Galway Early Music Festival 2026
Fri, 22 May
|County Galway
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, 22:00
County Galway, Co. Galway, Ireland
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 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.
Galway’s Choristers and Collegium of St. Nicholas’ Schola Cantorum will perform with Resurgam, ECSE, violinists Claire Duff and Bogdan Sofei and organist Malcolm Proud in the opening concert A Measure of Time. Vox Orbis, an all-female voice choral ensemble based in Galway city, and festival favourites Galeon Ensemble will also return to celebrate our 30th anniversary.
Schedule
1 hour 30 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), Malcolm Proud (organ) and Collegium and Choristers of St. Nicholas’ Schola Cantorum.
From €22.00 to €25.00
€25.00
+€0.63 ticket service fee
€22.00
+€0.55 ticket service fee
Dance Workshop
Saturday 23 May, 1:00pm All are welcome to participate in this dance workshop! In collaboration with Galway's branch of the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA), Cluain Oir.
From €13.50 to €15.00
€15.00
+€0.38 ticket service fee
€13.50
+€0.34 ticket service fee
Showcase Concert
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 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, organ 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
Total
€0.00