Ardee Baroque Festival

The Ardee Baroque Festival is an annual music festival, covering baroque music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which takes place each November in Ardee, County Louth in Ireland.

Ardee Castle has been used as a venue for some festival performances

The festival, which was first held in 2004,[1][2] hosted its "20th season" in November 2023.[3] The festival was initially founded in collaboration with the Irish Baroque Orchestra (IBO).[4] The IBO has previously been "orchestra in residence" at the festival, attending for the preceding week to undertake rehearsals, education outreach programs and other performances.[5] The festival has also previously hosted performances from Dunedin Consort and New York Polyphony.[1] Performances have been held in several venues within Ardee,[6] including in Ardee Castle.[7]

The board of Ardee Baroque Festival is drawn from the local community and collaborates with the Arts Service of Louth County Council in managing and marketing the festival.[1] The festival obtains financial support from the Arts Council of Ireland.[8]

In a review in the The Irish Times, the event was described as "a music festival that could hold its head up anywhere".[1] A 2011 review, in the The Sunday Times, described it as among the "most quaint" of the "boutique music festivals staged around Ireland".[9]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Ardee Baroque Festival - Our Story". ardeebaroque.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Ardee Baroque Festival launched". independent.ie. 18 November 2005. Retrieved 22 February 2024. Ardee Baroque enter its second year [in 2005]
  3. ^ "Ardee Baroque Music Festival announces its 20th season". dundalkdemocrat.ie. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  4. ^ "H.I.P. and Happening - Liz Nolan on the Ardee Baroque Festival". rte.ie. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Ardee Baroque Festival". entertainment.ie. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2024. IBO will be the orchestra in residence in Ardee for a full week of rehearsals, education work, and performances
  6. ^ "All invited to Ardee Baroque". independent.ie. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2024. the festival takes place a various venues in the mid-Louth town
  7. ^ "Ardee Baroque Festival 2007". BBC Music Magazine. Vol. 16. p. 79. ISSN 0966-7180. A festival featuring the music of Vivaldi and his contemporaries in Ardee Castle, in the historic town of Ardee, County Louth
  8. ^ "How We Fund Festivals". artscouncil.ie. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Music pick: Ardee Baroque festival". thetimes.co.uk. The Sunday Times. 13 November 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2024.

External links edit