ELLA Van Poucke’s career took a big leap forward last July when she emerged as the “Golden Star” of the prestigious Premio Chigiana held in Siena in Italy, writes Cathy Desmond.

Grace Brothers is back and open for business as Are You Being Served? returns after a 30-year hiatus.

NEXT week, The Irish Chamber Orchestra will present ‘Joyeaux Noël’, a programme of French festive music, at two of the country’s most historic cathedrals, St Fin Barre’s in Cork, and St Mary’s in Limerick.

Great Music in Irish Houses fills a gap in the capital’s cultural life, writes Alan O’Riordan.

This year’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival promises to be the best ever, writes Declan Townsend.

THE 20-year-old Franz Schubert was once asked how it was possible for him to have composed so much music at his age.

‘The Birth of Modern Music’ is the programme for the Music for Galway Midwinter Festival, which runs from Jan 17 to 19.

At home his kids called him head-the-ball, their fondness for Seamus Heaney the father more than a match for their awe of him as artist.

St Barrahane’s, Castletownshend

ICONIC violinist Nigel Kennedy will join the Cork Symphony Orchestra to perform one of his favourite concertos on Friday.

The West Cork Chamber Music Festival has a truly international appeal. Declan Townsend reports

FIRST SYMPHONY might land the nap in the Hanratty Oils Handicap, on what can be best described as a grim programme at Dundalk tonight.

Coronation Street swept the board at the British Soap Awards on a disastrous night for EastEnders.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out to protest the Italian government’s 2006 budget plan today, rallying in support of a general strike that snarled transport and closed down public offices across the country.