All tastes will be catered for at Music at Mearescourt festival

The music world is set to explode back on stage with a weekend of concerts at Mearescourt House, Rathconrath, on September 10, 11 and 12 next. This is one of the biggest live events in the country in nearly two years and will feature The Blizzards, Robert Mizzell, Emmet Cahill, leading traditional musicians from Westmeath CCE and lots more.

The festival – Music at Mearescourt - will open on Friday evening with a rock, pop and funk extravaganza provided by The Blizzards, Bobby and The Blunts and Cronin.

Saturday night is country night with Robert Mizzell, the Tennessee Breakdown Band, special guest Chris Loughrey, and Ray Dolan from Mullingar will compere.

On Sunday afternoon, the Fleadh Ceoil na hEireann group take to the stage for a celebration of traditional music, song and dance and that evening, Ailish Tynan, Emmet Cahill and Mark Irwin will provide a feastof "from Broadway to classical".

The event is part-funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture. Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and supported by Westmeath County Council.

The producer of Music at Mearescourt, Marty Mulligan told us how much this initiative is needed to give support to the music industry that "has taken such a hammering from Covid". "It was the first to shut down and the last to re-open."

However, it’s not all about music as Paddy Dunning of the world renowned Grouse Lodge Recording Studios and promoter of the event explained. He said that the main purpose of the festival was to support musicians and their crews who have been out of work for 18 months, but it is also seen as a platform to promote local poets and artists and to motivate the audience towards greater climate change and sustainability awareness. "We bring these issues to the fore at every project in which we are involved," he said

Well-known Westmeath artist, Patsy Preston is the artist in residence at the festival and is transforming the grounds of this Georgian estate into a kaleidoscope of colour and design. She and her colleagues are working exclusively in upcycled and upcycling materials.

Music at Mearescourt is an exclusively Westmeath production – the 15 different acts performing, their stage crews, roadies and technicians are all from Westmeath, the 20 staff working on site are from Westmeath. The producer, Marty is from Mullingar and the promoter, Paddy is from Grouse Lodge Recording Studios in Rosemount.

The design team is headed by Mullingar sisters, Andrea and Tanya Cullen from the award winning Bronte Photography group while the social media side of things is overseen by the indomitable Sarah Jane Foster.

The idea is to give the music industry a lift, but also to showcase Westmeath and to highlight the wealth of musical talent the Lake County has, Paddy and Marty explain.

"We are so fortunate in Westmeath that we have so many acts to choose from and the response from all the acts we approached has been overwhelmingly positive – everyone wants to get back gigging," Marty remarked. "We all need a break and we all need to get out.

"We know we could put on ten shows with the amount of talent that is available in Westmeath and with this wealth of talent and a venue as breathtakingly beautiful as Mearescourt we see no reason why we couldn’t have more shows in the years ahead."

"We have so much to offer in this county and this is just one way in which we can promote it," he added.

The event will be all outdoors on the sweeping lakeside lawns of this "stunning Georgian estate which is neatly straddled between Mullingar and Athlone". In accordance with Covid guidelines, numbers will be restricted.

Tickets will be sold in pods of two, three, four, five or six people with each group having its own picnic table. Full table service bar facilities will be available and there will be food vendors on site. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis @mearescourt.ie., but with numbers limited early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.

Marty Mulligan has been central to the music world locally and nationally for decades. He has been involved in producing Electric Picnic for the past 15 years and is a director of Mullingar Arts Centre.

Paddy Dunning has also been a leading figure in the Irish music business for many years. He is the owner of the world-renowned Grouse Lodge Recording Studio and the Button Factory and National Wax Museum in Dublin.

This dynamic duo is determined to make Music at Mearescourt an experience to cherish and to establish it as a prominent feature on Ireland’s music festival calendar.

They have chosen these dates in September because traditionally the weather is favourable at that time of the year and people are winding down after the summer and what better way to round off the season than with a series of concerts on the lovely lakeside lawns of this majestic Georgian manor.