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St Patrick’s Day SEODA Treasures from Ireland The
annual St Patrick’s Day Festival has bountiful treasures in store for everyone The National St. Patrick’s Festival 2020 takes place across Dublin from Friday 13 to Tuesday 17 March. The theme of this year’s Festival is SEODA – Treasures from Ireland. Over five great days and nights, uncover Ireland’s great bounty of treasures and celebrate the wealth of our past and the riches of our present. The Festival journey will delve into the timeless treasures of historic Ireland and shine a light on the modern gems of our nation. St. Patrick’s Festival welcomes the world to Dublin to discover a vibrant, dynamic, contemporary Ireland, where heritage and tradition are proudly embraced. St. Patrick’s Festival 2020 will feature a host of fun-filled family experiences, largescale outdoor events, newly commissioned collaborative performances, a myriad of musical treats including two World Premieres, as well as the magnificent National St. Patrick’s Festival Parade and an expanded four-day Festival Village and Food Market at Merrion Square, Dublin. This years’ Festival will offer a richly diverse programme including ABAIR - a remarkable series of performances celebrating Ireland’s oral traditions, art exhibitions, poetry and literary events, the all new Festival After Dark club series, hidden Dublin tours and trails, an exciting Port to City Treasure Hunt, Céilí Mór and so much more. The full Festival Programme is available now at stpatricksfestival.ie, where all information can be found. More than half a million revellers will take to the streets of Dublin on Tuesday March 17 for one of the biggest parade spectaculars in the world! The National St. Patrick’s Festival Parade is an extraordinary, ambitious and uplifting annual celebration. Lose yourself in a whirlwind of glittering colours and entrancing choreography. Marvel at the incredible feats of design and engineering and sing and cheer to a cacophony of joyous sounds! 8 From Saturday 14 - Tuesday 17 March, Merrion Square will be transformed into a bustling Festival Village, with four days of fantastic events, fun adventures and glorious food featuring a Gaeltacht area, circus and science shows, children’s readings, live music, village hall talks, street theatre, world food stalls and much more. Even better, most of these events are free, so make sure to check out all on offer at the Festival website. Families and friends alike can explore Dublin through the Port to City Treasure Hunt, in association with Dublin Port, on Sunday 15 March, just download the app and hit the trail! No visit to Ireland is complete until you’ve practiced your Irish dancing, so be sure to head to Festival Village after the Parade on Tuesday 17 March for the Céilí Mór proudly supported by Tesco Ireland. With almost one hundred events to choose from, there’s something for everyone on the Festival programme. Some of the highlights include two world premieres – This is How we Fly with Iarla Ó Lionáird at Liberty Hall Theatre on March 15 and James Joyce’s Pomes Penyeach, performed by Lisa Hannigan and guests at the National Concert Hall on March 16. Part traditional music, part contemporary composition, part dance, This is How we Fly has always defied genre and category. To mark their ten-year anniversary in 2020, the acclaimed contemporary folk group collaborate with the celebrated Irish singer Iarla Ó Lionáird. Award-winning national treasure Lisa Hannigan lends her velvet tones to the poetry of James Joyce in the iconic surrounds of the National Concert Hall. A world premiere of poetry, music and song, James Joyce’s Pomes Penyeach is spearheaded by Dublin based composer, curator and academic Matthew Nolan and multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer Adrian Crowley. For a lively evening of conversation, laughter, debate and performance with Ireland’s finest* minds, join renowned broadcaster Marian Richardson as she delves into the thoughts, life and career of award-winning comedian, actress and presenter Deirdre O’Kane, with a special musical guest performance from Sierra Leonean-Irish artist Loah. The event takes place at the Pepper Canister Church on Friday March 13 and is proudly supported by Tesco finest* Where We Live 2020 presented by THISISPOPBABY with St. Patrick’s Festival runs at The Project Arts Centre from March 11 – 21. An explosive ten-day festival of new work from Ireland’s creative vanguards, Where We Live 2020 will interrogate and celebrate what it means and how it feels to live in Dublin and Ireland right now. Amongst the incredible twenty-two shows on offer will be Zero Zero: Crash Ensemble & Mango X MathMan, an exhilarating creative collaboration that will bring together the worlds of street music, rap, spoken word and contemporary classical music. In partnership with the Scottish Government in Ireland on Saturday 14 March, the Pepper Canister Church plays host to The Breath and Bríghde Chaimbeul with Aidan O’Rourke, a stunning Celtic collaboration with some of the biggest emerging names in contemporary folk music and performance. The inimitable Colm Mac Con Iomaire will be delighting guests over at Vicar Street on March 16 with a very special performance with his full band and guests ConTempo Quartet. In a crowded field of outstanding Irish fiddle players and interpreters of traditional music, Colm Mac Con Iomaire is unique. He will be performing his latest record The River Holds Its Breath / Tost Ar An Abhainn. Check out the full St. Patrick’s Festival 2020 Programme over on www.stpatricksfestival. ie where further event information, tickets, Mathman & Mango Festival news, information and accessibility information can be found. The National St. Patrick’s Festival, Dublin is made possible by the generous support of Fáilte Ireland - the National Tourism Development Authority, Dublin City Council, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Alongside commercial partners Tesco Ireland, Renault and longstanding partner Irish Ferries, with Hennessy as partner on selected events at Festival After Dark. St. Patrick’s Festival 2020 13-17 March 2020, Dublin www.stpatricksfestival.ie | #SPF2020 | #StPatricksFestival