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music · Friday 28 August 2026 · 7:30pm 
A Celebration of Elite Musical Talent
At Mullingar Arts Centre · Lower Mount Street, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
At Mullingar Arts Centre · Lower Mount Street, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
A Celebration of Elite Musical Talent opens a weekend marking 75 years since Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann was founded, at Mullingar Arts Centre on Friday, 28 August 2026. The organisation was set up at a meeting in the Midland Hotel, now the Columbia Bar, on Mount Street in Mullingar in 1951, and this concert brings the Ox Mountain Quartet, All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil champions, together with leading Westmeath musicians, singers and dancers to open three days of anniversary events across the town.
The Ox Mountain Quartet headline, All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann winners, and the bill draws on the strongest young and established trad talent Westmeath Comhaltas has produced. It is billed as the opening event of a full anniversary weekend: Saturday continues with a history lecture, a play on the founding of Comhaltas, a plaque unveiling on Market Square and an evening concert by the Kilfenora Céilí Band at St Paul’s Church, before the weekend closes on Sunday with a céilí led by Rise the Dust at Áras an Mhuilinn. Friday night at the arts centre is the formal concert opening, a seated show built around instrumental skill rather than a session-style night, and the programme leans heavily on fiddle, box and flute playing alongside song and dance from across the Westmeath branches.
Mullingar Arts Centre is on Lower Mount Street in Mullingar town centre, close to the Cathedral of Christ the King and a short walk from the train station. Street parking and the Market Square car park are both nearby.
Mullingar is Westmeath’s county town, built around the Royal Canal and the twin-spired Cathedral of Christ the King, with Comhaltas roots running back to the town’s Midland Hotel in 1951. There is more to see in Mullingar and across Co. Westmeath.
Heading to Mullingar Arts Centre in Mullingar? Westmeath has plenty more to see. Read the Mullingar area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Mullingar Arts Centre? These Dublin tours book out in summer.