As its friends and regulars know, the Irish Recorder and Viol Course (IRVC) offers a warm welcome and a unique combination of great music-making and a house-party atmosphere, set in An Grianán, a Country House within walking distance of a sandy beach on the East Coast of Ireland.

IRVC is a great Early Music Course, but it is also much more than an Early Music Course. Take the Permanent Group Session where you meet for ninety minutes each day with the same players. The range of music played, sung and studied even in this one daily session is enormous: one Permanent Group may spend its time playing on specialised Renaissance Viols (reading from original sixteenth-century notation), another will explore the latest and best contemporary music for recorder quartet, yet another plays baroque chamber music every morning. However, most will play a huge variety of music from the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries, taking full advantage of the Course Library which is freely available to all course-members for use during the course.

It is not only the Permanent Groups that meet every day: there are also Non-Permanent Groups (in which you will meet a constantly changing mix of other course-members), ensembles, lectures and evening tutti sessions, not to mention the opportunity to join the choir and recorder orchestra, both conducted by Philip. A viol orchestra under Ibi also meets during the week. Click here for a description of the daily timetable, but of course not all days are exactly the same! For example, on Tuesday evening, after the tutti session, there will be an informal concert given by the tutors. Thursday morning usually includes the “Arrangers’ and Composers’ Competition”, and on Thursday evening there is the famous Course Ceilidh: under Pamela’s instruction, and with the help of local  Irish traditional musicians, we do our best to master Irish dances, interspersed with “Party Turns”, some musical, some not… On one afternoon – depending on the weather – there will be the equally famous “Sandcastle Competition” on the nearby beach, a short walk across the fields and golf-course from An Grianán. Open to everyone, spurred on by prizes for all, and judged by newcomers to the course, this competition always shows yet another creative side to our course members.

2024 will see no change to the unique ethos and atmosphere of IRVC, but there will be one change to the tutorial staff. This year we are delighted to welcome Caoimhe de Paor , a member of the award-winning and internationally-acclaimed Palisander Quartet. Ibi Aziz, Pamela Flanagan, Philip Thorby, and Peter Wendland will all be returning. See more about them here.

Whether you will be making new friends or meeting up with old ones, join us as we make great music in a beautiful place with an uniquely welcoming atmosphere.
We limit the number of players on the course to a maximum of 50 to preserve the friendly and intimate atmosphere. Non-playing guests (partners, children or friends) help to make the course special: they are always made very welcome,and are not included in the limit of 50.

We expect to be booked up quickly for 2024, so whether you are a much-valued regular attender, an old friend who hasn’t come for many years or an equally welcome new recruit, we suggest you book early. Click here to book now.