Limerick Early Music Festival 2026 explores masks and masques from March 18 to 22

Limerick Early Music Festival 2026 explores masks and masques from March 18 to 22. Pictured are Mary Collins and Steven Player, who perform at Belltable on Saturday, March 21.

Limerick Early Music Festival 2026 will explore the many aspects of masks and masques from March 18 to 22

The many aspects of masks and masques, both literal and metaphorical, will be explored at the Limerick Early Music Festival 2026, returning to the city from March 18 to 22.

Vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, and actors will offer performances and workshops, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to engage with Early Music, Dance, and Drama while reflecting on the metaphorical masks we all wear to navigate the complexities of modern life.

The festival connects historical music and traditions from centuries past with present-day issues ranging from neurodiversity to social media to health & well-being, demonstrating how – far from being niche or esoteric – Early Music is a fresh, contemporary, and accessible portal to music, history, and culture for everyone.

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The festival opens with a Launch in the People’s Museum of Limerick, on Wednesday, March 18, from 5.30 pm – 8.30 pm. The evening offers a variety of fascinating talks, demonstrations, and performances featuring Justyna Czwojdzińska, who will explore the essential role of masks in human culture through Baroque music, movement, and Gregorian-like chant, followed by Billy Mac Fhloinn, who will give an Irish perspective on masks and music in ceremonial contexts, concluding with a performance on the Yaybahar, an acoustic instrument invented by Turkish musician Gorkem Sen. Admission to the launch is free. Early booking is advised to reserve a seat.

As part of Early Music Week and in the run-up to the festival weekend, there will also be a free lunchtime concert titled VEILED: Masks, Madness, and Melancholy on Thursday, March 19 at 1.15pm in Theatre 1 at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. The performance draws deeply on Irish mythology, the cycles of nature, the seen and the unseen, and features music and dance by Róisín Ní Ghallóglaigh, Breandán de Gallaí, and Yonit Kosovske.

The festival weekend opens with Concealed and Revealed on Friday, March 20, at 8 pm in Saint Mary’s Cathedral. Featuring music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, and Maddalena Casulana, this annual choral concert brings together local choirs Ancór and Saint Mary’s Cathedral Choir. Conductor Peter Barley will be joined by guest vocal soloists Emma English and Sarah-Ellen Murphy, as well as the LEMF Chamber Orchestra, and the LEMF 2026 McCullagh-Ó Briain Emerging Artist, Dylan Donegan (harpsichord).

Also during the festival weekend, the H.I.P.S.T.E.R. series will present Harpsichord Diaries, an event for all the family (ages 6+), on Saturday, March 21, 1 pm in Belltable. This hour-long music & storytelling journey across time and place features harpsichordist Elaine Funaro, actor Eric Love, and animated illustrations by Andrea Love.

On Saturday evening, March 21, at 8pm in Belltable, the world of Baroque Theatre — with its fascination for masking, disguising, mischief, satire, and permission to throw aside normal conventions and restrictions — will be experienced in Chaconnes, Charades & Chicanery, featuring historical dance specialists Mary Collins & Steven Player (historical guitar), joined by Paulo Alonso (baroque viola), Sarah Groser (viola da gamba), and Yonit Kosovske (harpsichord).

On Sunday, March 22, afternoon workshops aimed for youth and upwards (ages 13+) encapsulate the themes at the very heart of LEMF 2026: society, social interactions, communication, mental health, and neurodiversity. After all, masks are often survival tools for the neurodivergent, as well as coping tools for the neurotypical.

Actor Simon Thompson will lead MASK: The Art of Culture, Expression, and Transformation on Sunday, March 22, at 12 pm in Belltable. This theatrical performance and interactive workshop will demonstrate how masks relate to ritual, performance, and audience engagement, and how they promote patience and openness, reduce our tendency to overthink, and allow the body, its impulses, sensations, and emotions to lead.

On Sunday, March 22, at 2 pm in Belltable, a Masks & Gesture workshop explores the power of masks and Baroque gesture. Led by historical dance specialist Mary Collins and historical guitarist/dancer Steven Player, this event will focus on social interaction, customs and boundaries, and community health and well-being.

The festival concludes on Sunday, March 22, at 8 pm in Belltable with Wayfaring Pipers: Virtuoso Everyday Music of the Middle Ages. Celebrating the music of the people—as opposed to the elites—Ian Harrison (bagpipes, shawm, cornett) and Poul Høxbro (pipe & tabor, percussion), will present music from surviving sources and folk traditions, plus popular melodies and liturgical music from Medieval times.

LEMF co-directors Yonit Kosovske and Vlad Smishkewych say of the 2026 festival, “Some people may think that Early Music is about escapism, trying to revisit or recreate another age when times were simpler than in our hectic present day. We believe that Early Music has a larger role to play: it’s a lens through which we examine our challenges today, and, realising that past generations have struggled with similar conflicts and problems, we can learn valuable lessons by applying wisdom gained from looking at old things anew. What was hidden becomes revealed, and that’s at the heart of the 2026 festival.”

Tickets are available through the Lime Tree/Belltable website or by emailing The Limetree/Belltable box office at [email protected].