Event of the week
Sabrina Carpenter
Monday, March 3rd, and Tuesday, March 4th, 3Arena, Dublin, 7pm, €61.05, ticketmaster.ie
There is much more to Sabrina Carpenter than meets the eye. To some, the American singer and songwriter is merely a recent addition to the set of superstar women performers who can sell out big venues at the drop of a tiara. To those more in the know she is, at 25, an established artist who has graduated from being a Disney Channel pop singer (she released her debut album, Eyes Wide Open, 10 years ago) to a six-time Grammy nominee for last year’s sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet. (And that’s without mentioning her relationship with the Irish actor Barry Keoghan.) Expect a sleek design production of smart pop music laced with humour, charm and wry, nuanced sexuality.
Gigs
Iris DeMent
Sunday, March 2nd, Vicar Street, Dublin, 7pm, €48, ticketmaster.ie
For more than 30 years the US singer-songwriter Iris DeMent has been documenting what it means to be human and trying to stay positive in troubled times. Protest songs are essentially her forte: from her 1992 debut album, Infamous Angel, to her most recent, Workin’ on a World, from 2023, she has written some of the best. DeMent’s most successful work is rooted in old country music and gospel, songs delicately presented but underscored with a fierceness that marks her out as a much-needed advocate for human rights.
Clairo
Monday, March 3rd, and Tuesday, March 4th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, €36.50, ticketmaster.ie
Clairo’s two Dublin gigs may clash with Sabrina Carpenter’s 3Arena performances, but she has an equally enthusiastic fan base. Similar to Carpenter, Claire Elizabeth Cottrill started writing songs as a teenager and posting them on Bandcamp and SoundCloud. Record companies were soon vying for her signature, and by 2019 she had released her debut album, Immunity. It has been all systems go since then, her songs joining the svelte bedroom-pop dots between Boygenius, Beabadoobee and Lana Del Rey.
Awards
RTÉ Choice Music Prize 2024 Irish Album of the Year
Thursday, March 6th, Vicar Street, Dublin, 7.30pm, €33.15, ticketmaster.ie
The RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year gig-cum-ceremony features a slew of awards: Irish artist of the year, Irish breakthrough artist, classic Irish album, Irish song of the year, and, of course, Irish album of the year. As this is the 20th anniversary of the awards event, we can expect a cake, candles and indoor fireworks. We can also look forward to performances by eight of the album-of-the-year nominees: A Lazarus Soul, Curtisy, Orla Gartland, NewDad, Niamh Regan, Róis, Silverbacks and Sprints. The album-of-the-year winners will receive €10,000 from the Irish Music Rights Organisation (Imro) and the Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma).
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Visual art
Kwaidan: Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn
From Thursday, March 6th, until Sunday, August 24th, Farmleigh Gallery, Phoenix Park, Dublin, free, kwaidanexhibition.com
Perhaps unfamiliar to the wider public, the Irish-Greek writer Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) is best known for his acclaimed short-story collection Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. This touring exhibition of contemporary printmaking, which features fine-art print works by 20 Irish and 20 Japanese artists, is an imaginative response to Hearn’s illuminating early writings on and about Japanese culture. The exhibition is part of Farmleigh’s annual Experience Japan festival (Sunday, April 27th) as well as a celebration of the 175th anniversary of Hearn’s birth, on June 27th.
Festival
Finding a Voice
From Thursday, March 6th, until Sunday, March 9th, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, various venues, times and prices, findingavoice.ie
Now in its eighth year, this genre-hopping event (classical, contemporary, jazz, traditional) celebrates International Women’s Day with performances by Chamber Choir Ireland, the pianist Thérèse Fahy and Solas Quartet. Other highlights include new work by the Irish composer Ailís Ní Ríain and the Irish premiere of the French composer Mélanie Bonis’s Femmes de Légende series. Sidebar events include workshops, public talks and a composition competition for emerging composers.
Film
Cork French Film Festival
From Thursday, March 6th, until Sunday, March 9th, Arc Cinema, Cork City, various times and prices, corkfrenchfilmfestival.com
To celebrate cinema’s 130th birthday, Cork French Film Festival presents a selection of the best francophone movies released in 2024. Its French films include the multiple César Awards nominee Beating Hearts, The Marching Band and The Count of Monte Cristo. Belgian and Canadian films playing include the Brussels-based action thriller Night Call and the Toronto International Film Festival winner Shepherds. The event will also celebrate the work of the French actor Michel Blanc (1952-2024) with a retrospective of his work.
Classical
Yukine Kuroki
Friday, March 7th, Model, Sligo, 7.30pm, €20/€10, themodel.ie
The New York Classical Review describes Japan’s Yukine Kuroki not only as “an individual colourist” but also as “a world-class touchist” whose emotional strength, technical capability and improvisational skills have marked her out as one of classical music’s most acclaimed young pianists. The winner of the 2022 Dublin International Piano Competition, Kuroki performs at nine other Irish venues, including Freemasons' Hall, Dublin (Wednesday, March 12th, 7.30pm), and The Garden Room, Medieval Museum, Waterford (Friday, March 14th, 7.30pm). Touring nationwide until Sunday, March 16th; musicnetwork.ie has more details.
Still running
Brilliant Corners
Until Saturday, March 8th, Belfast, various venues, times and prices, brilliantcornersbelfast.com
Its motto, “Every gig different, every gig special”, might strike some as overconfident, but there’s no denying that this Belfast-based jazz festival, now in its 13th year, delivers moments of genius. Highlights are plentiful, but pay particular attention to the tribute to Alice Coltrane from Alina Bzhezhinska’s HipHarp Collective (Saturday, March 8th, the Mac, 7.30pm, £15).
