FAQs

West Cork Music is our management company. It was established in 1995 and has grown from a small voluntary organisation to a company which is dedicated to bringing the highest calibre of musical experience to Ireland. We promote the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, now in its 21st year, which has become one of the leading chamber music events in Europe, attracting local, national and international audiences alike. We also organise the West Cork Literary and Masters of Tradition festivals and educational activities as part of our Festivals and through the music-in-schools programme, ‘Tuning Up’, in partnership with Cork County Council, visiting 50 schools throughout the county each year.

Our commitment to excellence and distinctive West Cork identity have secured us special place in the Irish cultural landscape.

Find out more on our About Us pages.

There is a wide choice of accommodation in the region – Manor House Hotels and Hotels, Lodges and Guesthouses, Bed & Breakfasts and Farmhouses.  To explore your options, browse our Fáilte Ireland-approved listings or see the Co Cork listings at Discover Ireland.

If you’re having trouble finding accommodation our local Tourist Information Office will be delighted to help you.

You can also find out more about our local area and things to do on our own Tourist Information pages.

Written suggestions are easiest for us to follow up on. You can write to us at West Cork Music, 13 Glengarriff Rd, Bantry, Co Cork, or email us.

If you’ve any suggestions while you’re attending our festival, look our for our surveyors. Every year we ask our audience for feedback and suggestions – and our surveyors will provide you with a form designed with that in mind.

You’ll find our terms and conditions on our Booking pages – with all the other information you’ll need to know about booking.

We offer a 50% concession for most events to those aged 16 and under. No other concessions are available.

Please get in touch our West Cork Music Box Office for these requests as they aren’t currently available on our website – 00 353 (0)27 52788.

There is a single €3 fee for each booking by Cheque, Postal Order or Credit Card.

To avoid multiple booking fees, plan ahead to make all your bookings at the same time.

We are charged the booking fee by the bank and credit card companies. We regret we have to pass the fee on to the customer. But do note, there is no charge when paying by cash at an event or our offices.

Note there is an addition fee of €2 for postage if you wish your tickets to be posted out to you. There is no charge if you elect to collect your tickets at the event.

Refunds will be given only in the case of a cancelled event.

Great to hear! There are a variety of ways you can support our Festivals, Educational programmes and Concert Series. Find out more on our Supporter pages.

And do keep coming back to our events – we couldn’t produce them without you!

Yes, we couldn’t survive without it. We get funding from Donors, from a variety of Supporter options, Corporate Bodies and Funding Organisations. And we are most grateful for it!

You can find out more on our Supporters pages.

Our West Cork Chamber Music Festival/West Cork Literary Festival bags are a practical reminder that you can carry with you through life.

You can buy them at the box office at events and at our main office.

You have a choice of gift options:

• You can purchase a gift voucher for any festival or event and for any amount. Your friend will be able to buy tickets up to that amount with the voucher. Vouchers for each festival can be bought as follows:
  • West Cork Chamber Music Festival voucher
  • West Cork Literary Festival voucher
  • Masters of Tradition voucher
• You can also purchase one of our Friend or Sponsor packages for your friend with a voucher. Find out the benefits of these packages here.
• Our West Cork Chamber Music Festival/West Cork Literary Festival bags are also a lovely gift.

I’m afraid not. We’re really sorry but we no longer produce CDs of the Festivals.

We have several maps of the venues available to you:

• Online here:
  • Chamber Music Festival Venues
  • Literary Festival Venues
  • Masters of Tradition Venues
  • Concert Series Venues
• Paper copies are available in our main office
• Poster copies are displayed in our office and venues
• You’ll also find tourist maps of Bantry and the surrounding area at our offices and at the local Tourist Information Offices on Bantry Square.

All our local venues are within easy walking distance of each other. Note that Bantry House, the furthest, is a 15 minute walk from the Tourist Information Centre on the market square.

Bantry House has parking available for visitors just off the main road. You can see it’s exact location on the Venue Maps.

In the town itself, street parking is limited to 2 hours, Mon-Sat 9am – 6pm. But there are several free car parks around the town:

• By the Bay
  • directly off the main square at the Supervalu turn
  • take the Supervalu turn from the main square and there is indoor and outdoor parking by the supermarket itself
• In town
  • By Biggs Catering Supplies, just down from the Library, off Bridge St
  • Off William St, on the left after An Poste

Bantry House has convenient parking by the house. Please let us know in advance and we can book you a space for any events you are attending.

St Brendan’s Church has disabled parking spaces directly outside. Again, it’s worth booking in with us to be sure you get a space.

There are also disabled parking spaces throughout the town centre, and in the carparks mentioned in the previous FAQ.

Yes, they are. We know it’s confusing with the names so similar!

St Brendan’s Church is the large church on the square. St Brendan’s Hall is the school hall at the bay end of the square on the right as you’re facing the bay. Both are signposted. Unfortunately the Hall’s signposts are sometimes obscured by the buses that park there.

Some of our seating options have obscured views, particularly at Bantry House. The pricing reflects this.

You will not be able to buy such seats online – they can only be purchased directly from our box office team. When you’re booking, we’ll let you know when seats have an obscured view and you can make an informed decision about purchase.

Note that these may be the only seats available in heavily booked concerts. Again, we’ll let you know if this is the case when you’re booking.

Both these venues are unique and special. Bantry House is just slightly more so – and ticket prices reflect this.

Bantry House has three separate toilet facilities:

1. Near the main entrance – as you exit the main entrance, you can see the toilet sign on your right in the East Wing of the House
2. The stable block – go up the steps out of the car park in front of the House and you’ll see the stables straight ahead of you. Once in the Stable Yard the toilets are on your right.
3. Main car park – there are Luxury Loos beside the entrance to the main car park.

St Brendan’s Church has luxury portable toilets behind the main building. As you’re facing the entrance, go round the left of the building and you’ll see them.

Other venues are well signposted and should be no problem. If you feel otherwise, let us know and we’ll add directions here.

Our main offices have no public toilets.

Oh! We certainly would! And we’re doing so as we type this. Find out more soon!