
Les Girafes: An Animal Operetta
Spectacle / Closing Event
Prepare to be amazed as seven towering red giraffes gracefully parade through Cork's city centre, led by a captivating operatic Diva.
Free
Join us in Cork from 13 - 22 June 2025!
Browse our full programme below, or download and read our brochure PDF.
Spectacle / Closing Event
Prepare to be amazed as seven towering red giraffes gracefully parade through Cork's city centre, led by a captivating operatic Diva.
Free
Theatre / 24-Hour Event
One Woman. One Scene. One Hundred Times. One 24-Hour Performance - starring Eileen Walsh.
€20 - €55 (entry slots available at different times)
Theatre
The iconic Theatre for One booth returns to Emmet Place as part of Cork Midsummer Festival, with a very special instalment for 2025.
Free, just join the queue
Theatre
Murder! Mystery! Dolphins!
€23 / €21
Theatre
In the dim light of Pins and Needles, something dark is stirring…
€21 / €19
J. Nolan Stationary, Shandon Street
Circus
“One million memories caught in time, scattering in silence like dust on the wind.”
€15 / €12.50
Installation
An intimate, one-to-one installation that invites you to step into a world lost to war—but still alive in memory.
€8
Literature
Join us at the Glucksman for a special event with Claudia Rankine, New York Times bestselling poet and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award recipient.
€15
Patrick McCabe with accompaniment from David Murphy and Michael Lightborne present Howl On. Part soundtrack, part poetic memoir, a fever dream in which Patrick Kavanagh flirts with psychedelia, communes with John Lennon and ponders notions of town and place.
€15
Music
A performance of Philip Glass' iconic Glassworks by Crash Ensemble at Triskel Arts Centre.
€27 / €25
Visual Art
A colourful and hands-on exhibition that invites young families to slow down, explore, and experience art with curiosity and wonder.
Free
Theatre
A series of work in progress sharings at Cork Theatre Collective Studio at Triskel Arts Centre, supported by Cork Midsummer Festival and Cork Theatre Collective.
The city’s streets will come alive for a special Night Market – a vibrant, open-air celebration of local creativity, food, and community.
Free
St. Patrick's Street (subject to licence)
Theatre
Cork Theatre Collective present a series of insightful and participatory workshops and talks with a selection of artists from this year's festival programme.
Free events, booking required directly through Cork Theatre Collective
Cork Theatre Collective Studio at Triskel Arts Centre
Aideen Barry and Sinéad Gleeson, an in conversation event between artists and artforms.
€15
On the evening of the summer solstice, Camille O'Sullivan presents a brand-new show specially created for Cork Midsummer Festival - celebrating her hometown and its music through a mix of beloved favourites and new gems!
€36.50
The Everyman
Theatre
Free
Theatre
A young man on the edge. A past that won't let go.
€25 / €23
Theatre
New work from one of Ireland's leading theatre companies, directed by Annabelle Comyn
€25 - €28
Music
Under the magnificent Helios installation in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, As If I Always Knew (producer & pianist Cian Sweeney) presents A Piano Meditation.
€15 / €13
Music
Step inside the glittering ruins of performance.
€15 / €13
Music
NEST is a Mass for the Tenant. A powerful live performance honouring our deep, often sacred connection to home - even when those in power treat it as disposable.
€15 / €13
Participation
CaBubble is a magical, multi-sensory play experience designed especially for babies (0–1year) and their grown-ups.
€10 (per child)
Graffiti Theatre
Theatre / Music
Step out of the rush and into a world suspended. Time and Time Again is an immersive sound and theatre installation that invites you to slow down, listen deeply, and reflect on the mysterious flow of time.
€10
Dance
A once nearly extinct Italian folk dance returns to life.
€10
An immersive installation grown from waste, care, and connection, inviting audiences to step inside a space shaped by renewal and possibility.
Free
Visual Art
Children dream, design, and re-imagine how they move through their city in this playful and participatory project.
Free
Theatre
Noreen Gilhooly is the daughter of a celebrated poet wrestling with her own literary ambitions.
Music / Dance
A time-traveling collective of traditional musicians and dancers explore the history of our island’s social dancing from 2025 BC to 2025 AD.
€7 / €5
Visual Art / Opening Event
Experience the Sun like never before at St Fin Barre's Cathedral.
€8 / €7 concession**, plus booking fee
Dance
A meeting of minds, bodies, and movement.
€22 / €18
Theatre / Music
This is no ordinary performance.
€10
Circus
Big axe. Big muscles. Big existential dread. CHOP is a violently stupid and stupidly violent dive into fragile
masculinity, environmental doom, and the absurdity of it all.
€18 / €15
Kyrl's Street (opposite Bridewell Garda Station)
Visual Art
Featuring Danish artist Liesel Burisch, this roundtable brings together artists and curators to discuss the ethics and representation of care in contemporary art.
Free (booking required)
Music
Marking 25 years since the release of their acclaimed ECM debut, Different Rivers, Trygve Seim Ensemble brings their evocative, transportive sound to Cork for an exclusive Irish performance.
€35 / €33
In this event, experience the work of GauZ' as it has never been performed before.
€15
Theatre / Music
A moving, riotous celebration of character, music, and storytelling.
Talk
Discover the secrets of exoplanet detection with Alan Giltinan of Blackrock Castle Observatory under the Sun at St. Fin Barre's Cathedral
€10 (under 12s free)
Spectacle
The Shenanigans are back — and more gloriously doolally than ever!
Free
Music / Visual Art
Get ready for an electrifying day of music, creativity and summer vibes at YouthQuake take-over of Fitzgerald’s Park.
Free
Theatre
Four performers. Four treadmills. One relentless, spiralling challenge.
€22 / €18
Dance
A quiet, powerful one-on-one performance that celebrates the beauty of human connection and the intimacy of shared presence.
€8
Installation
A major new commission from Cork Midsummer Festival and The Glucksman by an artist at the height of her creative powers.
Free
Theatre
Twelve Cork girls take control of the airwaves in this bold DIY performance project.
Free
Subscribe to our mailing list to get our latest news and events sent straight to your inbox.