The Irish Guitar Quartet is one of the country’s premier instrumental ensembles, bringing together four guitarists who have each built international reputations as soloists: Jerry Creedon, founder of the classical guitar programme at Cork School of Music; David Keating; Aengus Kirakowski; and Redmond O’Toole, a former Chieftains guitarist whom the Irish Times has called Ireland’s most distinctive guitarist, playing the eight-string Brahms guitar.

Their repertoire runs from Baroque to contemporary fusion — Latin, Far Eastern, folk and American classics — including Bizet’s Carmen Suite arranged for four guitars. Four instruments, an extraordinary range of colour, and a concert that carries an audience a long way from where it started.