At last, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is presenting ‘A celebration of contemporary Irish female composers’ at the NCH

SEA TO THE WESTElizabeth Hilliard (soprano) ****Métier MSV 28551

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Daniele Gatti delivered everything you could have asked for

And what does a composer have to do around here to get one of his works banned?

A high proportion of composers do not like writing about their work but listeners find such context invaluable

Sorrow and loss continue to hold us in greater thrall than the idea of a new order in the offing

The composer Christian Wolff, of the New York School, was central to a memorable night in Louth

Classical Music: The ensemble is to give a series of concerts in the dark; elsewhere, street opera proves a slippery business

Institutes of technology have a wide selection of popular postgrad courses, from cloud computing to social care, biopharmceutical science to screenwriting, traditional music to polymer technology

The German composer clung to the same style throughout his career – do any modern counterparts keep the faith?

The looseness of the ensemble and problems with co-ordination proved largely insurmountable

A fascination with music of an experimental hue was evident in this programme