World-class line-up for West Cork Chamber Music Festival

One of the leading chamber music events in Europe, attracting local, national and international audiences alike, West Cork Chamber Music Festival takes place annually in the town of Bantry, a stunningly beautiful harbour town set between coast and mountain on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.

This summer, over a period of ten days, it will present a world-class line-up of international ensembles and soloists and an extensive programme of concerts running from morning to late night. With venues that include the magnificent Bantry House and Gardens overlooking Bantry Bay as well as local churches and hotels, the festival promises the very best in classical music in an amazing Irish setting.

After two years of waiting, the festival can finally celebrate its 25th anniversary with a packed programme of more than 70 concerts featuring 60 professional musicians and over 20 students – plus an extensive masterclass series of up to five classes a day.

A fringe series from the towns of Glengarriff and Skibbereen, taking in the islands of West Cork, will run alongside the main festival programme.

The core of the 2022 festival is built around four top international string quartets – the Pavel Haas Quartet from Prague, which will open the festival, plus the Danel Quartet from Belgium, the Signum Quartet from Germany and the Doric Quartet from London. The event also features a series of major cycles from Biber and Bach to Weinberg via Haydn, late Schubert and Bartók.

West Cork Chamber Music Festival is renowned for supporting young musicians at every stage of their development, and this year it welcomes a number of stars of the future, including Cork violinist Mairéad Hickey, pianist Nathalia Milstein, cellist Ella van Poucke, and violinist Diamanda Dramm.

Works by Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, and much more will be on offer, while audiences can also immerse themselves in a wide selection of contemporary music including world and Irish premieres, special festival commissions and three concerts by the acclaimed Crash Ensemble.

A rich and varied repertoire for woodwinds will be explored by the Orsino Quintet led by Adam Walker, and the BBC-sponsored Ensemble Molière will join Irish mezzo soprano Rachel Kelly on Friday 1 July.

Martin Hayes, Irish trad fiddle player extraordinaire, and the Artistic Director of West Cork’s Masters of Tradition, returns for a special late night performance on 30 June, while American violinist Ariadne Daskalakis joins Ensemble Vintage Köln and poet Ruth Padel for Biber‘s Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries – 15 sonatas played over three days from 27 – 29 June.

This year’s line-up will also include cellists Johannes Moser and Alexander Kovalev. Viola players Dana Zemtsov and Sara Fervández will also be in Bantry, and they will be joined by percussionist Alex Petcu, pianists Anna Fedorova, Zoltán Fejérvári, Julius Drake and Joseph Havlat, and many more.

The event also features an exhibition of fine contemporary violin and bow making displaying instruments and bows from some of the leading makers working in the field today.

The full programme can be found at www.westcorkmusic.ie

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