The West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival has launched its summer 2023 edition, running from Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st May 2023 at Russborough House and at St. Mary’s Church, Blessington.

Award-winning Irish violinist Patrick Rafter opens the festival on Wednesday 17th May (8pm, Russborough House) performing with Wicklow pianist and the Festival’s artistic director Fiachra Garvey.

Trailblazing superstar saxophonist Jess Gillam makes her Irish debut on Thursday 18th May (8pm, Russborough House) with a fabulously eclectic programme that will take audiences on a journey of musical discovery from Bach to Bowie! Jess will be joined by double bassist Sam Becker and pianist Leif Kaner-Lidström for a programme that brilliantly blends music from the 18th century right up to the present day.

On Friday 19th May (8pm, Russborough House) the London-based Navarra Quartet will present a beautiful programme that includes a Mozart quartet and a world premiere by Irish composer Jane O’Leary, and culminates in a performance of Brahms’ brooding Piano Quintet with pianist Fiachra Garvey.

Saturday 20th May features a very special outdoor (but covered!) performance from the acclaimed Jess Gillam Ensemble (8pm, Hippodrome, Russborough). Jess performs music from her classical chart-topping album TIME with an 8-piece ensemble made up of an incredible group of musicians from a wide range of musical backgrounds.

Critically acclaimed a cappella five-piece Apollo5 is one of Britain’s smallest but most formidable vocal groups. An energetic exploration of the joy and despair of human love, their performance on Sunday 21st May (3.30pm, St. Mary’s Church, Blessington) will include choral music spanning 500 years, from some of the earliest known polyphonic writing through to pop favourites like ‘Your Song’, ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ and ‘Only You’.

The full programme details are available to view on the festival website at West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival

The Festival’s ever-popular Family Fun Day also returns on Sunday 21 May, and this year includes a family-friendly concert featuring Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals (12.30pm) performed by the acclaimed Irish Chamber Orchestra and pianists Fiachra Garvey and Soo-Jung Ann, as well as an opportunity for children to make their very own animal-themed mask to wear to the concert in creative workshops with illustrator Paula McGloin.