What's on in Cork this week: Grand piano show, Jack Dee, and Irish language Pygmalion

A special concert bringing together some of Cork and Ireland’s leading musical talents across classical repertoire, opera, musical theatre, jazz, soul and popular music, will take place in the Opera House this weekend.

It’s all to celebrate the arrival of a new Steinway Model B classic grand piano at the venue. The show, aptly called The Piano, takes place on Sunday, October 19, at 8pm.

Featured pianists will include Cormac McCarthy, Ciara Moroney and Fionnuala Moynihan, alongside artists from across the musical landscape including Jack O’Rourke, Dylan Howe (Hánt), Lucia Evans, Emma Nash and Ross Scanlon, and more.

More than a concert to mark the arrival of a new instrument, the event represents a significant statement of intent: the Opera House is a place where music is made, not simply presented.

Before then at the Opera House, Paul Brady tonight and tomorrow, October 15-16, and a Celine Dion tribute act on Saturday, October 17, are all sold out.

But you can catch The Rock Orchestra show there on Monday, October 19 - an epic 90-minute concert, breathing new energy into legendary rock and metal hits.

Over at the Everyman, Belfast-based Aisling Ghéar Theatre Company has announced the premiere of a major new Irish-language adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

It will be performed on Monday, October 19, ahead of an all-island tour this autumn.

The play will explore how language, accent, and cultural belonging shape identity, asking urgent questions about who can claim ownership of the Irish language in modern society.

The production will see a revisiting of My Fair Lady as a modern-day Irish language production based in a modern Belfast city.

A busy week at the Everyman begins with Black Is The Color Of My Voice on Thursday, October 15 - an acclaimed play inspired by the life of Nina Simone, featuring many of her most iconic songs.

Magic man Keith Barry brings his show Unhinged to the venue on Friday and Saturday, October 16-17, while the next night, Sunday, October 18, it’s Madison Cawley: The Maddie Show hosted by the stand-up and social media personality.

Comedian Jack Dee is at the Everyman on Tuesday, October 20, with more laughs from Fin Taylor: The Pre-Emptive Comeback on October 21.

The Ora Quartet, made up of some of Ireland’s most sought-after chamber musicians and collaborators, perform at St Catherine’s Cultural Centre in Kinsale on Friday, October 16.

Siún Milne, Molly O’Shea, Ali Comerford and Yseult Cooper Stockdale formed the group after enjoying performing alongside each other for several years with a variety of ensembles.

The Cork International Short Story Festival is running to Saturday, October 17, and there are performances of it at Cork Arts Theatre from Thursday to Saturday.

The black comedy Babylon West then debuts a four-night run there starting on Wednesday, October 21.

Lee Side Drama Group present The Dowry at the Briery Gap in Macroom tonight and tomorrow, October 15-16 - in the heart of a rural Irish village in the mid-1950s, the Barry family finds itself entangled in an intricate web of tradition, societal expectations, and familial duty.

You can see Let it Be: The Music Of The Beatles there on Saturday, October 17.

There is more music over at the Glen Theatre in Banteer, as Mary Black headlines the venue on Saturday, October 17.

You can then watch the Banteer Festival of One-Act Plays at the theatre each night from October 18-23. Shows begin each day at 7.30pm and please note that there will be strictly no admittance to the auditorium once they have commenced.