The Spring Gathering 2023
19. – 22. April
Waiting for the 2023 festival...
The spring in Tampere gets started with the joy of Irish dance and music!
We warmly welcome Irish dancers and musicians who bring with them the soul of Irish music. In addition, there will be a great selection of Finnish musicians and dancers, whose instruments and heart beat to the rhythm of the Irish music.
“There are no strangers in this pub, just friends you have not yet met.”
The main program of the festival is now published and the ticket sales are open! Check back later, for the programme still grows with at least pub sessions and workshops.
Wed 19.4.
Thu 20.4.
Fri 21.4.
Sat 22.4.
Wed 19.4.
Kievari Kahdet Kasvot, Kauppakatu 14
Wed 19.4. 19:00
Irish Session
Festival opening session!
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Thu 20.4.
G Livelab Tampere, Puutarhakatu 1
Thu 20.4. 19:00
AODÁN COYNE & TARA HOWLEY (Ireland)
EALA (Finland)
Tickets 28€ (G Livelab) including the lobby service fee. Unless the show is sold out, tickets available at the door one hour before the concert. Cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour 45 min, doors at 18:00.
Aodán CoyneandTara Howley form an impressive musical duo from County Clare. Aodán is the lead singer and guitarist from the award winning Irish band, Socks in the Frying Pan. Tara is a multi instrumentalist who has toured with Riverdance since 2016, playing Uilleann pipes, low whistle, concertina and vocals too. .
Together they blend Irish traditional songs and tunes with original folk and roots music. You can expect anything from lively jigs, to driving reels, harmonised ballads, to sean-nós songs and original material.
The evening will be opened by the band Eala, who recently returned from the recording trip of their debut album in Irish island of Inishbofin. The band has been playing together for more than ten years and the sound has been shaped over the years as if breathing together that is heard and seen in its own special way. The musicians of Eala are Antti Havia, Noora Karjalainen, Jyrki Koivisto and Maija Koskenalusta.
The joy of Irish dance will be brought to the concert by the internationally successful dancer-musician Mark Hennessey.
Ruby&Fellas, Hämeenkatu 15
Thu 20.4. 21:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Fri 21.4.
O’Connell’s Irish Bar, Rautatienkatu 24
Fri 21.4. 18:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Fri 21.4. 19:00
Testostenorit On Stage!
Tickets: tiketti.fi 26,50€, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available at the door 30 min before the show. 24€, cash or card.
Duration: 1 hour
Tonight, experience, skill and enormous stage charisma come together! The male choir Testostenorit are masters of wistfully melancholic love songs, catchy farewell songs and above all, fun pub songs. To top it all off, the Irish guitarist virtuoso Aodán Coynewill visit the stage and take the songs to an unprecedented level of emotion together with Uillean piper Tara Howley .
Also on stage, The Pink House caters for the more sensitive moods, conjuring their music with a beautiful combination of harp and harmony vocals.
Ravintola Telakka, 2.krs, Tullikamarin aukio 3
Fri 21.4. 20:30
Workshop: Ceili dance
Before the evening’s concert, you can try the ceili dance steps to the rhythm of live music. The Irish ceili dance is like the Finnish Saturday night dances, with the exception that the ceili is danced as a figure dance in a group.
You can participate in the workshop with the evening’s concert ticket. No advance sign-up needed.
Ceili dance will be lead by Mark Hennessey and Helena Rängman.
Ravintola Telakka, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Fri 21.4. 21:00
Trio Croisin (Ireland)
Brách (Finland)
Tickets: tiketti.fi 25€, including the lobbby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available at the door one hour before the concert. Cash or card.
Duration: 2 hours
Trio Croisin hails from Co. Clare, Ireland. Eimear Coughlan, Francis Cunningham and Edel Vaughan will be performing traditional Irish music. The jigs, reels, hornpipes and slow airs transport listeners to the windy moors of Clare and the tireless waves of the ocean. Edel will sing traditional songs in the Irish language and in English. The trio consists of harp, concertina and flute
Brách has existed in one form or another for a bit less than twenty years. After a long hibernation the band emerges as a trio consisting of Markus Asunta (flute, whistles, vocals, string instruments), Ville Karas (Irish bouzouki, tenor banjo) and Laura Airola (fiddle, nyckelharpa, other surprising instruments). Their repertoire consists of lively Irish dance tunes with some Scandinavian ones here and there, songs that have touched their hearts so that they want to share them, and hauntingly beautiful melodies. .
Ravintola Telakka, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Fri 21.4. 23:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Sat 22.4.
Location TBA
Sat 22.4. 11-12 and 12-13
Basics of Irish Dance
If Irish dance fascinates you, feel free to give it a try in this hour-long workshop! The workshop is aimed at all those interested in Irish dancing and have no previous experience. You need just a drinking bottle and clothes in which you can move comfortably. Socks or slippers or dance sneakers are enough for footwear. Age recommendation for over 12 years old, group size max 20.
12€ per person.
Sign up in the web shop
Kulttuuritalo Laikku, Keskustori 4, Idealinna -tila 4 krs.
Sat 22.4. 11-12 and 12.30-14
Slow Session workshop
12€ per person.
Sign up in the web shop
Hällä Stage, Hämeenkatu 25
Sat 22.4. 13:00
Lähtö / Departure
Tickets: tiketti.fi 24,50€/adult and 20,50€/children less than 18 years and students, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available from the door 30 minutes before the show. 22€/18€, cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour
You have to leave in order to get lost and find yourself.
“Departure” is a dance story about the heart-burning longing for Ireland and the need to leave. When you are driven to the sea and into its dangerous eddies, can you find the happiness you’re looking for on the opposite shore? And what happens to your dreams?
The performance includes Irish folk dance and music with Finnish spices. The performers are dancers and musicians from Ireland and Finland. Dance soloists Mark Hennessey and Laura Merisaari. Helena Rängman the director and writer of the show, is also on stage.
Fuarán Irish Dancers:
Laura Ahonen
Saara Hasu-Varttila
Karoliina Hirvonen
Belinda Mäki
Helena Rängman
Jenni Saari
Singing group:
Petrus Markkinen
Jaakko Mero
Ivan Pavlovic
Martti Pätiälä
Lassi Tarvainen
Musicians:
Laura Airola
Markus Asunta
Evgeni Chernov
Script and direction:
Helena Rängman
Pub Sisko ja sen Veli, Lapintie 6
Sat 22.4. 15:00
Salla Rimmi & Niilo Sirola
Life is full of choices. Some choices are easy and some are hard, and the stories born from these choices live on from generation to generation in Irish songs as well. These songs are brought to life in this concert by Salla Rimmi and Niilo Sirola.
Salla is a versatile singer and singing teacher, and Niilo is a multi-instrumentalist and a regular at the Tampere Irish sessions. They have played over a hundred gigs together in Finland and abroad, e.g. in the ranks of the Celtic folk rock band Greenrose Faire, and now as a duo they deliver moods ranging from beautiful ballads to toe-tapping ditties and from laughter to longing.
Pub Sisko ja sen Veli, Lapintie 6
Sat 21.4. 16:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Hällä Stage, Hämeenkatu 25
Sat 22.4. 16:00
Lähtö / Departure
Tickets: tiketti.fi 24,50€/adult and 20,50€/children less than 18 years and students, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available from the door 30 minutes before the show. 22€/18€, cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour
You have to leave in order to get lost and find yourself.
“Departure” is a dance story about the heart-burning longing for Ireland and the need to leave. When you are driven to the sea and into its dangerous eddies, can you find the happiness you’re looking for on the opposite shore? And what happens to your dreams?
The performance includes Irish folk dance and music with Finnish spices. The performers are dancers and musicians from Ireland and Finland. Dance soloists Mark Hennessey and Laura Merisaari. Helena Rängman the director and writer of the show, is also on stage.
Fuarán Irish Dancers:
Laura Ahonen
Saara Hasu-Varttila
Karoliina Hirvonen
Belinda Mäki
Helena Rängman
Jenni Saari
Singing group:
Petrus Markkinen
Jaakko Mero
Ivan Pavlovic
Martti Pätiälä
Lassi Tarvainen
Musicians:
Laura Airola
Markus Asunta
Evgeni Chernov
Script and direction:
Helena Rängman
Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Sat 22.4. 18:00
I Will Sing You A Story
Tickets: tiketti.fi 26,50€, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets can be purchased at the door 30 min before the show, 24€, cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour
What stories are sent to the sea, what words of longing are put on the waves?
The answer you will be heard when the interpretation and the stories meet the singer Edel Vaughan and actor-singer Petra Karjalainen .
A charming moment in Irish atmosphere and stories in Irish, Finnish and English.
Eimear Coghlin, Noora Karjalainen and Maija Koskenalusta take part in the show as musicians.
Pub Pikilinna, Ilmarinkatu 9
Sat 22.4. 19:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Tampereen Työväen Teatteri/Klubi, Hallituskatu 19
Sat 22.4. 22:00
Soiree in Ireland
Tickets 28€: (TTT-Klubi)
Duration: 2 hours
IRISH FESTIVAL TAMPERE 2023 – THE SPRING GATHERING CLOSING CONCERT!
Klubi’s wall and floor structures are put to test when the evening gets going with the joint performance of Irish and Finnish musicians and dancers. The final concert is a firework of Irish music, as there is plenty to hear and to see. Almost all the festival performers join the show. Soiree at the Club – one time only!
Kievari Kahdet Kasvot, Kauppakatu 14
Wed 19.4. 19:00
Irish Session
Festival opening session!
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
G Livelab Tampere, Puutarhakatu 1
Thu 20.4. 19:00
AODÁN COYNE & TARA HOWLEY (Ireland)
EALA (Finland)
Tickets 28€ (G Livelab) including the lobby service fee. Unless the show is sold out, tickets available at the door one hour before the concert. Cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour 45 min, doors at 18:00.
Aodán CoyneandTara Howley form an impressive musical duo from County Clare. Aodán is the lead singer and guitarist from the award winning Irish band, Socks in the Frying Pan. Tara is a multi instrumentalist who has toured with Riverdance since 2016, playing Uilleann pipes, low whistle, concertina and vocals too. .
Together they blend Irish traditional songs and tunes with original folk and roots music. You can expect anything from lively jigs, to driving reels, harmonised ballads, to sean-nós songs and original material.
The evening will be opened by the band Eala, who recently returned from the recording trip of their debut album in Irish island of Inishbofin. The band has been playing together for more than ten years and the sound has been shaped over the years as if breathing together that is heard and seen in its own special way. The musicians of Eala are Antti Havia, Noora Karjalainen, Jyrki Koivisto and Maija Koskenalusta.
The joy of Irish dance will be brought to the concert by the internationally successful dancer-musician Mark Hennessey.
Ruby&Fellas, Hämeenkatu 15
Thu 20.4. 21:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
O’Connell’s Irish Bar, Rautatienkatu 24
Fri 21.4. 18:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Fri 21.4. 19:00
Testostenorit On Stage!
Tickets: tiketti.fi 26,50€, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available at the door 30 min before the show. 24€, cash or card.
Duration: 1 hour
Tonight, experience, skill and enormous stage charisma come together! The male choir Testostenorit are masters of wistfully melancholic love songs, catchy farewell songs and above all, fun pub songs. To top it all off, the Irish guitarist virtuoso Aodán Coynewill visit the stage and take the songs to an unprecedented level of emotion together with Uillean piper Tara Howley .
Also on stage, The Pink House caters for the more sensitive moods, conjuring their music with a beautiful combination of harp and harmony vocals.
Ravintola Telakka, 2.krs, Tullikamarin aukio 3
Fri 21.4. 20:30
Workshop: Ceili dance
Before the evening’s concert, you can try the ceili dance steps to the rhythm of live music. The Irish ceili dance is like the Finnish Saturday night dances, with the exception that the ceili is danced as a figure dance in a group.
You can participate in the workshop with the evening’s concert ticket. No advance sign-up needed.
Ceili dance will be lead by Mark Hennessey and Helena Rängman.
Ravintola Telakka, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Fri 21.4. 21:00
Trio Croisin (Ireland)
Brách (Finland)
Tickets: tiketti.fi 25€, including the lobbby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available at the door one hour before the concert. Cash or card.
Duration: 2 hours
Trio Croisin hails from Co. Clare, Ireland. Eimear Coughlan, Francis Cunningham and Edel Vaughan will be performing traditional Irish music. The jigs, reels, hornpipes and slow airs transport listeners to the windy moors of Clare and the tireless waves of the ocean. Edel will sing traditional songs in the Irish language and in English. The trio consists of harp, concertina and flute
Brách has existed in one form or another for a bit less than twenty years. After a long hibernation the band emerges as a trio consisting of Markus Asunta (flute, whistles, vocals, string instruments), Ville Karas (Irish bouzouki, tenor banjo) and Laura Airola (fiddle, nyckelharpa, other surprising instruments). Their repertoire consists of lively Irish dance tunes with some Scandinavian ones here and there, songs that have touched their hearts so that they want to share them, and hauntingly beautiful melodies. .
Ravintola Telakka, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Fri 21.4. 23:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Location TBA
Sat 22.4. 11-12 and 12-13
Basics of Irish Dance
If Irish dance fascinates you, feel free to give it a try in this hour-long workshop! The workshop is aimed at all those interested in Irish dancing and have no previous experience. You need just a drinking bottle and clothes in which you can move comfortably. Socks or slippers or dance sneakers are enough for footwear. Age recommendation for over 12 years old, group size max 20.
12€ per person.
Sign up in the web shop
Kulttuuritalo Laikku, Keskustori 4, Idealinna -tila 4 krs.
Sat 22.4. 11-12 and 12.30-14
Slow Session workshop
12€ per person.
Sign up in the web shop
Hällä Stage, Hämeenkatu 25
Sat 22.4. 13:00
Lähtö / Departure
Tickets: tiketti.fi 24,50€/adult and 20,50€/children less than 18 years and students, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available from the door 30 minutes before the show. 22€/18€, cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour
You have to leave in order to get lost and find yourself.
“Departure” is a dance story about the heart-burning longing for Ireland and the need to leave. When you are driven to the sea and into its dangerous eddies, can you find the happiness you’re looking for on the opposite shore? And what happens to your dreams?
The performance includes Irish folk dance and music with Finnish spices. The performers are dancers and musicians from Ireland and Finland. Dance soloists Mark Hennessey and Laura Merisaari. Helena Rängman the director and writer of the show, is also on stage.
Fuarán Irish Dancers:
Laura Ahonen
Saara Hasu-Varttila
Karoliina Hirvonen
Belinda Mäki
Helena Rängman
Jenni Saari
Singing group:
Petrus Markkinen
Jaakko Mero
Ivan Pavlovic
Martti Pätiälä
Lassi Tarvainen
Musicians:
Laura Airola
Markus Asunta
Evgeni Chernov
Script and direction:
Helena Rängman
Pub Sisko ja sen Veli, Lapintie 6
Sat 22.4. 15:00
Salla Rimmi & Niilo Sirola
Life is full of choices. Some choices are easy and some are hard, and the stories born from these choices live on from generation to generation in Irish songs as well. These songs are brought to life in this concert by Salla Rimmi and Niilo Sirola.
Salla is a versatile singer and singing teacher, and Niilo is a multi-instrumentalist and a regular at the Tampere Irish sessions. They have played over a hundred gigs together in Finland and abroad, e.g. in the ranks of the Celtic folk rock band Greenrose Faire, and now as a duo they deliver moods ranging from beautiful ballads to toe-tapping ditties and from laughter to longing.
Pub Sisko ja sen Veli, Lapintie 6
Sat 21.4. 16:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Hällä Stage, Hämeenkatu 25
Sat 22.4. 16:00
Lähtö / Departure
Tickets: tiketti.fi 24,50€/adult and 20,50€/children less than 18 years and students, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets are available from the door 30 minutes before the show. 22€/18€, cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour
You have to leave in order to get lost and find yourself.
“Departure” is a dance story about the heart-burning longing for Ireland and the need to leave. When you are driven to the sea and into its dangerous eddies, can you find the happiness you’re looking for on the opposite shore? And what happens to your dreams?
The performance includes Irish folk dance and music with Finnish spices. The performers are dancers and musicians from Ireland and Finland. Dance soloists Mark Hennessey and Laura Merisaari. Helena Rängman the director and writer of the show, is also on stage.
Fuarán Irish Dancers:
Laura Ahonen
Saara Hasu-Varttila
Karoliina Hirvonen
Belinda Mäki
Helena Rängman
Jenni Saari
Singing group:
Petrus Markkinen
Jaakko Mero
Ivan Pavlovic
Martti Pätiälä
Lassi Tarvainen
Musicians:
Laura Airola
Markus Asunta
Evgeni Chernov
Script and direction:
Helena Rängman
Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri, Itsenäisyydenkatu 12-14
Sat 22.4. 18:00
I Will Sing You A Story
Tickets: tiketti.fi 26,50€, including the lobby service fee 2,50€. Unless the show is sold out, tickets can be purchased at the door 30 min before the show, 24€, cash or card payment.
Duration: 1 hour
What stories are sent to the sea, what words of longing are put on the waves?
The answer you will be heard when the interpretation and the stories meet the singer Edel Vaughan and actor-singer Petra Karjalainen .
A charming moment in Irish atmosphere and stories in Irish, Finnish and English.
Eimear Coghlin, Noora Karjalainen and Maija Koskenalusta take part in the show as musicians.
Pub Pikilinna, Ilmarinkatu 9
Sat 22.4. 19:00
Irish Session
A “session” is a tradition in Irish music, where the musicians gather to play together in an informal setting. On our festival, the sessions serve as appetisers desserts for the concerts, or even as snacks on their own.
Welcome and come join the craic!
Free entry.
Tampereen Työväen Teatteri/Klubi, Hallituskatu 19
Sat 22.4. 22:00
Soiree in Ireland
Tickets 28€: (TTT-Klubi)
Duration: 2 hours
IRISH FESTIVAL TAMPERE 2023 – THE SPRING GATHERING CLOSING CONCERT!
Klubi’s wall and floor structures are put to test when the evening gets going with the joint performance of Irish and Finnish musicians and dancers. The final concert is a firework of Irish music, as there is plenty to hear and to see. Almost all the festival performers join the show. Soiree at the Club – one time only!
"There are no strangers here..." "...Just friends you have not yet met."
“There are no strangers here, just friend you have not yet met.”
W.B. YEATS
In cooperation with
Many thanks to our partners who have supported the festival arrangements in various ways.
