RTÉ lyric fm returns to Bantry for West Cork Chamber Music Festival 2026, now in its 31st year. The festival welcomes renowned and emerging international and Irish musicians as they perform in intimate and characterful settings against the backdrop of Bantry and the Wild Atlantic Way.
RTÉ lyric fm brings you some of these wonderful concerts with special broadcasts on RTÉ lyric Live with Paul Herriott and a selection of recorded coffee concerts on The Full Score with Liz Nolan.
Plan your listening with the highlights below
EVENING CONCERTS - LIVE FROM WEST CORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
RTÉ lyric Live with Paul Herriott - Opening Concert
The 31st West Cork Chamber Music Festival opens this evening with a homage to the people and artists of Ukraine. The programme features Ukrainian musicians Anna Fedorova and Diana Tishchenko and includes a work by Valentin Silvestrov Ukraine's greatest living composer. Join Paul Herriott from the library of Bantry House, an idyllic setting for some great chamber music. This concert is being broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series.
Silvestrov: Five Pieces for violin and piano
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No.1 in F minor
Diana Tischenko, Anna Fedorova
Beethoven Quartet in E flat Op.127
Calidore Quartet
RTÉ lyric fm, Friday 26th June, 7pm-10pm
Photo | Marco Borggreve
RTÉ lyric Live with Paul Herriott
This Evening's Concert live from Bantry House features two outstanding string quartets, the NOVO and the Calidore. Ligeti's Nocturnal Metamorphoses relishes in the sounds of summer nights,interestingly, Mozart's Quartet No.15 is the 2nd of the six miraculous quartets he dedicated to Haydn and we bring you a quartet by Beethoven composed almost exactly 200 years ago. Paul Herriott presents this concert live as part of 2026 West Cork Chamber Music Festival and tonight's broadcast is relayed across the EBU as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series. This concert is being broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series.
Mozart: String Quartet No.15 in D minor K.421 (NOVO Quartet)
Ligeti: String Quartet No.1 'Métamorphoses nocturnes' (NOVO Quartet)
Beethoven: String Quartet No.14 in C sharp minor Op.131 (Calidore Quartet)
RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 27th June 7pm-10pm
RTÉ lyric Live with Paul Herriott
Paul Herriott presents tonight's concert live from the library of Bantry House as part of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival 2026. In the first half of the concert this evening the adventurous Ukrainian violinist, Diana Tishchenko joins with German pianist Amadeus Wiesensee two powerful violin sonatas. And to conclude the concert Shostakovich being an outstanding pianist added a piano part to what was originally intended to be his second quartet so he could go on tour with the leading Russian quartets - his Piano Quintet in G minor. This concert is being broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series.
Lyatoshynsky: Violin Sonata Op.19 (Diana Tishchenko & Amadeus Wiesensee)
Enescu: Violin Sonata No.3 in A minor 'dans le caractère populaire roumain' (Diana Tishchenko & Amadeus Wiesensee )
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor Op.57 (Anna Fedorova & NOVO Quartet)
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 28th June, 7pm-10pm
RTÉ lyric Live with Paul Herriott
Join Paul Herriott as he broadcasts from the library of Bantry House for another exciting programme from the West Cork Chamber Music Festival 2026. Attacca Quartet perform with two famous quartets by Philip Glass and the World Premiere of a new quartet by Donnacha Dennehy plus Lotte Betts-Dean sings Faure. This concert is being broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series.
Larcher: My Illness Is the Medicine I Need (Delta Piano Trio, Katharine Dain)
Fauré: La Bonne Chanson (Lotte Betts-Dean, Sonoro Quartet, Rick Stotijn, Deirdre Brenner)
Glass: Quartet Satz (Attacca Quartet)
Dennehy: World Premiere (Attacca Quartet)
Glass: Quartet No.3 'Mishima' (Attacca Quartet)
RTÉ lyric fm, Friday 3rd July, 7pm-10pm
RTE lyric Live: West Cork Chamber Music Festival
Join Paul Herriott for tonight's concert coming live from St Brendan's Church in Bantry. The programme includes works by Handel and Van der Aa and commences with a short song cycle by Nico Muhly performed by Lotte Betts-Dean with Sonoro Quartet. This concert is being broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series.
Muhly: So Many Things (Lotte Betts-Dean, Sonoro Quartet)
van der Aa: For The Time Being (Lotte Betts-Dean, Mona Verhas, Rick Stotijn, Deirdre Brenner)
Handel: German Arias interlaced with movements from violin sonatas
Concerto 1700, Ana Vieira
Leite Süße Stille, sanfte Quelle HWV 205
In den angenehmen Büschen HWV 209
Künft'ger Zeiten eitler Kummer HWV 202
Das zitternde Glänzen HWV 203
Die ihr aus dunklen Grüften HWV 208
Süßer Blumen Ambraflocken HWV 204
Meine Seele hört im Sehen HWV 207
RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 04 July 7pm-10pm
RTE lyric Live: West Cork Chamber Music Festival Finale
Paul Herriott brings us the Finale of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival 2026 which opens with a work by Irish Grammy Award winner Donnacha Dennehy and concludes with Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat Op. 20. This concert is being broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union as part of the Euroradio Premium Concert Series.
Dennehy: Keening (Lotte Betts-Dean, Sonoro Quartet)
Bartók: String Quartet No.5 (Sonoro Quartet)
Auerbach: Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist Op.70 (Gerard Spronk)
Auerbach: Piano Trio No.3 (Delta Piano Trio)
Mendelssohn: Octet in E flat Op.20 (Attacca Quartet, Sonoro Quartet)
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 05 July 7pm-10.30pm
COFFEE CONCERTS ON THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN
The Full Score with Liz Nolan
Our annual visit to Bantry for the West Cork Chamber Music festival begins with an all Haydn concert performed by the NOVO Quartet, an outstanding young ensemble from Denmark on their first visit to the festival.
Haydn: String Quartet in G major Op.33 No.5 'Russian'
Haydn: String Quartet in F major Op.77 No.2
RTÉ lyric fm, Monday 29th June, 1-4pm
The Full Score with Liz Nolan
We return to Bantry for this year's West Cork Chamber Music Festival as we hear The Calidore Quartet perform two of Beethoven's early string quartets.
Beethoven: String Quartet No.5 in A major Op.18/5
Beethoven: String Quartet No.6 in B flat Op.18/6 'La Malinconia'
Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violin
Jeremy Berry, viola
Estelle Choi, cello
RTÉ lyric fm, Wednesday 1st July, 1-4pm
The Full Score with Liz Nolan
Another trip to West Cork to hear a concert performed earlier this week. Charlotte Spruit is a young violinist from Netherlands who plays both Baroque and modern music and has particularly insightful programming ideas. Here she presents a programme of music from before Bach, culminating with Bach’s G major Violin Sonata. Her colleagues are well-know to Irish audiences, Jonny Byers on cello, Sergio Bucheli on lute and Tom Foster on harpsichord.
Buxtehude: Trio Sonata in A
Muffat: Violin Sonata in D major
Boddecker: Violin Sonata in D minor
Westhoff: Violin Sonata 2 in A minor
Anon: Variations ‘Wie Schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
J.S. Bach: Violin Sonata in G, BWV 1021
RTÉ lyric fm, Thursday 2nd July, 1-4pm
