Boyne Music Festival

Boyne Music Festival An annual summer festival of chamber music, poetry and song in Drogheda, Ireland. July 23 - 26, 2026

"New Pathways", July 25th ✨The Boyne Music Festival makes its home each year at Townley Hall, a gorgeous Georgian mansio...
12/08/2026

"New Pathways", July 25th ✨

The Boyne Music Festival makes its home each year at Townley Hall, a gorgeous Georgian mansion set in the quiet of the countryside outside of Drogheda. 🏡 Our evening concert in this stunning space showcasing the works of many trailblazing contemporary composers including Jessie Montgomery and Reena Esmail, as well as works by Bolcom, Britten and Beach. 🎶

The evening also featured a new work by emerging composer Samuel Kane for violin, bassoon, cello and piano. This BMF commission, "Recall" was composed in response to Philip Denvir's film "Leave Only Footprints" shown earlier that evening 🎥- and it brought the audience in Townley Hall to its feet! Presented at the festival this year as one of the three BMF Young Artists, Sam Kane is certainly a composer to watch. 🌠

Photos (c) Andrej Grilc

The BMF was delighted to present director Philip Denvir's award winning documentary ‘Leave Only Footprints’ at this summ...
09/08/2026

The BMF was delighted to present director Philip Denvir's award winning documentary ‘Leave Only Footprints’ at this summer's festival. The film examines Northern Ireland’s dereliction crisis through the subculture of urban exploration (urbex). Following explorers who document abandoned buildings, it offers a glimpse into a hidden landscape of decaying heritage. These structures, raise questions about how we value and manage our built environment, and what might be done to safeguard it before it's lost.

The screening was followed by a discussion with Dr. Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry, founders of the Derelict Ireland campaign. Frank and Jude are specialists in sustainability, systems design, and the circular economy and use data-driven advocacy to push for policy changes that repurpose empty buildings.

Thank you to Philip, Frank and Jude for sharing your work with all of us!

Photos (c) Andrej Grilc

For nearly two decades, Pete Irvine has explored and documented abandoned places across Ireland and beyond, preserving b...
06/08/2026

For nearly two decades, Pete Irvine has explored and documented abandoned places across Ireland and beyond, preserving buildings, objects, and landscapes that quietly disappear with each passing year.

Through fine art photography, forgotten spaces become more than ruins, they become powerful reminders of the lives, communities, and histories they once held. From grand country houses and forgotten hospitals to deserted schools, factories, churches, castles, and homes, each location offers a glimpse into another time. While Ireland remains at the heart of the project, the journey has also led to remarkable abandoned places across Europe, where different histories share a common story of change, loss, and resilience. 📸

The Boyne Music Festival was proud to present Pete's collection of forgotten stories at the festival this summer. More information about his work can be found on his Instagram page and website https://www.irishmanlost.com/.

Photos (c)

The Boyne Music Festival loves connecting with children each year through family friendly programming. This year was esp...
05/08/2026

The Boyne Music Festival loves connecting with children each year through family friendly programming. This year was especially fun with a rousing morning workshop led by Kate Wakeling and Emily Laurence and an exciting family concert featuring a 4-hand piano performance of Peter and the Wolf! 🐺

Photos (c) Andrej Grilc

The Boyne Music Festival was at St Peter's Church of Ireland in Drogheda on July 24th for its evening programme, "Founda...
30/07/2026

The Boyne Music Festival was at St Peter's Church of Ireland in Drogheda on July 24th for its evening programme, "Foundations". This concert featured performances by BMF Young Artists Noëlle Drost and Jorian van Nee, as well as folksongs and chamber music by Sollima, Schubert and Elgar performed by BMF Artists.

Photos (c) Andrej Grilc

29/07/2026

✨ BMF 2026 Day 4 in Snapshots ✨

🎻 The final day of the festival this year included an amateur string workshop led by , supported by other BMF artists, where they played movement 1 of Greig’s Holberg Suite, movement 1 of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 3, and Young Artist ’s Sunflower for string orchestra and solo violin.

🖋️ At the same time, there was a poetry workshop led by where participants explored buildings and memory through poetry.

🖼️ There was also another guided tour of Townley Hall led by Brendan Kiernan and further opportunity to see the exhibition Irishmanlost.

🎶 The afternoon ended with an informal concert featuring the wonderful music from the strings workshop interspersed with poetry readings from the workshop.

The 13th Boyne Music Festival opened on July 23rd with a glorious programme at Slane Castle. For those who were there, o...
29/07/2026

The 13th Boyne Music Festival opened on July 23rd with a glorious programme at Slane Castle. For those who were there, or those who missed it, here is a glimpse at the evening through the lens of Andrej Grilc. ✨

28/07/2026

✨BMF 2026 Day 3 in Snapshots✨

🎵 Saturday was a busy one for the festival! We began with our children’s workshop, Musical Story Makers, led by Emily Laurence and Kate Wakeling, where participants explored their voices and wrote their own song which they later performed in the Family Concert.

🖼️ At the same time, guests of the festival went on a tour of Townley Hall led Brendan Kiernan and had the opportunity to explore the works of Irishmanlost, an exhibition of photographs exploring dereliction and urban exploration.

🎶 The Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf featured performances of selected songs from Young Artists Noëlle Drost and Jorian van Nee, and Lotte Betts-Dean and Deirdre Brenner before culminating in a rendition of Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Emily Laurence and performed by Deirdre Brenner and Sholto Kynoch.

📽️ Saturday evening began with our BMF Friends Reception, followed by the film screening of Phillip Denvir’s award winning film Leave Only Footprints, ending with a talk with Phillip Denvir, Frank O’Connor and Jude Sherry.

The evening then finished with our concert New Pathways. It began with a performance of Jessie Montgomery’s Strum for string quartet, followed by Reena Esmail’s Summitless Mountains performed by Éanna Monaghan before he was joined by Zuzanna Edmonds to perform Esmail’s Nadiya. The first half was then finished with Lotte Betts-Dean and Sholto Kynoch performing two songs by Benjamin Britten and three by William Bolcom. After the interval, we were treated to the world premiere of Recall, composed by Young Artist Samuel Kane, before the evening was ended with a beautiful rendition of Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor.

✨Performers ✨
, narrator
, poetbrenner, pianokynoch, piano
, soprano (BMF Young Artist)
Jorian van Nee, piano (BMF Young Artist)
, mezzo-soprano
Paul Cassidy, viola
, violin
, YA viola & composer
Aisling Manning, violin
, cello
, bassoon
, violin
Jacqueline Thomas, cello

25/07/2026

✨ BMF 2026 Day 2 in Snapshots ✨

Yesterday we had an unforgettable evening of chamber music in our concert Foundations at St. Peter’s Church of Ireland. 🎶

The programme began with a brilliant performance of songs by Samuel Barber and Jake Heggie from two of this year’s Young Artists, Noëlle Drost and Jorian van Nee.
This was followed by Sollima’s Sonnets et Rondeux for string quartet.
The first half was then finished with Sholto Kynoch and Deirdre Brenner performing a glorious rendition of Schubert’s Variations on an original theme in A-flat for piano four hands.

The second half opened with a wonderful selection of arrangements of Irish, Scottish, and English folk songs from Lotte Betts-Dean and Deirdre Brenner before finishing with Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor.

Performers brenner, piano
, mezzo-soprano
Paul Cassidy, viola
, violinkynoch, piano
Aisling Manning, violin
, cello
John Murphy, viola
, violin
Jacqueline Thomas, cello
, soprano (BMF Young Artist)
Jorian van Nee, piano (BMF Young Artist)

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Slane Road
Drogheda

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+353852833986

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