In some ways, it's the traditional-music event of the year. The Frankie Kennedy Winter School, which kicks off tomorrow underneath Mount Errigal in Dunlewey, Co Donegal, commemorates the Belfast flautist with Altan, who died at the age of 38 in 1994. There is much that is special about it: there's the element of pilgrimage to the far north, which is often snowbound at this time of year; but more than that, there's the fact that the musicians have journeyed too, and they're on holiday, so the music is much more than a gig for them. The music happens between friends, the way it should.
It's also one of the least formally organised of arts festivals - details were still being worked out at the time of writing. It's more than likely, however, that the show will get on the road tomorrow as planned, with an opening ceremony by the fiddler Dermie Diamond at Ionad Cois Locha, in Dunlewey, at 5.30 p.m. Diamond was an old Belfast friend of Frankie's, with whom he claims to have brought the art of slagging to Dublin in the 1970s.
Tomorrow night will be, as organiser Gear≤id ╙ Maonaigh calls it, an organic growth; the guitarist Ian Smith will play and showcase his new CD, Restless Heart, and later, at the C·irt Hotel, the group Torna will play. One member, Henry O'Donnell, "is the only man to swim from Tory Island to Aranmore since Columbcille chased the pagans off Tory in the year 400-something", says ╙ Maonaigh.
The classes in various traditional instruments begin on Friday and continue until New Year's Day. There are three afternoon sessions on successive days, one of sean-n≤s singing, one of fiddle music (with Peter Ostroshko, who is researching links between Donegal music and American old-time music) and one of flute music.
Friday night's concert is the first appearance by Mβire Brennan (below) with her band on home turf in Gweedore. The following night is billed "D≤nal Lunny and friends", but let's just say that Lunny can count as friends the greatest traditional musicians there are and that only a fool wouldn't this minute get out and hitch to Donegal to make it to the concert.
On New Year's Eve there's an outing for the mouth organ and the button accordion, wielded by Mick Kinsella and Josephine Marsh, and a later shindig with Ian Smith and guitarist Tony McManus, followed by Seamus Begley. On the first two days of the new year, Altan play what are always their best gigs of the year, and will no doubt showcase material from their forthcoming album.
Among the tutors this year are the flautist Conor Byrne and the fiddler and former Altan member Paul O'Shaughnessy. For information, telephone 087-9309656
There's no Children's Art Holiday this year at the National Gallery of Ireland, because of the imminent grand opening of the Millennium Wing. And, of course, there are no Turners either - they will open instead on Wednesday at the Ulster Museum, where they will be on show throughout January.
Booking is going very well for the gallery's Impressionists show, however, which opens on January 22nd. The idea of booking for an art exhibition may be new to the Irish, but they've cottoned on very fast - the first weekend is already booked out. Adult tickets cost €10 (£7.88) and can be purchased at www.nationalgallery.ie or www.ticketmaster.ie.
The Ciarβn Lennon show Looking At Poussin And CΘzanne, which will accompany work by both painters, opens on the same date. Then, from February to May, Terbruggen's Crucifixion will be on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.
The next big show is, of course, American Beauty: Painting And Sculpture From The Detroit Institute Of Arts 1770-1920. The exhibition will attempt to map US history through art, beginning with work by "colonial" artists influenced by English painting and ending with urban painters of the early 20th century. Artists include Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Robert Henri and John Sloan.
In June, the Anthony Van Dyck exhibition Ecce Homo And The Mocking Of Christ, which will show these two paintings along with the gallery's Ecce Homo by Titian, will explore Van Dyck's interest in Titian and other painters. Then, from late September, there will be a major retrospective of the work of the 19th-century realist painter Jules Breton, including more than 100 works. The jewel in the crown will be the gallery's The Gleaners. By then, let's hope the gallery's plans for next year's Children's Art Holiday will be well made, and the Turners will be turning once more towards Dublin.
Auditions are being held tomorrow and Saturday for parts in Honk!, the Easter show of the Market Place Theatre, in Armagh. The new musical won a Laurence Olivier Award last year for the Royal National Theatre, in London. The show will be directed by Peter Quigley. He's looking for "gotta sing, gotta dance" children, teenagers and young adults between the ages of 10 and 25 for the main parts and the chorus. Come prepared to sing, dance and read a short piece, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be opportunities for backstage helpers.
Edited by Victoria White
arts@irish-times.ie
