The West Cork Chamber Music Festival begins this Friday 28 June and runs for ten days until Sunday 7 July. Over 70 events will take place in Bantry during the festival including concerts, masterclasses, talks and workshops.

The festival will begin in Bantry House on Friday night with performances from the four featured string quartets: Chiaroscuro Quartet, Quatuor Zaïde, Dahlkvist Quartet and Borusan Quartet. Throughout the week there will also be performances from a range of international and Irish soloists, including violinists Viviane Hagner, Marc Danel and Mairéad Hickey; cellists Johannes Moser, Emmanuelle Bertrand and Christopher Marwood; and pianists Barry Douglas, Finghin Collins, Alexei Grynyuk and Gloria Campaner.

The first days of the festival will focus on pairing Beethoven’s early quartets with Mozart’s mature set, but there will also be works by the Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi. The Dahlkvist Quartet’s recording of the composer’s quarters won the Swedish classical music album of the year award in 2018. Tarrodi will be in attendance for the performances and will also facilitate the Young Composers’ Forum at St Brendan’s Hall on Sunday 30 June.

Main evening concerts
Each day begins with public talks hosted by Evelyn Grant or masterclasses for quartets by visiting artists. Then there are coffee concerts and town concerts during the day followed by main concerts and late shows at night.

The main evening concert on 2 July will feature British cellist Laura van der Heijden, a previous winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year, performing with the Festival Strings conducted by David Brophy. The programme includes a cello concerto by British/Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova and Weinberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 4.

On 3 July, the evening concert features Hagner, Moser, Douglas and Collins, the Delta Piano Trio and the Borusan Quartet, performing works by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, Turkish composer Erkin and Beethoven.

The main concert on 7 July will feature Irish composer Emma O’Halloran’s Dying is a Wild Night performed by Quatuor Zaïde along with Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat played by Campaner and the Borusan Quartet, and Golijov’s Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind performed by clarinetist Mate Bekavac and the Dahlkvist Quartet.

Sunday finale
The finale on Sunday will include a programme of Hindemith, Liszt, Britten and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. It will also feature the Equinox Suite by Norwegian violinist and composer Henning Kraggerud who will perform it with pianist Dénes Várjon.

The four winning works from the festival’s composition competition will be performed during the ten days. The composers are Timothy Ethan Doyle, inti figgis-vizueta, Robin Haigh and James May.

For full details on the 2019 West Cork Chamber Music Festival, visit www.westcorkmusic.ie or download the brochure below.