THE Sligo Early Music Festival, a new event in the music calendar, ran from Thursday to Sunday. It was based in the Model Arts Centre and extended to around 20 events - workshops, lectures and master classes as well as concerts, plus an open forum on early music performance and organisation, chaired by Barra Boydell.

The initiative for the festival came from the Sligo Early Music Ensemble's Rod Alston (who at festival time was unfortunately confined to a hospital bed due to a car accident) and it was presented in association with the Early Music Organisation of Ireland and the host venue.

I managed to take in three events: a teatime programme by Dublin Viols, an evening recital by tenor John Elwes and harpist Siobhan Armstrong (both on Friday), and the Saturday morning open forum.

The highlight was undoubtedly the Elwes/Armstrong evening. Elwes sang cantatas by Andre Campra, Alessandro Grandi and Giovanni Brevi, and songs by Dowland and Purcell, handling music that was often florid and virtuosic in a way that remained intimate, even when inflamed with deepest passion. He managed, too, to sing as though without artifice and generated the rare impression of using a voice that was all of a piece, without the usual singers' gear changes. This was quite an achievement in the tiny space of the Model Arts Centre (one of the smallest venues I've ever been in) and made for a musical experience of rare immediacy.

His sensitive musical partner was Siobhan Armstrong, playing on a copy of a 17th century Italian double harp. With a full chromatic scale at its disposal, this is a far more resourceful instrument than the harp as generally known today. It has an attractive tonal character somewhere between that of a lute and a modern concert harp, and its capabilities were well revealed throughout the evening, which included transcriptions of lute and keyboard pieces by Frescobaldi and Dowland as solo items.

Dublin Viols offered robust if rather airless performances of well chosen repertoire (works by Coprario, Purcell, Dowland and Holborne) and have the distinction of being the first viol consort I've encountered which managed to sound too loud.

In spite of the best efforts of the chairman, Barra Boydell, the Saturday morning forum proved a somewhat desultory discussion mainly focused on the immediate problems of the Early Music Organisation of Ireland, a body which currently seems to be lacking a well defined sense of identity.