A Remarkable Event

PAUL SARCICH visits the
West Cork Chamber Music Festival

Anyone contemplating setting up an unlikely music festival in an unlikely place should probably have a word with Francis Humphreys, for fifteen years now the dynamo who has powered the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in the far south-west of Ireland. I suspect he would say three things: firstly, pick a venue with charm and atmosphere. The delightful coastal town of Bantry boasts Bantry House as the main concert venue, a stately home with a lived-in rather than sanitised feel. Having superb formal gardens on three sides and a glorious view over the bay doesn't hurt the ambience either.

Secondly, I think he would have something to say about being fearless in the programming -- putting up the unfamiliar with the favourites...

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