Louth Contemporary Music Society celebrates its 20th anniversary with Coming Together, a two-day festival of extraordinary contemporary music in Dundalk on 19–20 June 2026.
For two decades LCMS has brought some of the world’s most visionary composers and performers to Dundalk — Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Terry Riley, Alvin Lucier, John Zorn. Coming Together marks that history with an exceptional programme across four of the town’s most distinctive venues.
Friday 19 June, 8pm — St Nicholas’ Church of Ireland.
The festival opens with Austrian composer Beat Furrer, one of Europe’s most important living composers, in a programme featuring the world premiere of his new work Litanei, alongside Canti della Tenebra, performed by Cantando Admont. The evening closes with Frederic Rzewski’s iconic Coming Together, narrated by Daisy Press — a work of shattering power that gives the festival its name.
Saturday 20 June, 12pm — Dundalk Gaol
Swiss composer Jürg Frey’s String Trio, performed in the historic surroundings of Dundalk Gaol, opens the second day with music of extraordinary stillness and concentration.
Saturday 20 June, 3pm — St Vincent’s Chapel
Cantando Admont return for an afternoon concert of three Beat Furrer works: in mia vita da volpe, Lotófagos, and Prophezeiungen — a concentrated encounter with one of Europe’s most distinctive compositional voices.
Saturday 20 June, 5pm — The Spirit Store
American maverick Harry Partch — who built his own instruments because existing ones couldn’t play his music — comes to one of Dundalk’s best-loved venues. Luke Fitzpatrick and Charles Corey perform U.S. Highball and 10 Lyrics of Li Po in what promises to be one of the most unusual and memorable concerts the Spirit Store has ever hosted.
Saturday 20 June, 8pm — St Nicholas’ Church of Ireland
American bass-baritone Davóne Tines — one of the most electrifying voices in classical music today — makes his Irish debut with Recital No. 1: Mass, combining Bach, Caroline Shaw, and Spirituals into a meditation on belief, identity, and transformation.
Coming Together is a festival for anyone who believes music can still surprise, challenge, and move you. Whether you’re a regular concert-goer or coming to contemporary music for the first time, these are performances you will not find anywhere else in Ireland.
Weekend tickets are now sold out. Individual concert tickets are still available for selected concerts BOOK HERE.
Venues: St Nicholas’ Church of Ireland, Dundalk Gaol, St Vincent’s Chapel, The Spirit Store — all in Dundalk town centre.
Tickets: €15 ( 2 for 1 tickets available for Friday and Saturday evening’s concerts)