Tell me about ... West Cork Chamber Music Festival

HELEN DAWSON is programme co-ordinator of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival

What do you like about living in West Cork?

I love having the sea almost on my doorstep. Especially now when my head is full to bursting with festival stuff, walking along Bantry Bay is wonderful, with those amazing sunsets.

What are your musical interests?

I really love choral music – I’ve sung in a lot of choirs and I think there’s something really special about the sound of singing in harmony. Orchestral music as well, I really like. I didn’t really have much of an interest in Chamber Music until I started working for the Festival, but now I really like it. But enjoy listening to other styles of music too – Glen Hansard is probably my favourite singer, and I’ve gotten interested in Hozier in the last few years as well.

When did you start working for the festival?

I started working here just before the 2019 festival. Before that I had a project management internship in Dublin for a comms and fundraising company, that specialised in non-profits. While I was doing an MA in arts management I worked as a tour guide in Christ Church Cathedral, which was great fun. And my job before that was teaching English in China – so I’ve hopped about a bit. But I’ve always had a passion for arts and culture.

What events are you most looking forward to at the Festival?

There’s a concert of Vivaldi concertos on July 4th, which I hope I’ll get to see. They’re really bright, melodic pieces and so intricate, that it’s pure pleasure listening to them. There’s also a concert from a wind quintet on July 6th, and I love the unusual sounds from the combination of instruments being played.

The festival also co-commissioned a new work called The Magdalene Songs, for solo voice and piano, which uses text from the testimony of women in the laundries. I heard it premiered two years ago at the Boyne Festival, and it was so affecting. That’s being performed July 5th, and the singer, Fleur Barron, has a wonderful voice.

The festival must be extremely busy. Have you any plans for after?

Yes, the festival is extremely busy – because basically I’m on call for 10 days. I’ll take two days off, and try and do things outside Bantry. If the weather is good I’ll try and get some hikes in.

But there’s so much to do tidying up after the festival, making sure that everyone gets paid, reviewing how the festival went, and things like that, so I can’t take off much more time. I usually take my main holiday of the year in the autumn.

• The West Cork Chamber Music Festival runs from June 28th to July 7th. The schedule includes events in venues across Bantry, as well as fringe events in Skibbereen, Baltimore, Ahakista, Schull, Ballydehob, Castletownbere, Whiddy, and Cork Airport.