Ireland's leading Bach singer, the mezzo soprano Alison Browner, appears in thelast two concerts of the Christ Church Baroque Bach Festival today (8pm) and tomorrow (5.30pm). The programmes at Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral include Cantatas 170 (Vergnugte Ruh, Beliebte Seelenlust), 139 (Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott) and the extraordinarily haunting Actus Tragicus (Cantata 106). French pianist Phillippe Cassard returns to Ireland with a group of French musicians (Laurent Korcia, violin, Anne Gastinel, cello, and Romain Guyot, Clarinet) for a performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time at the Elmwood Hall in Belfast tonight. British pianist John Lill, who's recovered from a mugging in which he suffered hand injuries, is the soloist tomorrow night at the Ulster Orchestra's birthday concert for the conductor, Vernon Handley at the Belfast Festival. Lill plays Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody, and the programme also includes Bax's Tintagel and Elgar's First Symphony. And, hot on the heels of the festival, Welsh National Opera give a short, two-opera season at Belfast's Grand Opera House. Bizet's Carmen is on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Gluck's Orpheus et Eurydice on Wednesday and Friday.
