West Cork Chamber Music Festival good for audience, composers, and business

The sonorous sounds of a string sextet playing Dvorak in the elegant 19th century library in Bantry House drew the 22nd West Cork Chamber Music Festival to a close.

Over nine days, 104 artists of nine nationalities, drawn from the cream of the profession, performed in the market town. All day and into the night, concert- goers binged on performances by ensembles of every conceivable combination.

Some 70 concerts were programmed in Bantry House and St Brendan’s Church, an extraordinary feat of logistics by the festival team, led by founder Francis Humphreys, with 31 local volunteers.