Feis Ceoil 130 | Contemporary Ireland: 1990s–2026

In 2026, Feis Ceoil celebrates its 130th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Feis Ceoil and the National Gallery of Ireland are joining forces to showcase the intertwined history of music and visual art over this formative period in Ireland’s history. 

Four collaborative events will be held in the Gallery's Shaw Room over the course of 2026, featuring important Irish art and live performances by acclaimed Feis Ceoil alumni. Each event will include a presentation on selected artworks from the Gallery's collection, followed by a live classical performance by the featured artist, both commemorating a key period in Feis Ceoil’s history (1897- 2026).

The last in the series takes place on Thursday 19 November, will focus on Contemporary Ireland: 1990s–2026. The evening will begin with a short presentation on the featured artwork with Anne Hodge, Curator of Prints and Drawings, followed by a performance byTara Erraught, who will perform works from this period.  

• Featured artwork: Nick Miller, Dónal Lunny, Playing (Study III), 2018, presented by Anne Hodge, Curator of Prints and Drawings.
• Featured performer: Tara Erraught, (mezzo-soprano).

About the featured performer:

Tara Erraught is an internationally-renowned Mezzo-soprano, whose diverse repertoire ranges from Baroque and Mozart to Belcanto, Romantic, and contemporary music.Born in Dundalk, Tara graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.

Of her experience of Feis Ceoil, Tara says: Feis Ceoil has been a staple building block in the young careers of every musician in Ireland. Ireland stands alone offering such a platform, with Feis Ceoil  being the pinnacle of the competition calendar. Uniquely Irish, this is a warm, nurturing environment, where the public can watch the future of music in Ireland blossom.’

In the 2026/27 season, Tara Erraught will sing the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni at La Scala in Milan under the direction of Thomas Guggeis, as well as at the Opéra national de Paris to be experienced. Concert engagements will take the artist to the National Symphony Orchestra Dublin with Mahler's Second Symphony, and she will perform Mendelssohn's Lobgesang with the Orchestre National de France under Eun Sun Kim, as well as with the concert program Passion and Song with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Highlights of recent seasons include her debut at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Salzburg Festival as Madame Cortese in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims . Other significant engagements included her role debut in the title role of Iphigénie en Tauride, as well as her role debuts as Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Alice Ford (Falstaff) at the Hamburg State Opera.She also performed this role as a guest artist at the Vienna State Opera and the Semperoper Dresden.Concert engagements took her to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with songs by Alma Mahler to the Dresden Philharmonic under Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, and with Ralph Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

In addition, Tara Erraught gave recitals at Wigmore Hall in London, at the Schubertiade, in Munich, Barcelona, Oxford, and Eppan. A particular honour was her invitation to the anniversary recital celebrating the 100th birthday of Victoria de los Angeles in Barcelona, which she also presented at Wigmore Hall in London.She enjoys an extensive and regular collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin. Her international concert activities have also taken her to venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver, Savannah, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Dublin, Lyon, and Tokyo. With the Philadelphia Orchestra, she sang Mozart's Requiem under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

We are especially honoured to have Tara round off this recital series in conjunction with the National Gallery as part of Feis Ceoil’s 130th anniversary celebrations.