County Wicklow proudly celebrates a large number of creative and professional musicians that represent a large number of musical styles and instruments including harpsichord, baroque guitar, viola da gamba, violin, cello, classical guitar, recorder, whistle and vocals. Ashford-based musicians Eamon Sweeney and Rachel Factor shared a vision of uniting those nestled throughout County Wicklow to perform and make music more accessible to the local community. This was realised in 2011 with the establishment of Sacred Spaces: Sacred Sounds.

This festival began with solo recitals in three venues around Wicklow, Nun’s Cross Church in Ashford, Calary Church in Roundwood and St. Andrew’s Church in Bray. Playing music from the 18th Century to the present day, Sacred Spaces: Sacred Sounds was met with great enthusiasm by local communities.

Eamon and Rachel later decided to feature chamber music more prominently in the concerts leading to collaborations with the renowned cellist Annette Cleary and later with the eminent whistle player Cormac Breatnach.

In 2013 the group was renamed as Alchemy Music Series and has developed significantly with an ever growing following and more ambitious concerts and events. As a recipient of the small festivals funding grant from the Arts Council, the group has been able to establish a larger panel of musicians from the Wicklow area. This was quickly followed by two very successful concerts at Nun’s Cross Church in the latter half of the year.

Moving into 2014, Alchemy has again been supported generously by the Arts Council and has an exciting season in store for the coming months including Féile Heaney: A celebration of Seamus Heaney through music and words. Please visit Up and Coming Events for further details.

Alchemy Music Series aims to:

  • Provide excellent, affordable, multi-disciplinary concerts for you, in atmospheric settings around County Wicklow.
  • Develop and foster links between creative practitioners while providing them with exposure and a platform for their work.
  • Develop an audience for the Arts in County Wicklow.
  • Nurture links between creative practitioners and their communities.

Alchemy Music Series is supported by The Arts Council.

We hope that you will join us in celebrating our musical journey.