Galway Early Music Festival 2026
Fri, 22 May
|Galway City
Celebrating 30 years of early music in Galway, this year’s festival focuses on public engagement through performing platforms for local and internationally-acclaimed choirs and ensembles.
Time & Location
22 May 2026, 18:00 – 24 May 2026, 21:00
Galway City, St. Nicholas Collegiate Church, Lombard St, Galway, H91 PY20, Ireland
Guests
About the event
As part of an array of national and international artists for GEMF’s 30th festival, Resurgam is teaming up with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (ECSE) and Galway’s new baroque instrumental ensemble Vespera.
ECSE will also share the stage with Galway’s St. Patrick’s Brass Band, and Vespera will perform its own programme in the festival. A Tenebrae series in the candlelit church will feature Resurgam tenors Christopher Bowen and Edward Woodhouse, together with Malcolm Proud, organ, Norah O'Leary, cello and Kristiina Watt, theorbo, performing Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres in Tenebrae I; and harpsichordists Yonit Kosovske and Rachel Factor performing Bach’s masterpiece The Art of Fugue in Tenebrae II.
Resurgam will be joined by ECSE, Claire Duff and Bogdan Sofei, violin, Norah O'Leary, cello, Kristiina Watt, theorbo, Sarah Groser, bass viol and Malcolm Proud, organ in the opening concert A Measure of Time. Vox Orbis, an all-female voice choral ensemble based in Galway city, and festival favourites…
Schedule
1 hour 15 minutesA Measure of Time: Celebrating 30 Years of Galway Early Music Festival
St Nicholas' Collegiate Church
1 hourCoffee concert with Vox Orbis
St Nicholas' Collegiate Church
Tickets
A Measure of Time
Friday 22 May, 6:00pm featuring Resurgam, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (ECSE), Claire Duff, violin, Bogdan Sofei, violin, Norah O'Leary, cello, Sarah Groser, bass viol, Kristiina Watt, theorbo, and Malcolm Proud, organ.
From €22.50 to €25.00
€25.00
+€0.63 ticket service fee
€22.50
+€0.56 ticket service fee
Renaissance dance workshop
Saturday 23 May, 1:00pm All are welcome to participate in this medieval and renaissance dance workshop! In collaboration with Galway's branch of the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA), Cluain Oir. Hosted by Hosted by Jacopo Bisagni and Lise Carrel-Bisagni. Please note that ticket prices for this workshop are donation-based.
€+Ticket service fee
Echoes and Evolutions
Saturday 23 May, 6:00pm This concert features St Patrick's Brass Band and the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, following their public workshop.
From €13.50 to €15.00
€15.00
+€0.38 ticket service fee
€13.50
+€0.34 ticket service fee
Tenebrae I in Candlelight
Saturday 23 May, 9:00pm Resurgam tenors Christopher Bowen and Edward Woodhouse, together with Norah O'Leary, cello, Malcolm Proud, organ, and Kristiina Watt, theorbo, present Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres.
From €13.50 to €15.00
€15.00
+€0.38 ticket service fee
€13.50
+€0.34 ticket service fee
Reverie and Revelry
Sunday 24 May, 6:00pm To celebrate GEMF’s 30th anniversary, Vespera presents a programme of eighteenth-century music for string ensemble, with James Taylor, harpsichord and Claire Duff, violin.
From €18.00 to €20.00
€20.00
+€0.50 ticket service fee
€18.00
+€0.45 ticket service fee
Tenebrae II in Candlelight
Sunday 24 May, 9:00pm Harpsichordists Yonit Kosovske and Rachel Factor present Bach’s masterpiece The Art of Fugue as part of Galway Early Music Festival 2026 in collaboration with Now and Then Media / H.I.P.S.T.E.R.
From €13.50 to €15.00
€15.00
+€0.38 ticket service fee
€13.50
+€0.34 ticket service fee
Festival Pass
This ticket will cover entry into all concerts and events at Galway Early Music Festival 2026, apart from the Coffee concert with Vox Orbis on Saturday 23 May at 11:00am.
€80.00
+€2.00 ticket service fee
Total
€0.00