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The renowned West Cork Chamber Music Festival takes place annually in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. Over a period of ten days and running from morning to late night, Festival Artistic Director Francis Humphrys hosts a world-class line-up of international ensembles and soloists, performing an extensive variety of specially curated concert programs.
This year, however, as the Festival musicians and audiences could not come to Bantry, the Festival has gone virtual and is pleased to present Bantry and Beyond: Festival Echoes, a unique series of fourteen concerts from June 25th through July 4th, enabling festival-goers to become virtual travelers to rare and unlikely venues around Europe and the USA.
Bantry and Beyond: Festival Echoes opens on June 25th with a truly international program, featuring the American, Grammy-winning, Pacifica Quartet in a program featuring the world premiere of Irish composer Deirdre Gribbin’s Dark Matter Hunting, written to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, our route to the stars.
From there, you can hear Bach and Vivaldi in a tunnel under an old convent, Schubert and Schumann in a magical castle, Berlioz’ stories of summer nights in a Christopher Wren church in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral, great Czech composers in a palace in Prague, and Mahler songs and Bloch’s mystical poem surface in Berlin. Fourth of July fireworks close out the festival in the form of Dvorak’s “American” quartet and Lera Auerbach’s homage to Bach.
One of the most iconic and scenic locations in Ireland, Bantry is a stunningly beautiful harbor town, set between sea coast and mountains and known for its three Festivals - Chamber Music, Literary and the Masters of Tradition, as well as its teeming agricultural life, markets and outdoor activities, complete with its own ancient circle of standing stones, the Kealkil Stone Circle.
Each concert will premiere twice: first in Irish Standard Time (GMT +1) and then again in US/Eastern Time. Concerts will be available to view on demand for a period of 48-hours following the North American broadcast.
Evening concerts:
European Broadcast: 8:00pm Irish Standard Time (GMT + 1)
North American Broadcast: 8:00pm ET / US
Festival Echoes Coffee Concerts:
European Broadcast: 11:00 am Irish Standard Time (GMT + 1)
North American Broadcast: 11:00 am ET / US