The first time when I heard about Handel Festival in Dublin, I was admittedly perplexed. Handel was German, wasn’t he? Indeed he was. What I didn’t know at that time was, he first performed his famous Messiah in Dublin, all the way back on 13th April 1742, at a music hall on Fishamble Street.

Aha, mystery solved.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, which took place exactly 17 years and a day to Messiah’s performance in Dublin. Therefore, Temple Bar Cultural Trust in partnership with Dublin City Council and the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is bringing forth Handel Festival between 13th and 19th April. That’s less than 2 weeks from now for you to acquire tickets to various ticketed events, some free, some not. And not all events are ticketed so you could still catch something without prior booking.

Check the festival programme here. If you can, do not miss “Messiah on the street“, which will be performed on Monday 13th April, at 1pm. Listen to the masterpiece that was composed in neck breaking time of 24 days. Rain or shine, the show will go on.