The East Cork Early Music Festival, founded in 2003, marks its 20^th anniversary this year with a programme celebrating Ireland’s early vocal music talent.

The festival shares this 20-year milestone with Resurgam. Following its acclaimed performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in July, and last year’s tour of Venetian music by Johann Rosenmüller, the ensemble turns to the work of Johann Hermann Schein, another German composer inspired by the Italian style. In the Curtis Auditorium on 13 October, Resurgam gives a rare performance of Schein’s magnificent ‘Israelis Brünnlein’ (Fountains of Israel) – first performed 400 years ago in 1623.

Resurgam

Meanwhile, the Belfast-based group Sestina teams up with the historic Kinsale Mead Company for a presentation of historical drinking songs, entitled ‘In Praise of Bacchus’. The festival concludes with a special concert given by Cork School of Music’s Cappella Lyrica in Cork’s Goldie Chapel. Joined by Cork Baroque Players, the local ensemble offers a reconstruction of a work not heard in Cork for over two centuries, with a performance of the Novitiate Mass by Hurka de Monti, organist of Cork’s North Cathedral in the 1810s.

The Festival, takes place on 13-15 October, with performances in Cork and Kinsale. For further details, and booking information, see the festival website: eastcorkearlymusic.ie

Image (of festival directors Norah O’Leary and Caitríona O’Mahony) by Darragh Kane