Final preparations for Arklow Music Festival

IT’S FULL STEAM ahead for plans for one of the highlights of Co Wicklow’s musical calendar, the Arklow Music Festival.

Now in its 49th year, Arklow Music Festival will take place in a variety of venues across the town from March 3 to 11.

With over 155 classes in a wide variety of categories, the festival is the biggest music competition in the county and second in the country only to the annual Fleadh Cheoil.

The festival committee has been hard at work for months to ensure the event runs without a hitch. They have been securing the usual venues, including the Arklow Bay Hotel which is the main sponsor, Marlborough Hall, St Mary’s College Hall and Árus Lorcáin, where hundreds of competitors will contest both solo and group classes.

The festival celebrates a wide range of the arts from choral music to dán Gaeilge, action song, violin and piano and schools drama.

A panel of independent judges will assess the performers and a number of accolades are up for grabs including the premier overall award, the Kennedy Award and the Wadden Bursary.

Entries for the festival are now open and must be submitted to the festival office no later than Tuesday, January 16. After this date they can be submitted by January 23 with a double fee payment.

The committee would like to remind competitors that it is in their interest to familiarise themselves with the rules of the competition as explained in the booklet. Regulations and the 2018 syllabus have been circulated.

Further information is available from the office at 0402 32732.