West Cork Chamber Music Festival

The West Cork Chamber Music Festival is an internationally recognised music festival established in 1995^[1] which takes place in the small Irish town of Bantry Ireland, usually in July. Performers at the festival have included, RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, Barry Douglas, Ruby Hughes, Nicola Benedetti, Tanja Becker-Bender and Natalie Clein ^[2] and work by contemporary composers such as Thomas Larcher and Mathias Hinke. The performances take place at venues around the town, most notably at Bantry House and St Brendan's Church.

Alongside the performances the festival includes Violin and bow making, Master classes and a Composition competition whose past winners include Harry Whalley, Sebastian Adams and Solfa Carlisle. In recent years a composer in residence has featured in the Brick house interviews.

Performance Venues

Bantry house, as photographed from the gardens. The central venue of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival.

The central performance venue is Bantry house. The drawing room, which has a capacity of approximately 50 seats is used for many of the concerts.

Composition Competition

The festival runs a composition competition ^[3] for young composers born or resident of Ireland under the age of 35.

References