The 2025 Festival Programme:

Musicians: Sinéad O’Halloran (cello), Johannes Marmén (violin), Laia Valentin Braun (violin) & Bryony Gibson-Cornish (viola) (all members of the renowned Marmen Quartet). 

Slovenian clarinettist Aliaž Beguš Contemporary Irish music ensembles Lucia and Maria and Strung who specialise in a fusion of traditional Irish and classical music, comprising Lucia MacPartlin and Maria Ryan (violins), Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz (cello) and Luke Howard (piano).

Prizewinners: Kseniia Yershova (violin/viola), Ellen O’Connell (violins), Ilona Adams (viola) & Alina Obreja (cello) – Gealach Quartet

2025 Concerts:

St. Peter’s Cork – 1pm Wednesday, February 26th 2025 – Buy Tickets
PRIZEWINNER’S CONCERT (featuring the winners of MTU Advanced Recital Competition & Vanbrugh Chamber Music Competition)

J.S. Bach – Sonata for Violin Solo No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001: 1. Adagio (1720)

F. Kreisler – Recitativo and Scherzo, Op. 6 (1911)

H. Vieuxtemps – Capriccio for solo viola “Hommage à Paganini” in C minor, Op. 55 (1881)

N. Paganini – Caprice No. 24, Op. 1 (1817)

E. Ysayë – Sonata for Violin Solo No.3 “Ballade” in D minor, Op. 27 (1923)

Kseniia Yershova (Violin/Viola)

C. Debussy – String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893)

Gealach Quartet – Kseniia Yershova & Ellen O’Connell (violins), Ilona Adams (viola) & Alina Obreja (cello)

Blackrock Castle – 7pm Thursday, February 27th 2025 – Buy Tickets

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 5 Fantasiestücke, Op. 5

Marmen Quartet

Dvorak Terzetto in C major, Op. 74

Laia Valentin Braun, Johannes Marmén & Bryony Gibson-Cornish 

Ante Grgin Capriccio No. 1 for Solo Clarinet 

Aliaž Beguš 

Bartok Quartet no. 3 

Marmen Quartet

Dripsey Castle Estate – 7.30pm Friday, February 28th 2025 – Buy Tickets

Mozart String Quartet No. 19 in C major, KV 465 “Dissonance Quartet”

Marmen Quartet

Sam Perkin “PAUSE”

Marmen Quartet

STRUNG set – composers include Liz Carroll, Phil Cunningham, Johnny McCarthy and old Irish tunes 

Lucia MacPartlin and Maria Ryan, violins, Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz, cello & Luke Howard, piano

Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh – 1pm Saturday, March 1st 2025 – Buy Tickets

Violin duo – traditional, classical and folk concert

Lucia MacPartlin & Maria Ryan

UCC Aula Maxima – 7.30pm Saturday, March 1st 2025 – Buy Tickets

Haydn “Joke” Quartet, Op. 33 No. 2

Marmen Quartet

George Friedrich Fuchs – Clarinet & Violin Duo Op. 14 No. 1 

Laia Valentin Braun & Aljaz Begus 

Bartok Duos for 2 Violins (selection from 44 Duos, Sz. 98)

Johannes Marmén  & Laia Valentin Braun 

Bryony Gibson-Cornish – ‘Waiporoporo Moana’ (‘Purple Moon’) 

Bryony Gibson-Cornish (solo viola) and Ortús Festival Strings (featuring festival musicians and students of MTU CSM)

Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

Johannes Marmén, Laia Valentin Braun, Bryony Gibson-Cornish, Sinéad O’Halloran & Aliaž Beguš

St. Peter’s Cork – 11am Sunday, March 2nd 2025 – Buy Tickets

Mozart Duo for Violin & Viola No. 1 in G major, K. 423

Johannes Marmén & Bryony Gibson-Cornish 

Salina Fisher “Reflect” for Solo Viola

Bryony Gibson-Cornish 

Ben Dwyer – Solo Cello Suite (world premiere) 

Sinéad O’Halloran

Anders Hillborg – Duet for Clarinet & Violin 

Johannes Marmén & Aliaž Beguš

Curtis Auditorium MTU CSM – 3pm Sunday, March 2nd 2025 – Buy Tickets

Beethoven String Quartet Op. 95 in F minor, “Serioso”

Marmen Quartet

Hannah Kendall “How ruin nested inside each thimbled throat / & made it sing”

Marmen Quartet

Seth Grosshandler “Dances for String Quartet”

Marmen Quartet

Bliss Clarinet Quintet 

Johannes Marmén, Laia Valentin Braun, Bryony Gibson-Cornish, Sinéad O’Halloran & Aliaž Beguš