Luminosa String Orchestra: Draiocht II at St Nicholas' Collegiate Church

What to Expect

The Luminosa String Orchestra bring a programme called Draiocht II, The Alchemy of Music, to St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church on Thursday 24 September 2026, starting at 7:30pm and running to 9:30pm. Christopher George conducts. The programme runs from Mozart’s Divertimento in B flat major and Bach’s Concerto for Three Violins through to Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony in C minor, with Nielsen’s Underlige Aftenlufte also on the list. The Bach features three soloists, Paul Ezerailis, Bogdan Sofei and Ingrid Nicola.

That is a deliberately wide span for one evening, and the venue holds it together. St Nicholas’ was founded in 1320 and is the largest medieval parish church in Ireland still in continuous use, a working Church of Ireland parish church on Lombard Street rather than a purpose-built hall. Bare limestone and a high open roof give strings a long, generous decay, which is why the Shostakovich in particular tends to land harder here than it would in a dry room. The concert is funded by the Arts Council with support from the Galway City Council Arts Office, and it is one of several concerts in the church’s autumn run.

Good to Know

• Date: Thursday 24 September 2026, 7:30pm to 9:30pm.
• Venue: St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Lombard Street, Galway, H91 PY20.
• Conductor: Christopher George. Soloists: Paul Ezerailis, Bogdan Sofei, Ingrid Nicola.
• Organiser: Luminosa Music CLG. Tickets are handled through Eventbrite; the price was not published on the listing at the time of writing.
• Refunds are available up to one day before the event.
• Funded by the Arts Council, supported by the Galway City Council Arts Office.
• Also at St Nicholas’ that week: Tríona Marshall on Irish harp on 26 September.

Getting There

The church is on Lombard Street, a turn off Shop Street inside the pedestrianised medieval centre, about five minutes’ walk from Eyre Square and two minutes from the Spanish Arch end of Quay Street. There is no parking at the church, so use one of the multi-storey car parks around the edge of the centre and walk in. Ceannt Station and the Eyre Square bus stops are both nearby. By road, the city is reached on the M6 and N6 from Dublin, the N17 from Tuam, the N18 from Ennis and the N59 from Clifden.