The cancellation of summer festivals seems almost an irrelevance in a time when each news bulletin counts out the numbers of the dead. Although for many of us live music is almost as necessary as fresh air it cannot be at the risk of spreading more contagion and our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones and the brave medics on the front line fighting to save lives. 

It will be lonely in Bantry this summer without the musicians and the Festival’s loyal audience gathering here from all over the world. Thanks to the generosity of the Arts Council and the Festival’s donors and subscribers, the Festival will be able to pay a cancellation fee to all the musicians, whose livelihoods have suddenly evaporated.  And we can confidently start programming a second attempt at our 25th Festival.

To soften the blow of losing the 2020 West Cork Chamber Music Festival, we are simultaneously releasing Lyric’s recordings of the 2019 Festival. The composer Osvaldo Golijov has spoken of the power of music to build castles of sound in our memories. To celebrate these memories we will each week feature a performance from last year’s Festival on the West Cork Music home page. As this is Beethoven year, we will begin with his magisterial Archduke Trio played by Viviane Hagner, Johannes Moser and Barry Douglas – click here to listen in.

We would urge you to explore the Festival Archive, which has audio and some video recordings of over 800 performances from past Festivals. These can be streamed for free along with a wealth of information on each performance. The Archive can be reached here. 

If you are not already receiving our enews, you can join up to ensure you get future updates. Simply click here or on the image below, enter your details, select the festivals you would like to hear about and click the Sign Up button. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time through a link in every enews.