Sligo Baroque Music Festival

18/01/2026

And we’re off with our 2026 preparation!! The Sligo Baroque Music Festival Chorus had their first rehearsal for ’s this evening under festival director Sharon Carty Mezzo-soprano and they are in excellent voice already!

Watch this space!!

23/12/2025

Huge thanks to our fabulous cohort from the and our artistic director Sharon Carty Mezzo-soprano for spending time today spreading some festive cheer serenading shoppers with Christmas carols for the worthy cause of Pieta House

Thanks to those of you who stopped to listen and who donated ⭐️ we raised the sum of €201.20 for our charity this year!

Wishing you and yours a very happy and peaceful Christmas and all the best for 2026 from everyone at
See you next year!

22/12/2025

Our Festival Chorus will once again be singing in some Christmas cheer with our festival director .carty this festive season!

If you’ll be in Sligo town tomorrow, Tuesday Dec 23rd, pop by the from 2pm-3pm for some favourite carols, and we’ll be collecting for .house so any spare change will go to a worthy cause!

25/11/2025

Interested in joining our Festival Chorus for the 2026 festival? Come along to our Xmas Carol rehearsal with Artistic Director Sharon Carty Mezzo-soprano on Sunday 30th Nov 6-8pm in Sligo Presbyterian Church to get a feel for how the choir rehearses and meet the current members.

Informal auditions will follow in January 2026.

Send us an email to [email protected] with your voice type and singing experience to let us know you’re coming along.

24/11/2025

Interested in joining our wonderful Festival Chorus? We’ll be announcing details very shortly about the next steps - to be the very first to know, make sure to sign up to our mailing list ( ) and follow us across our socials!

29/10/2025

Read Alan Nielson’s Operawire review of our closing “Viva Vivaldi” gala concert!

Sharon Carty Mezzo-soprano
Drumcliffe Children's Choir

Entitled "Viva Vivaldi!," the program included a number of orchestral and vocal works by the composer that culminated with a performance of his Gloria RV589.

12/10/2025

One of our Festival Chorus members is not only a talented alto singer, but also a skilled artist! .artistwriter sketched this portrait of Siobhán Armstrong and her colleagues during their recent concert in the 2025 Festival 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

11/10/2025

If you enjoyed this year’s then please consider voting for us for a Group award. This £5000 (over €6000) award would go a considerable way to helping us to continue to be ambitious in our artistic, educational and outreach plans for the 2026 festival.
Voting is very simple, you can click here:

https://culture.movementforgood.com/index.php?cn=20083045&ct=heritage_arts&i=1760203702-11312.jpg&utm_source=holiday+card&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=M4G2024card&utm_id=M4G2024card

for a pre-populated form, just fill in your name and details, making voting easy as a couple of clicks. Please share!

03/10/2025

The 30th closed on Sunday 28th Sept 2025, with a gala Vivaldi concert of sacred and instrumental music at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The with their director , once again delighted our Sligo audience, with solo contributions from (Trumpet), (Oboe), festival director Carty Mezzo-soprano, (cello) and violinist .
The combined choirs of SBMF Chorus and Children’s Choir joined forces to perform Vivaldi choral works, culminating in a joyful performance of the composer’s much-loved Gloria, joined by soloists soprano and mezzosoprano.

We are IMMENSELY grateful to our funders Sligo County Council Sligo Arts Service The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Sligo BID the Institut Ramon Llull and our numerous patrons and donors. Without this financial support our festival could not exist. Thank you! 🙏

Save the dates Sept 25-27 2026!

02/10/2025

The second of Sundays’s events at the The Model Sligo was our festival favourites the

Rod Alston, founder of Baroque Music Festival and his ensemble regaled the assembled audience in the Niland Gallery with the music and life stories of female composers of the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Francesca Caccini, Isabella Leonarda and Barbara Strozzi.

They were joined by Sligo soprano Orla Shannon for several wonderful arias, including the Strozzi’s “Che si puo fare”, a favourite among Baroque fans.

Thanks to Rod, and Orla for shedding light on these masterpieces.

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Sligo Arts Service Sligo County Council

02/10/2025

The final day of 2025 began at the The Model Sligo, with the students of Academy of Music delighting a packed theatre with a range of solo Baroque pieces as well as ensemble pieces by Telemann and Rameau.

They were supported in the concert by and on Saturday by who kindly spent time coaching with them on their ensemble pieces.

Thanks to Claire Horlar and Niamh Fitzpatrick of Sligo Academy of Music, and Rod Alston and Anna Houston of Sligo Baroque Orchestra.

📸
Daniel Horlar (Cover group shot)
Donal Hackett (concert photos)

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Sligo Arts Service Sligo County Council

30/09/2025

In the second of her Sunday afternoon sessions, Siobhan imparted her wisdom to two Sligo harp students, Victoria Gladka and Catherine Tsvikovych.
She took both students through their paces with enthusiasm and humour and delved into the academic side of baroque music-the source material manuscript-even bringing the facsimile of Catherine’s piece to compare with the modern edition.

Congratulations and thanks to these two wonderful young musicians for taking part and sharing their learning journey with us!

We are grateful to for supporting education and training projects in the festival ⭐️

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Sligo Arts Service The Model Sligo