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family · Saturday 1 August 2026 · 10:00am 
O'Carolan Harp Festival and Summer School
At Keadue · Keadue, Co. Roscommon
At Keadue · Keadue, Co. Roscommon
The O’Carolan Harp Festival and Summer School has been running in Keadue every August bank holiday since 1978, making it one of the longest-running harp and traditional music festivals in Ireland. It was set up to honour Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), the blind harper and composer who is buried just outside the village at Kilronan Cemetery, overlooking Lough Meelagh. Over the decades it has grown into a full week of concerts, ceilis, workshops and masterclasses drawing harpers and musicians from across Ireland and internationally. For families, it is one of those events where children pick up the atmosphere naturally - live music spilling out of venues, sessions carrying on in the pubs, and a village that genuinely centres itself around the music for a few days.
The festival runs across several days from 1 to 3 August 2026 (the full week begins 27 July). The heart of it is the Summer School, which runs morning and afternoon sessions for musicians of all ages and levels. Morning classes cover harp, tin whistle, concertina, bodhran and set dancing; afternoon sessions add banjo, flute, button accordion, fiddle, traditional singing and sean-nos dancing. You do not need to be an accomplished player to take part - the school is deliberately open to beginners and younger learners alongside more advanced musicians.
Beyond the school there are concerts, ceilis, harp recitals and the annual harp competition, which has been sponsored continuously since 1978. The 2026 festival includes a headline concert at the O’Carolan Centre featuring Teada, the well-regarded traditional group. There is also a door-dancing competition and evening sessions that carry on informally in the village. The O’Carolan Park in the village holds a sculpture of his harp and is worth a few minutes on any visit.
Keadue sits in north Roscommon near the Leitrim border, roughly 20 km south of Carrick-on-Shannon. By car from Dublin take the N4 west to Carrick-on-Shannon, then the R280 south through Arigna towards Keadue - allow about two and a half hours. From Galway, the N61 north through Roscommon town and then minor roads east is the most direct route. There is no direct bus to Keadue; the nearest Bus Eireann stop with reasonable frequency is Carrick-on-Shannon, from which you would need a car or taxi. Parking in Keadue during the festival is village-scale - arrive early for the main evening concerts and expect to walk a short distance.
The area around the village takes in Lough Meelagh, Kilronan Cemetery where O’Carolan is buried, and the Arigna Mining Experience a short drive away - a rare chance to go underground into a real coal mine and one that children tend to remember. There is more to see in Keadue and across Co. Roscommon.
Heading to Keadue in Keadue? Roscommon has plenty more to see. Read the Keadue area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.