Pope Francis has arrived in Colombia for a five-day visit in which he hopes to give an extra boost to the country's peace process and encourage reconciliation after a decades-long guerrilla conflict.

The final morning of Junior Certificate exams was music to the ears of around 11,000 students taking the subject.

As ProdiJIG returns to the stage, Marjorie Brennan meets the man behind the dance sensation, Alan Kenefick and his stage and real life partner Nawal Elbadri. 

Derry Cotter was a lecturer in UCC for 35 years. His first stage play, The Inheritance, opens tonight in the Cork Arts Theatre, and will also be performed by the UCC Players in Ardmore, Co Waterford on Friday, May 26 . Cotter was born in a pub in the North Main Street, Cork, which his parents used to run for Murphy’s Brewery. He is married to Carmel, and they have four children.

Kya deLongchamps encourages us to take a walk through a historical monument to man’s inhumanity to man — an architectural folly in West Waterford built in Famine times. 

It’s unlikely that David Harte and CJ Stander have ever met, but these two very different sportsmen share an unusual distinction.

Tasmin Little is looking forward to returning to Cork for a concert at the City Hall, writes Cathy Desmond

Fiona Collins is chairperson of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, which takes place this weekend. She’s originally from Bandon but has been living in Cork city for a number of years.

St Barrahane’s, Castletownshend

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German-born band leader and composer James Last, famous for his arrangement of easy listening hits, has died at the age of 86 in Florida, his concert organiser said.

Declan Townsend is relishing the prospect of the aural delights on offer at this year’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival

City Hall, Cork

As the city prepares to host the 60th Eurovision Song Contest, Arlene Harris samples the delights of Vienna.

Michele Browne adores Venice and advises that it’s on the ether of your timeline, at least once. Thronged in summer, but quieter in winter the visitor will have to contend with floods off season — but the city, which heaves with art, architecture and history, is worth it.

More than 5,000 singers will participate in the Cork International Choral Festival’s programme on the May public holiday weekend.

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.

Various venues

THE 2014 West Cork Chamber Music Festival more than maintained Bantry’s place on the music map with nine days of wonderful concerts.

Cork-born soprano Deirdre Moynihan has an enviable CV, and is now releasing her first CD — a selection of Vivaldi cantatas on the classical Naxos label.

Uplifting music can boost mental alertness and concentration, according to researchers who studied the effect of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

She might be just 13 but Amy Dolan is already leader of the band — and not just any band — the County Cork School of Music VEC Senior Youth Orchestra, no less.

SATURDAY

THE annual East Cork Early Music Festival is in its 10th year.

The East Cork Early Music Festival is a showcase of compositions pre-1750, says Declan Townsend

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

The famed French coast is much more than just Cannes and Saint-Tropez. David Monagan explores the hidden gems of the area just waiting to be explored by visitors

CLAIMER Eddie O’Connell, in his first week under the guidance of agent Niall Cronin, had a night to remember in Ballinrobe last night, completing a superb treble on City Hustler, Vivaldi and Yachvili.

AN enterprising, front-running ride by Andrew McNamara enabled Fearnwood Girl land the featured Irish Stallion Farms Novice Hurdle at Sligo yesterday.

Jessica Biel is in final negotiations for period drama ‘Vivaldi’.

DARE To Doubt gets the vote to beat Dumitas in the Ivan Connaughton Bumper at Roscommon tonight.

A festival celebrating the works of the composer George Frideric Handel will open in Dublin today.

Aidan O’Brien runs Vivaldi and Wassily Kandisky as he bids to saddle the winner of tomorrow’s Bank of America Chester Vase for the second successive year.

Big Brother housemate Chanelle threatened to leave the show in an outburst over playing the violin in the group’s latest task.

ESSEX can provide the solution to the featured Kevin McManus Bookmaker Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary tomorrow.

WESTLAKE is a hopeful nap choice to win the Clonard Maiden, on what can be best described as a puzzling programme at Leopardstown tonight.