Denise Chaila, Anna Mieke and Dermot Kennedy to feature on RTÉ's Shine

On Saturday, August 29, a host of Ireland's most respected artists will come together to perform a once-in-a-lifetime live show.

Villagers, west Kerry concertina player Cormac Begley, indie singer Anna Mieke and Booka Brass with Niamh Farrell will all play live in the Iveagh Gardens, while The National Concert Hall will see Dermot Kennedy and Denise Chaila in a performance with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Sopranos Celine Byrne and Emer Barry will perform with members of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Irish/Icelandic male vocal group M'Anam play together between Dublin and Reykjavik. Pillow Queens are set to perform in studio, while singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh will combine a group of celebrated traditional musicians to conclude the concert.

Spoken word performances will be dispersed between the music, with Stephen Murphy, Natalya O'Flaherty and John Boyne, poetry from Jane Clarke and writing by Dermot Bolger performed by Loah and Simply Folk host Ruth Smith.

Shine On, a thirty minute program that will feature a behind-the-scenes look, performances and backstage interviews from Denise Chaila and Dermot Kennedy will air exclusively on the RTÉ Player, available from 9.30 pm on Saturday 29th August. This collaboration marks the first time each of the artists will perform with the RTÉ CO, and the first time the orchestra has performed together inside since lockdown, complete with social distancing, face masks and screens.

Also on 30 August at 6 pm, RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast Shine presented by John Creedon, a compendium of great music and newly-commissioned spoken word from leading Irish artists in the midst of the pandemic.

Group Head of Arts & Culture at RTÉ, Ann-Marie Power, said: "After the powerful moment of RTÉ's Shine Your Light at Easter, during the country's darkest hour, we are delighted to present Shine, supporting our artists because they have been supporting and sustaining us through these past few months. It's so moving to see the level of emotion in the artists as they perform again for the first time in months, and we get some glimpse into the thousands of hours that go into mastering a craft, bringing home, yet again, how important it is for our country to cherish and nourish the enormous well of talent we have here in Ireland."