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music · Wednesday 19 August 2026 · Various times 
Masters of Tradition Festival Bantry
At Bantry House and St Brendan's Church · Bantry, Co. Cork
At Bantry House and St Brendan's Church · Bantry, Co. Cork
Five evenings of Irish traditional music played at its most uncompromising - that is what Masters of Tradition delivers each August in Bantry. Run by West Cork Music and directed by fiddle master Martin Hayes, the festival was built on a single principle: to let the tradition speak for itself, without pressure to make it commercial or accessible in ways that dilute it. The result is one of the most serious and rewarding trad festivals in the country. It draws players and listeners from Ireland and abroad, and the atmosphere across the week - in the formal concert venues and in the pubs and streets of Bantry - is quietly electric.
The 2026 edition runs Wednesday 19 to Sunday 23 August, with concerts held in two venues of real character. Bantry House - the 18th-century mansion overlooking Bantry Bay - hosts main evening concerts in its intimate library. St Brendan’s Church in the town square offers a different acoustic: stone walls, candlelight, and sound that carries. Martin Hayes leads the line-up alongside a strong cast for 2026: Clíodhna Ní Aodáin, Méabh Begley, Aoife Ní Bhriain, Ciara Ní Bhriain, Charlie Piggot with his son Rowan Piggot, Ryan Young, The Breath (the alt-folk duo of Rioghnach Connolly and Stuart McCallum), Louise Mulcahy, Ciarán Ó Gealbháin, and more.
Beyond the main concerts, the festival runs a programme of midday “secret concerts” (Ceolchoirm Rúnda) at undisclosed locations - including on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay, reached by a short ferry crossing. There are also late-night concerts running to 11pm, and afternoon talks (Cainteanna) where Hayes puts musicians in conversation about the music and its history. Fringe sessions spill into the town’s pubs across the five days. Tickets for individual concerts range from around €12 for talks to €27-€45 for main evening performances.
Bantry sits at the head of Bantry Bay on the N71, roughly 90km west of Cork city - a drive of about an hour and a quarter depending on traffic on the West Cork roads. Bus Éireann runs services between Cork city and Bantry, and the journey takes around two hours. Bantry is a compact town and the two main venues are both central and walkable from the town square. Street parking is available in Bantry, and there is a car park off the Glengarriff Road.
The festival falls during the best of the West Cork summer. Bantry Bay is one of the great stretches of water in Ireland, and the walk along the waterfront before or after a concert takes some beating. There is more to see in Bantry and across Co. Cork.
Heading to Bantry House and St Brendan's Church in Bantry? Cork has plenty more to see. Read the Bantry area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.