Things To Do
Christmas Shopping
Come to Cork to shop this Christmas:
Cork is a fantastic compact city to get all your Christmas shopping done, as you can find high street shops, boutiques and quirky gift shops all within a short walk of each other. It also has the most individually owned shops in the country, which means you have a better chance of finding something unique.
Check back later for full details on what else is on in Cork at Christmas.
What’s On
Just some of what is happening this Christmas in Cork ….
www.corkcitylibraries.ie
Christmas Gramophone Recital
Date: Thursday, 15 December
Time: 3.00pm
Christmas Gramophone Recital presented by Denis F O’Callaghan. All welcome and admission is free.
Tiny Tots Story Time Christmas Special
Date: Friday, 16 December
Time: 11.00am
Join us for tiny tots story time Christmas special. All welcome and admission is free.
Date: Sunday 11 and 18 December
Time: 12.00pm to 1.30pm (Extra session on 18 December at 2.30pm to 4pm)
Tickets: €10 (parents free), booking required at 021-4326120
www.bco.ie
Our Junior Space Camp with a Jolly Christmas Twist. Watch your children make snowflakes, snow globes and frozen Slime! A fun hands-on workshop for 5-7 year olds. Suitable for age 8+
Date: Wednesdays in December
Time: 3.00pm
www.corkcitylibraries.ie
Christmas stories with Catherine Maher for families. All welcome and admission is free.
Tunnel to Narnia – Children’s Art Workshop
Date: Saturday, 3 December
Time: 2.30pm to 4pm
Free but booking required at 0214924903 or email eibhlin_cassidy@corkcity.ie
Join Fiona Boniwell as we continue our Narnia themed workshops. Using paper and card and illustrated templates to get your ideas flowing, make your own tunnel book and travel to Narnia! Suitable for ages 5+.
Make Your Own Narnia Themed Christmas Card
Date: Saturday, 17 December
Time: 2.30pm to 4pm
Free, booking required at 0214924903 or email eibhlin_cassidy@corkcity.ie
Join Laurie Legrand for a workshop on card-making for children. Create your own beautiful christmas card based on our Narnia Christmas theme.
Date: Thursday, 1 December to Sunday, 22 January
Time: Tue – Fri 7pm | Sat 2pm & 7pm | Sun 1pm & 6pm
Tickets: From €25 | Family Pass €80-€100*, booking online at www.corkoperahouse.ie
Cork Opera House and New Ireland Assurance are delighted to announce this year’s Christmas Panto – Cinderella! The much loved fairytale comes to life on the Opera House stage with magnificent scenery and costumes, spectacular song and dance routines, comedy capers and magical special effects. With the help of her very special Fairy Godmother, will Cinderella find her Prince Charming and live happily ever after? Book now to find out…
The Improvised Panto
Date: Friday 9, Saturday 10, Thursday 15 – Sunday 18, Tuesday 20 – Thursday 22 December
Time: 10.30pm
Tickets: €15 & €12 concession*, booking online at www.corkoperahouse.ie
Age: 18+ (not suitable for smallies)
It’s a different panto EVERY night! Expect the unexpected, the hilarious and the outrageous; it’s a whole new world of Panto where anything is possible.
Cork Opera House Christmas Concert
Date: Monday, 19 December
Time: 8pm
Tickets: €18.50, €20 & €22.50* booking online at www.corkoperahouse.ie
Join us for a magical evening of Christmas song and seasonal cheer featuring local choirs, national and international soloists and The Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra.
Sleeping Beauty
Venue: The Village Hall, Patrick’s Quay, Cork
Dates: Fri 9, Sun 11, Wed 14 – Sat 17, Wed 21 – Fri 23, Wed 28- Fri30 December
Time: 7pm, additional 3pm shows on 17, 18, 23 December
Tickets: Adults €15, children €10, family of four €45, family of five €50, book online at sleeping-beauty.eventbrite.ie or 087 3530420
Join Dowtcha Puppets for Sleeping Beauty-their wonderful new Christmas pantomime, performed with life size puppets! Complete with 10 stunning life size puppets, original songs, and a cartoon style set; this is both an extremely funny, and affordable Christmas experience for all ages, young and old. Cork’s award-winning actress Irene Kelleher (Game of Thrones) plays the parts of both Sleeping Beauty and Beastlyboots, and is joined by renowned Dowtcha puppeteers, Michael O’Donnel and Leslie Burton.
Date: Saturday, 10 December until Sunday, 8 January
Time: 2pm & 7.30pm see www.everymancork.com for the full performance schedule. Tickets: Online at www.everymancork.com or at 021 4501673.
Enjoy the magic of Red Riding Hood as the Everyman and CADA present Cork’s favourite traditional panto. This is traditional family panto at its absolute best, full of thrills, laughs, and spectacle. Expect sensational singing, daring dance moves and laughs a plenty as we join Red Riding Hood, Granny and of course the big bad Wolf
The Everyman Sunday SongBook
Date: Sunday 11 December
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: €25, booking online at www.everymancork.com or at 021 4501673.
This year our Sunday Songbook friends will celebrate Christmas with Bing. Among the usual singalong carols and Christmas songs, we will be delving into the perennial hits of Bing Crosby and his musical friends Rosemary Clooney, Bob Hope et al.
Date: 10 December
Time: 8pm
Tickets: €20, booking from the Everyman Theatre on www.everymancork.com or 021-450 1673
Cork International Choral Festival is proud to present an evening with internationally acclaimed soprano Majella Cullagh for an evening of festive carols, song and poetry in the stunning surrounds of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral. Majella will be joined on the evening by actors from the Littleshoes Players, The Montfort Youth Choir and award-winning national choir, PfizerPfonics.
Festive favourites including O Holy Night, Carol of the Bells, Believe, Who Would Imagine a King and many, many more will have everyone feeling that warm and gooey Christmassy feeling from their heads to the tips of their toes!
Viennese Christmas by Candlelight
Date: Wednesday 14 December
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: €24-€36, booking www.ticketsource.eu/event
Music from London Concertante
Strauss – Tales from the Vienna Woods
Brahms – Hungarian Dance No. 5
Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite
Strauss – Trisch-trasch polka
Tchaikovsky – Waltz from “Sleeping Beauty”
Strauss – Blue Danube Waltz
Carols by Candlelight
Date: Sunday 18 December
Time: 7pm
Carols by candlelight at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Attendance is open to all and free.
Trinity Presbyterian Church,
Little William St
Handel’s Messiah – Irish Baroque Orchestra
Date: Thursday 8 December
Time: 7pm
Tickets: €25/€20, booking at 021 4272022 or www.triskelartscente.ie.
An annual favourite in the Christmas calendar, Monica Huggett leads the IBO, joined by Resurgam choir and outstanding soloists, in thrilling performances of Handel’s glorious masterpiece. Messiah shows the composer at the height of his powers, as its great vocal numbers tell the story of the Christ’s birth, death and resurrection. These performances are simply unmissable!
Vanbrugh Quartet – Triskel Quartet Series 2016
Date: Saturday 10 December
Time: 1pm
Price: €10, booking at 021 4272022 or www.triskelartscente.ie.
The National String Quartet Foundation and Cork City Council present the third annual series of Saturday lunchtime string quartet concerts at Triskel Arts Centre, featuring concerts by the Vanbrugh Quartet and by the Beara and Hydra Quartets, groups which have emerged from the Vanbrugh’s masterclass programme at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. The series includes music by Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Borodin.
Cinema: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (G)
130 mins – United States 1946 – Dir: Frank Capra
Dates: Friday 16 December – Friday 23 December
Time: 6pm
George Bailey is a man whose attempted suicide on Christmas Eve gains the attention of a guardian angel who is sent to help him in his hour of need in this festival and ultimately feel-good film.
CINEMA: THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (G)
83 mins – United States 1992 – Dir: Brian Henson
Dates: Friday 16 December – Friday 23 December
Time: 4.15pm
The Muppets tell their version of the classic tale of an old and bitter miser’s redemption on Christmas Eve. This retelling is an excellent family drama that adults and children alike can enjoy.
Date: Each Saturday from 10 to 24 December
Time: 10am to 5pm
See www.facebook.com/thefairalternative for details
The Fair Alternative, Cork’s Craft Market including art, craft, fashion, jewellery & more
