiful opera house, imposing St Fin Barre’s Cathedral and historic Elizabeth Fort. There will also be scheduled and pop-up events in more unusual places including community halls, warehouses and in the city streets.
This year’s highlights include The Second Woman, a 24-hour immersive theatre experience at Cork Opera House, exploring human connection and repetition. The unique show will feature 100 men who will star opposite Eileen Walsh as she performs over and over a scene between a man and a woman in a relationship that has lost its creativity and romance.
At the Marina Market warehouse, Night Dances will celebrate Irish and international dance culture in a high-energy performance accompanied by live music, while the Cork Proms will present a series of concerts at the opera house, blending classical and contemporary music in bold reinterpretations of crowd favourites.
2024, Solstice Céilí, Cork Midsummer Festival
The festival is much more than a spectator event with audiences encouraged to actively get involved. A great opportunity to experience authentic Irish community dancing and a bit of craic is at the Solstice Céilí at seventeenth-century Elizabeth Fort, where everyone can put their best foot forward. Other immersive outdoor experiences will allow visitors to engage directly with art and performers with interesting and sometimes hilarious consequences.
There’s also a chance to get up close to the Sun at St Fin Barre's Cathedral, where Helios, a dazzling new artwork by world-renowned UK artist Luke Jerram, will be installed during the festival. Helios is a spectacular six-metre representation of the Sun in which each centimetre represents 2,300km of the real Sun’s surface. With details such as sunspots and solar flares and a soundtrack of live NASA recordings of the Sun, it promises to be an awe-inspiring and immersive experience.
Marking the longest day of the year, the Midsummer Parade will be a kaleidoscope of colour and sound with a fantastic display of floats, masked performers, musicians and dancers, culminating in a finale show on Grand Parade that is always a highlight of the festival.
Cork is a compact, super-friendly city with much to explore and enjoy beyond the festival programme.
Heritage highlights include Cork City Gaol which offers a fascinating glimpse into nineteenth-century prison life, and Elizabeth Fort, where you can walk the ramparts and get great views over the city. For another bird’s eye view of Cork, climb to the top of the Shandon Bell Tower at St Anne’s Church and take the chance to ring the famous bells.
2024, Kamchatka, Cork Midsummer Festival
Foodies will love the culinary delights on sale at the historic English Market which dates back to 1788. There are also plenty of picturesque areas for a leisurely stroll such as Fitzgerald Park or the campus of University College Cork with its blend of historic and modern architecture, beautiful gardens, and the renowned Glucksman Gallery.
Visitors to Cork for the Cork Midsummer Festival should also take the chance to explore beyond the city and discover the beauty of the west Cork landscape and its unique attractions. The most southerly part of the spectacular Wild Atlantic Way, the County Cork coastline with its beaches and picturesque towns and villages is a wonderful place to spend some time.
Among the top spots is Kinsale, a beautiful harbour town with a great craft and food scene and a buzzy vibe that has made it one of the island’s most popular destinations. And the nearby Old Head of Kinsale is a picture-perfect peninsula complete with a historic lighthouse.