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festivals · Thursday 10 September 2026 · Various 
Westport Festival of Chamber Music 2026
At Westport venues · Westport, Co. Mayo
At Westport venues · Westport, Co. Mayo
Each September, Westport pulls off something that larger cities rarely manage: a classical music festival that feels genuinely intimate. The Westport Festival of Chamber Music runs from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th September 2026, bringing together around fifteen of the finest Irish and international musicians for four days of performances across three town venues. It is the kind of festival where the artists stay on for the week, eat together, rehearse in local homes and around the town, and arrive on stage having already lived inside the music for days. That translates into performances with a depth and cohesion you rarely get from a one-night touring concert. If you enjoy classical music, or you are simply curious about what chamber music sounds like when it is done at the very highest level, this is worth the trip.
Three venues carry the programme: Westport House, the Westport Town Hall Theatre, and Holy Trinity Church. Each space brings a different acoustic character - Westport House adds the grandeur of a Georgian demesne, Holy Trinity Church gives the music a resonant intimacy, and the Town Hall Theatre works as a clean concert hall in the centre of town. The 2026 programme includes a world premiere - Donnacha Dennehy’s Woven, a duo for cello and marimba commissioned by the festival - alongside Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 performed by Adrian Brendel and Daria van den Bercken, and works by Haydn, Mozart, and J.S. Bach with violin soloist Benjamin Schmid. A Concert from the Balcony featuring Viennese guitarists Diknu Schneeberger and Julian Wohlmuth adds a lighter strand to the weekend. Alongside ticketed evening concerts, the festival typically runs free admission events, pre-concert talks, workshops, and a schools programme - making it accessible well beyond dedicated classical music followers.
Westport sits on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way in west Mayo, roughly 2.5 hours from Dublin and just under 2 hours from Galway. By car, the N5 from Dublin via Longford or the N17 from Galway are the main routes. Bus Eireann operates express services from Dublin, Galway, and Sligo into Westport Bus Station on Altamount Street. The town itself is compact and easy to walk - the Town Hall Theatre, Holy Trinity Church, and the town centre pubs and restaurants are all within a short stroll of each other. Westport House is a few minutes outside the centre by car or taxi. Street parking is available around the town, and there is a car park on James Street.
Westport is one of the west’s most pleasant towns to spend a September weekend in - the quays, the Carrowbeg River walk, and a strong range of restaurants and traditional music pubs make it easy to fill time between concerts. There is more to see in Westport and across Co. Mayo.
Heading to Westport venues in Westport? Mayo has plenty more to see. Read the Westport area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.