From Bermuda to Bantry: Mairéad Hickey will star at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival

AS THE annual West Cork Chamber Music Festival settles comfortably into its third decade, a stellar line-up of musicians will again gather from all over the world for a classical music festival cum country house party on the edge of the Atlantic, writes Cathy Desmond.

The 17th century Bantry House is the epicentre of the festival with events featuring popular classics to rarely heard pieces for every conceivable chamber combination.

Among the legion of a hundred or so international A-listers converging on Bantry, is a Cork musician who has grown up and come of age with the festival. Now based in Germany, Mairéad Hickey began her musical journey in Bermuda, making her performing debut with a local Suzuki group and playing with her dad Mick in care homes and hospitals.