Clifden Arts Festival 2025: This Friday morning we broadcast live from the Stationhouse Hotel Clifden for the 48th Clifden Arts Festival. Dave O'Connell steps in for John Morley on Galway Talks from 9 to 12 live from Clifden and delve into the artistic world, with details on the line-up of music, theatre, literature, and visual arts exhibitions at this year’s Clifden Arts Festival
Clifden Arts Festival 2025: The Journey – Through Time, Memory & Imagination
Source: PRPam :Press release -Clifden Arts Festival 2025
Clifden Arts Festival 2025 invites audiences to embark on The Journey—a celebration of how art, story, and experience shape who we are. Running from 17th–28th September, this year’s theme explores paths of memory, heritage, migration, transformation, and the imagination. The festival continues to honour Clifden’s identity as a place where past and future meet through creativity.
Festival highlights include performances by Cork’s White Horse Guitar Club, whose blend of Americana and Irish folk delivers harmony and heart. Hot House Flowers return with their
legendary energy, while All Folk’d Up offer a lively take on traditional Irish sounds. Masterful storytelling takes centre stage with Seamus Ó Rúairc’s Indigestion, a one-man show
blending wit, warmth, and reflections on small-town life in Leitrim. Tommy Tiernan and Martin Shaw promise an evening of myth and magic, while Ciarán Murphy, co-host of Second Captains, launches his new book Old Parish: Notes on Hurling (out 18 September)—a thoughtful meditation on sport, identity, and community.
Also joining the lineup is John Fanning, one of Ireland’s most respected names in advertising. Former MD of McConnells and now a branding lecturer at UCD’s Smurfit Business School, John shares The Making of an Irish Icon: Barry’s Tea—a fascinating exploration of how storytelling shaped one of Ireland’s most beloved brands, particularly through the lens of evolving female identity since the 1990s. Diarmaid Ferriter, one of Ireland’s leading historians, brings rich insight into the Irish past and present, while Donal Ryan, Marina Carr, and Mary O’Malley lead a powerful literary programme.
In a much-anticipated Music Network collaboration, Séamus and Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta join acclaimed pianist Ryan Molloy in a stunning performance that bridges sean-nós and contemporary classical composition. Drawing on their deep roots in the Connemara tradition and Molloy’s genredefying innovation, this is a musical journey of language, place, and transformation. It’s also a moment of homecoming for Séamus, who received a bursary from Clifden Arts Festival several years ago—a recognition of his exceptional talent and commitment to Irish culture.
The classical strand includes the rare Irish premiere of Lumières: A Baroque Mass for the 21st Century by Jacques Loussier—performed by Cantairí Chonamara and Cór Mhaigh Eo. A
reimagining of the Mass through jazz and baroque fusion, Lumières is a radiant expression of spiritual and musical transformation, and a standout example of communal choral excellence.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra performs Water Music under the baton of Richard Egarr, featuring Deirdre McKay’spoignant Meltwater and Handel’s timeless suites.
This year’s visual arts programme is a journey in itself: from Eoin O’Malley’s storm paintings based on meteorological maps and painted by mouth, to Kari Cahill’s fire-imbued pigment works, to Synaptic Space’s powerful outdoor performance on ageing. Japanese land artist Mayumi Nakabayashi will transform St. Mary’s Chapel and Graveyardinto a sanctuary of natural
mandalas, inviting visitors to witness and take part in the creative process.
A major highlight of the festival is a compelling video art installation featuring works by Vardit Goldner, Etaoin Melville, and Marco Balbi Dipalma. In Swimming Lesson, Israeli artist Goldner constructs a surreal yet deeply political mockumentary: a group of Bedouin girls are being taught to swim—inside a pool with no water. Initially comical, the piece quickly reveals the stark reality of systemic exclusion. With over 200,000 Arab-Bedouins in Israel’s Negev region and access to just one public pool, the metaphor is clear. Goldner’s work also
hints at a looming future of global water scarcity, blending present-day injustice with environmental urgency.
The schools programme also returns, fostering creativity in younger generations across Connemara.
Festival Director Desmond Lally says: “This year, we reflect on what it means to move—through time, across place, and within ourselves. The Journey is personal, collective, and deeply human. We’re honoured to welcome artists whose work speaks to that shared experience.”
For more information: www.clifdenartsfestival.ie
