Indeed, the absence of a stickwielding man (that'll be the conductor) is probably the most enjoyable thing about the enterprise. The best chamber musicians have it all at their fingertips . . . virtuosity, musical intuition and intelligence, the ability to accompany, listen, interpret, express.

In the RTE Vanbrugh string quartet are found four of Ireland's best chamber musicians, their concert at the National Gallery last Sunday reaffirming this for their dedicated following. Haydn, Mozart and Borodin comprised one of the ensemble's lightest programmes of late. "Papa" Haydn's Op 74, no 1 was notable for an astonishingly fast but tight finale, though the speed gave rise to occasional smears in the clarity of the lower voices. A nononsense "Prussian", Mozart's K575, was the centrepiece;

gestures of phrasing were subtle and tempos were always on the sensible side, nothing risque or contrived here. The first movement of the Borodin has been explored in more contrasting tempos but none of the variety of colour was lost.

The famous nocturne movement enjoyed ideal tempos throughout, which allowed the music to move with ardour rather than plod with sentimentality. The RTE Vanbrugh's December tour, which brings the Con Tempo string quartet on board for an entire programme of octets, should be in your diaries now.

With the Wexford Festival Opera still a potent memory, Opera Ireland and Opera Theatre Company are soon to open their respective winter seasons. But the people of Cork need not concern themselves with that just yet, as Opera 2005 returns to the stage this week with a production of the Barber of Seville. It was by virtue of the bestowal of the European Capital of Culture title on Cork that this company took roots and, in the spirit of continuing good habits, four performances of Rossini's comic opera will be given at the Cork Opera House this week.

Irish-born and Toronto-based artistic director Kevin Mallon (you'll find his work on the Naxos label) returns to the podium from where he conducted Opera 2005's Carmen and The Marriage of Figaro, to work with Nicholas Ransley as the Count, Nyle Wolfe as the Barber and Marion Newman (last year's Carmen) as Rosina. A preview performance takes place on Wednesday (15), to be followed by performances on Thursday (16), Saturday (18) and Sunday next (19). The plot is typically and wonderfully convoluted and ridiculous; fans of staged tom- foolery will not be disappointed.

Two years ago, I had the delight of seeing the Czech Philharmonic orchestra play in their home city of Prague.

Dvorak's 8th symphony was the task then and will also be the task this week when the National Concert Hall welcomes them to Dublin as the third orchestra to appear in the Sunday Times International Orchestral Series.

The conductor has changed though; Jiri Belohlavek is the main man of this tour, which also features pianist extraordinaire Lang Lang, memories of whose phenomenal solo recital at the NCH will make for a particularly warm welcome for this young man. He will exercise his talents at the keyboard to the score of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

The very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic took place 110 years ago under the baton of Dvorak himself so it could be said, with a great degree of modesty, that this orchestra lays particular claim to the works of their countryman. If you're lucky enough to have a ticket, you'll also be enjoying that same composer's Symphonic Variations. Whether they can top La Scala Phil's concert in October remains to be seen.