Fintan Sutton (clarinets), RTÉ Vanbrugh String Quartet

RIAM, Dublin Today 2.30pm Adm free

RIAM, Dublin Today 2.30pm Adm free

CRASH ENSEMBLE

Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin Tonight 8pm 25

THE MAGIC FLUTE

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The Lir, Pearse St, Dublin Tonight/tomorrow 7.30pm 25/30; Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin Tues 8pm 25/28 01-4627477; Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Co Tipperary 8pm 25/30 0504-90204

ALEXEJ GORLATCH (PIANO)

Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin Tonight 8pm 17 01-2312929; Triskel Christchurch, Cork Tomorrow 8pm 15 021-4272022; Intermediate School, Killorglin, Co Kerry Sun 8pm 15 066-9761246; Church of Ireland, Clifden, Co Galway Tues 8pm 15 095-21644; Aula Maxima, NUI Galway Wed 8pm 16 091-705962; Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co Mayo Thurs 8pm 15 094-9023733

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR (PIANO)

CIT Cork School of Music, Cork Thurs 8pm 20/25

Living composers are in the spotlight on Friday.Clarinettist Fintan Sutton joins the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet for an afternoon workshop at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where Frank Corcoran’s Clarinet Quintet and A Dark Song will be heard for the first time. Corcoran will be on hand for a QA after the performances.

Fashionable New York composer Nico Muhly has a new work premiered by the Crash Ensemble in a Young Americans programme that also features pieces by Sean Friar, Missy Mazzoli, Ken Ueno and Timothy Andres. Muhly can also be heard in a 6pm pre-concert interview with RTÉ lyric fm’s Bernard Clarke.

The Dublin performances of Opera Theatre’s new production of The Magic Flute have had to be relocated from Smock Alley Theatre to The Lir. The tour will also visit Tallaght, Thurles, Tralee, Galway, Bray and Drogheda, and in the New Year will be seen again in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Sligo, Navan, Blanchardstown, Kilkenny, Downpatrick, Tallaght, Letterkenny and Carlow.

Alexej Gorlatch (pictured) winner of the 2009 Dublin International Piano Competition, opens his Music Network tour in the Pavilion tonight, and will also be heard playing Beethoven, Chopin and Bill Whelan in Cork, Killorglin, Clifden, Galway, Castlebar and Letterkenny, before ending up at George’s Hall, Dublin Castle on December 3rd.

And on Thursday, the young English pianist of the moment, Benjamin Grosvenor, makes his recital debut in Cork, playing Bach, Chopin, Albéniz and Liszt.

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor