Ceoltoiri Kilkenny - Irish Entertainment Series

Ceoltoiri Kilkenny puts on a weekly evening of Irish music and entertainment inside St Canice’s Cathedral through the summer months, giving visitors and locals a chance to hear traditional and contemporary Irish material in one of the city’s most atmospheric buildings. Performances run on Tuesday evenings at 8pm, and the series is part of Visit Kilkenny’s wider calendar of summer cultural events that keep the city’s heritage venues in use outside normal opening hours.

What to expect

Each evening runs for around an hour inside the cathedral nave, with musicians and performers presenting a programme built around Irish traditional and folk material rather than a fixed touring act, so the exact line-up varies week to week. The setting is a large part of the draw, since the cathedral’s acoustics and medieval stonework give the music a very different character than a pub session or concert hall. The series runs through June, July and August, giving it a longer run than most one-off summer concerts, and tickets are sold on the door rather than needing to be booked in advance. It suits visitors looking for something to do on a Tuesday evening as much as it does Kilkenny residents.

Getting there

St Canice’s Cathedral sits on the Close, just north of the city centre and within a ten to fifteen minute walk of the Parade and the train station. There is on-street parking near the cathedral grounds, and it is an easy add-on to a day spent seeing the rest of the city’s medieval mile.

While you’re in Kilkenny

The cathedral itself is worth a visit outside performance times too, with the adjoining round tower one of the oldest structures in the city. There is more to see in Kilkenny and across Co. Kilkenny.

Good to know

• Every Tuesday through the summer, 8:00pm
• Venue: St Canice’s Cathedral, The Close, Kilkenny
• Price: €10 on the door
• Recurring: runs weekly through June, July and August
• Part of Visit Kilkenny’s summer events programme