The Galway Early Music Festival was founded in 1996 by a group of local musicians under the leadership of Maura Ó Cróinín. Over the ensuing years, Maura planned and produced a series of festivals featuring a dazzling array of local, national and international artists, and put Galway firmly on the global early music map. The roll call of past performers at the festival includes Jordi Savall, Andrew Lawrence King and the Harp Ensemble, Sequentia, Red Priest, Ensemble Unicorn, I Fagiolini, Les Musiciens de St Julien, Camerata Kilkenny, Compagnie Maitre Guillaume, Atalante and The Irish Consort.

In 2024 the festival management and direction passed to Ireland’s flagship professional early music vocal ensemble Resurgam. Under the direction of Mark Duley, Resurgam has given many performances in the west of Ireland, and now has a strong Galway base. It has appeared often and to great acclaim at both the Galway Early Music Festival and the Galway International Arts Festival. It looks forward to continuing the festival’s work of building local audiences for this wonderful music, as well as attracting fans from elsewhere to come to Galway - a veritable mecca for early music lovers everywhere!