Various venus, Co Donegal Tues 28th-Sun 2nd frankiekennedy.com

The Frankie Kennedy Winter School is one of the most anticipated events in the annual traditional music calendar. Flute player and Winter School director Conor Byrne has lassoed together a ferocious mix of musicians and singers, with repertoires that should sate the appetites of all comers.

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Mick O’Brien will bring their incendiary mix of fiddles and pipes to the fray, along with Seamus Begley and Tim Edey on accordion and guitar. Powerhouse American band Solas are coming, and Shetland Islander Chris Stout brings his fiddle to play with harpist Catríona MacKay. Matt Molloy, John Carty and Arty McGlynn rekindle their intermittent ménage à trios, and Altan, the linchpins of this annual gathering, will whoop it up on New Year’s Eve.

The inaugural Francie Mooney Award will be announced, and the recipient is a songwriter who’s just as much at home in Gweedore as in the National Concert Hall.