Culture Night in Kylemore Abbey

 

 

Kylemore Abbey is delighted to be hosting events for this year's Culture Night on Friday the 18th of September. For the first time in its 15 year history, Kylemore will celebrate Culture Night with a programme of varied but distinctly Kylemore Cultural offerings to share with an online audience.

 

Starting at 12 noon, each hour will bring a reading from one of our History Guides. They have chosen some of their favourite pieces from Lady Gregory, W.B. Yeats, Oliver St. John Gogarty and Oscar Wilde to share. Each of these famous writers had a special connection to Kylemore and it is a privilege for our staff to honour them on this night. Lady Gregory, in particular, was known to have holidayed in Kylemore Castle with the Henry Family. Gregory's legacy in Kylemore will be further honoured in early October as Kylemore hosts DruidGregory on the estate for a wonderful performance of her classic plays by the internationally renowned Druid Theatre Company.

 

At 6 pm, visitors to the Kylemore Abbey Facebook page will be treated to a clip of the recent Benedictine Community's Vespers held in the neo-Gothic Church on the Eve of the Feast of the Assumption. The beautiful chanting of the Sisters as the Angelus bells ring out nationwide will ease you into the evening's events.

 

At 7 pm we will bring the event section of Kylemore's Culture Night to a close with a mixture of lively trad, enchanting harp, songs and dance live from the neo-Gothic Church. Compered by Kylemore history Guide and renowned Sean Nos dancer Emma O’Sullivan, local performers, harpist Lynn Saoirse, Singer-songwriter Eileen Keane, and traditional brother and sister duo James and Isabelle Ruddy, all of whom visitors to the Abbey will recognise as regular performers in Kylemore, will come together for an evening of song and music in the magical neo-Gothic church for a Facebook live event. Recently the host location for the Other Voices Courage series on RTE2, the neo-Gothic Church with its romantic history, and its renowned acoustics provides the perfect venue for this intimate performance, allowing you to be transported from your every day cares with the best music Connemara has to offer.

 

And as the evening darkness rolls in the Abbey will be lit in white to celebrate Kylemore’s recent success as a finalist in the RIAI public choice awards for the cultural and architectural work completed by Axo Architects in delivering Kylemore’s new visitor experience “From Generation to Generation”. It will also symbolically shine a light on culture in Kylemore, Ireland and beyond.

 

Videos and events will be taking place on the Kylemore Abbey Facebook page and will be shared on other social media platforms throughout the day.