<img src='' title='Event Category: Festival' alt='' id='templ_icon_' width='' height='' /> Event Category: Festival

Gregory Porter – Strictly Over 18s

A double Grammy Award winner and renowned worldwide as one of the greatest jazz artists of our time, Porter is set to captivate audiences at the Cork Opera House on a night that promises to be nothing short of spectacular.  

Fresh off his mesmerizing performances on The Late Late Show and the Graham Norton Show, where he enthralled audiences with his soulful voice and charismatic stage presence, Gregory Porter is making a triumphant return to Ireland after a seven-year hiatus.

Joining Porter on stage at the Cork Opera House are his talented ensemble, including longtime pianist Chip Crawford, Emmanuel Harrold on drums and percussion, Jahmal Nichols on bass, Ondre Pivec on Hammond organ, and Tivon Pennicott on flute, soprano saxophone, and tenor saxophone. 

Porter’s announcement as the first headliner for the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival 2024 comes on the heels of the festival’s immensely successful 2023 edition, which left audiences buzzing for more.

The CorkJazz AllStars presents XCLSV23

Come spend your Saturday night of the Bank Holiday Weekend with us as we present an All-Star line-up from the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.

XCLSV23 is curated by Mas Exodus and features Mas Exodus, Zaska, BoolaBoom, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Melina Malone, Qbanaa, DeCarteret, Yves Solo, and Stevie G

With more special guests to be announced.

STRICTLY OVER 18’s

Sonic Vigil with special guest David Toop – Sonic Vigil XI

The improvisation marathon Sonic Vigil has been a remarkable presence on Cork’s arts scene for more than 15 years. This, the eleventh, includes music, film, sound-art and movement, and features world-renowned writer/improvisor David Toop alongside 23 Irish and international artists, performing to a timetable nobody gets to see until the day itself! (Performers: Danny Mc Carthy, Mick O’ Shea, Irene Murphy, Karen Power, John Godfrey, Imna Pavon, Harry Moore, Vicky Langan, Anthony Kelly, David Stalling, Robin Parmar, Tony Langlois, Sean Taylor, Eimear Reidy, Cathal Roche, Katie O’ Looney, Anne Marie Deacy, Claudia Barton, Andy Ingamells, David Bremner, Billy Kemp, Pierre Berthet + Rie Nakajima. )

Quarter 2023: Craic Boi Mental, Raja Baal, An Cárthach

STRICTLY OVER 18s

Quarter Block Party returns to The Green Room at Cork Opera House in 2023.

Craic Boi Mental – rapper, producer and activist from Cork City, with a knack for lo-fi production and an innate ear for an inescapable hook. His relentless work ethic and deeply idiosyncratic style have built him a Cult following worldwide. Now he’s fresh off the back of his sold Out US tour & looking forward to performing once again for his Irish fans.

Raja Baal is the alternative hip hop project of Cork-based artist/producer Brendan Fennessy. The project came into being when Fennessy sent stream-of-consciousness drum recordings to friends with the single instruction to record whatever they wanted on top. The results were a striking palette of fuzzy, blown-out funk, baroque pop, jazz, afrobeat and psychedelic soul. Fennessy’s vocal approach alternates between rapping, singing and spoken word, with lyrics that set out to deconstruct the limiting security blanket of coolness which often surrounds male artists/bands – instead pushing toward presenting a bright, connective and inviting energy.

Quarter 2023: Róis, His Father’s Voice

STRICTLY OVER 18s

Quarter Block Party returns to The Green Room at Cork Opera House in 2023.

Róis (Rose Connolly) is a composer, performer and multi-instrumentalist, from County Fermanagh. Her body of work includes ensemble, large-scale and small-scale works, solo pieces, electronic solo/ensemble pieces and short film/multimedia works also. Her unique sound is an idiosyncratic combination of modernist and contemporary music with inflections of Irish traditional music, folk and
Jazz. Rose maintains a busy performance schedule in Ireland, performing with an array of professional musicians in both Jazz, traditional and classical contexts.

His Father’s Voice are a four piece outfit from Limerick City. The band effortlessly blur the lines between new wave, post-punk and shoegaze through soaring melodies, unflinching guitars and moody muscular rhythms. Broodingly introspective yet danceable, the band is in constant negotiation with a well-yielded tension as shown in their debut EP ‘Context and Perspective’ and follow-up single
‘In the Shade’. These releases garnered a new found reputation which led to a number of opportunities; including a set on the Rankin’s Wood stage at Electric Picnic 2019 and support slots with high-profile acts such as Viagra Boys and Cherry Glazerr.

Wilco

Sounds From a Safe Harbour presents Wilco.

Following last year’s release of their latest album Cruel Country and a Deluxe Edition of their legendary 2002 masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Chicago’s Wilco will join us for their first ever show in Cork.

Support on the night comes from one of Ireland’s finest singer-songwriter’s, Anna Mieke.

STRICTLY OVER 18s

Bonny Light Horseman with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra

STRICTLY OVER 18s

Sounds From a Safe Harbour presents Bonny Light Horseman with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra

The timeless qualities of traditional tunes can carry us across oceans and eons, linking us not only to the past but to each other as well. It was under the banner of those eternal connections that the trio of Bonny Light Horseman came together. Comprised of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman— mixing the ancient, mystical medium of transatlantic traditional folk music with a contemporary, collective brush. The resulting album, Bonny Light Horseman, is an elusive kind of sonic event: a bottled blend of lightning and synergy that will excite fans of multiple genres, eras, and ages.

Bonny Light Horseman with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will see the European premiere of these songs brought to new life again – conducted by Robert Ames, with orchestral arrangements by Bryce Dessner.