Poetry as part of Béal

The Béal Festival begins on Wednesday the 3rd of November with the evocatively titled the phases of the night, a voice and clarinet recital, given by Paul Roe (clarinets) and Elizabeth Hilliard (soprano) with readings by poet Billy Mills in the Kevin Barry Room of the National Concert Hall.

This performance will feature works by Ian Wilson, Ailís Ní Ríain, Fergal Dowling, Derek Ball and others. Later at 9pm, conversation drifts up the ventilation shaft, is an informal evening of bands and poetry with a DJ-set including Mikel Rouse’s text-based electronic tour-de-force Autorequiem at Shebeen Chic.

On Thursday the 4th Béal will present a reading by renowned actor Ingrid Craigie of John Ashbery’s marathon poem The System with improvised electronic music by Francis Heery at 12:30 in the Goethe Institute.

The festival will close with cusps of light cut dazzle, a concert given by professional vocal ensemble, Milltown Chamber Choir conducted by Orla Flanagan, with poetry readings by poets Maurice Scully and Catherine Walsh and works by David Bremner, Grainne Mulvey, Jonathan Nangle, Laura Kilty and Donal Sarsfield on Thursday evening in Trinity College Chapel.