Irish World Academy

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Irish World Academy

Irish World Academy is the centre of academic and performance excellence @ University of Limerick

The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance is a centre of academic and performance excellence housed at the University of Limerick, Ireland. The Academy honours the energies of performance and academic reflection across a wide range of genres and disciplines. These in turn are informed by innovative community outreach and artist-in-residence initiatives that take the Academy to the wider community while attracting a wealth of international performance and scholarly expertise. Founded in 1994 by Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, it has come to find its true home on the beautiful banks of the River Shannon in a state of the art building, which includes two theatres, recording studio, individual practice rooms and dance studios, provides and inspiring creative space for all those who study there. The Academy has a strong international presence with students from over 40 countries studying there. With a stellar faculty of excellent performers, incredible academics and industry professionals the experience of studying at the Irish World Academy second to none. It offers a suite of taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in music and dance related subject areas and its research is at the forefront of these fields of enquiry worldwide. Programmes on offer include:

BA in Irish Music
BA in Irish Dance
BA in Contemporary Dance
BA in Voice
BA in World Music
MA in Irish Traditional Dance Performance
MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance
MA in Irish Music Studies
MA in Irish Dance Studies
MA in Contemporary Dance Performance
MA in Ethnomusicology
MA in Ethnochoreology
MA in Ritual Chant and Song
MA in Community Music
MA in Music Therapy
MA in Songwriting
MA in Composition and Creative Music Practice
MA Classical String Performance in association with the Irish Chamber Orchestra
Professional Master of Education (Music)
MA Research
PhD Arts Practice
PhD Research
Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance

For more information on our programmes please see: www.IrishWorldAcademy.ie

15/09/2026

Culture Night 2026: Harpsichord Haven - A Triple Launch

HARPSICHORD HAVEN invites audiences of all ages to enjoy an afternoon of Baroque & Contemporary music & film. This free event will include a TRIPLE launch:

PREMIERE PERFORMANCE of 17th century music on Yonit Kosovske's new tabletop ottavino lute-harpsichord (Lautenwerk).
CD LAUNCH of "Apricity", Yonit's new album of contemporary music for solo & collaborative harpsichord. The launch features live demonstrations of experimental techniques and sounds presented by Yonit Kosovske & composer Eoin Callery.
PREMIERE SCREENING of Justin Grounds’ "Litany", in homage to 4 animals who recently went extinct, featuring music for violin, harpsichord, hurdy-gurdy, and hand-pan.
Admission is free and drop-ins welcome. Best to arrive early to assure a seat, as space is limited.

APRICITY CDs will be available for sale at the door.

This event on Culture Night is produced in collaboration with Now and Then Media, Ltd. and H.I.P.S.T.E.R. (Historically Informed Performance Series, Teaching, Education and Research).

Please note that, unfortunately, due to multiple stairs in the People’s Museum, which is a historical Georgian building, this event is not wheelchair accessible.

Event information

Date: Friday, 18 September 2026
Time: 5pm - 6.15pm
Location:
People’s Museum of Limerick, 2 Pery Square, Limerick, V94 HF53

10/09/2026

Culture Night 2026: A Taste of Trad
Date: September 18th 2026
Venue: University Concert Hall
Time: 1pm
Get Culture Night off to a great start with this lunchtime performance by students of the prestigious MA Irish Traditional Music Performance and Irish Traditional Dance Performance postgraduate courses. Liven up your lunchtime with this lunchtime taste of trad on campus.
Admission is free and all are welcome.

07/09/2026

Sionna Lunchtime Concert: An Unnecessary Stain on Silence
Date: November 12th 2026
Venue: Theatre 1
Time: 1pm – 1.50pm
Performers: Mumchance (John Godfrey, Irene Murphy, Mick O’Shea, Karen Power)
A group that uses a mixture of musical instruments, built sound objects, electronics etc. and does a cognate form of improvisation. Admission is free and all are welcome.

24/08/2026

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Patrick Sutton, acclaimed theatre director, educator, and PhD Arts Practice graduate of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
Patrick made an extraordinary contribution to Irish theatre throughout a distinguished career that spanned directing, actor training, arts leadership and cultural advocacy. As Director of the Gaiety School of Acting for more than three decades, he helped shape generations of performers and played a pivotal role in the restoration and reopening of Smock Alley Theatre.
Patrick completed his PhD Arts Practice research at the Irish World Academy under the supervision of Professor Helen Phelan and the late Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. He remained a passionate advocate for the transformative power of the arts and for the artists and communities they serve.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Mo, his children Rebecca and Sam, and to his many friends, colleagues, students and collaborators. His remarkable legacy will continue to inspire future generations of theatre-makers and arts practitioners.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Photo: Gaiety School of Acting/Smock Alley)

17/08/2026

Tá lúcháir orainn comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le Aoibh Dully, iníon léinn sa dara bliain den BA sa Damhsa Gaelach, a bhuaigh Comórtas Damhsa ar an Sean-Nós ag Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Comhghairdeas ó chroí, Aoibh!

We’re delighted to celebrate Aoibh Dully, a second-year BA Irish Dance student, who has been crowned All-Ireland Sean-nós Dancing Champion at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Comhghairdeas ó chroí, Aoibh!

10/08/2026

A big well done to all of our students who competed and performed at Fleadh Cheoil Belfast 2026. A special word of congratulations to MA student Micheal Broderick who won the senior mandolin competition and was placed in the banjo. MA graduate Danny Burke also placed in the senior piano accordion while BAIM graduand Annalise Whyte was also a star across the many stages in the city.

29/07/2026

Irish World Academy proud to support
Irish EU Presidency associated event on migrant health research.

08/07/2026

The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, is delighted to celebrate members of its community who have been recognised at the Gradam Ceoil TG4 Awards.
Mickey Dunne, recipient of the Gradam Saoil (Lifetime Achievement Award), is recognised for his outstanding contribution to Irish traditional music as a musician, teacher, composer, and uilleann pipes maker. Deeply connected to the Traveller piping tradition, he has also previously been awarded the University of Limerick President’s Medal.
The Academy also congratulates graduates Caoimhe Ní Fhlatharta (BA in Irish Music) and her brother Séamus Uí Fhlatharta (BA in Applied Languages), recipients of the Ceoltóir Óg TG4 (Young Musician Award). From An Áird Mhóir in the Conamara Gaeltacht, the siblings are widely admired for their distinctive arrangements of sean-nós songs. Following the release of their debut EP in 2023, they received the Best Emerging Artists award at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards in 2024.
We extend our warmest congratulations to these exceptional artists on this well-deserved recognition.

05/06/2026

PhD Arts Practice Performance: Srijaa Kundu

Date: June 11th

Venue: Theatre 1

Time: 1pm

This performance is Srijaa’s first creative output for her Arts Practice PhD. Her research investigates how the body becomes both resource and repository, an archive and an agent where memory, meaning, and metaphor intertwine in experiences of migration.

From within this, a series of questions arise:

What is home?

What if home is not a geographic location at all?

How do we find home in motion, within a body that is always becoming?

And what shape does home take when held in the body?

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Photo © Shrinjita Biswas

02/06/2026

PhD Arts Practice Performance: Kexin Huang

Date: June 4th

Venue: Theatre 1

Time: 1pm

This is the second Arts Practice PhD performance of Kexin Huang. Drawing from Nüshu script and the Latong laotong sisterhood, this choreography explores female relationships and quiet forms of resistance through movement.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Address

University Of Limerick
Limerick

Telephone

+35361202590

Website

http://www.irishworldacademy.ie/

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