Early Music Festival: 24-26 March, 2023

This year’s theme, Woods so Wild, is a journey through the musical forest of plucked instruments: guitar, lute, harp, and harpsichord, as well as our continued dedication to vocal music.

Over three days, LEMF 2023 features a diverse line-up of local, national, and international artists who bring you music and dance from varied styles, traditions, and time periods. As a first for LEMF, the programme will feature works composed by musicians close to home and further afield. We are especially excited to welcome several composers who will be present for the Irish premieres of their works!

For LEMF 2023—after a fully online first festival and a hybrid second year—we will be holding an entirely in-person festival. We realise that this means some of our most dedicated supporters may not be able to see and hear our artists during the same week as the festival. We value our long-distance supporters and those unable to travel to us, and rest assured: we will be doing our best to bring you the best of LEMF 2023 in the weeks and months to follow!

Limerick Early Music Festival is produced by Now and Then Media Ltd. and H.I.P.S.T.E.R., which promotes performance, teaching and research through historically informed concerts, courses and media in order to increase early music study and audience reception in Ireland, particularly in the Limerick area. The festival is supported by funding from Arts Council Ireland and the Limerick City & County Council Arts Office.

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 24 MARCH
8pm ROOTS & BRANCHES: The Bach Family Tree. St. Mary’s Cathedral
Ancór Choir, Sagittarius Hiberniensis Choir, St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, LEMF Festival Orchestra. Directed by Peter Barley & Cecilia Madden

SATURDAY 25 MARCH

1 pm FANTANGLED: Baroque & Contemporary Dance Music.
Bogdan Sofei, Yovanna Torres Blanco, Rachel Factor, Asako Hirabayashi, Yonit Kosovske and Vlad Smishkewych

4pm POLONICA: Lute Music with Polish Connections (c1600)
Michał Gondko

8pm TOY STORY: Keyboard music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance
CORINA MARTI

SUNDAY 26 MARCH
1pm DIALOGUES: Creative Conversations Between Old and New
LIMERICK NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE

2pm MEET THE COMPOSERS
Asako Hirabayashi, Fiona Linnane, Edwin McLean, and members of LNME

4pm GRAN SOLO, 19C GUITAR
Enrica Savigni

8pm CEOL ÁRSA CLÁIRSÍ – Tunes of the Irish Harpers
Siobhán Armstrong, Cormac Breatnach, Steve Cooney and Eamon Sweeney