And there is much for the Irish classical audience to look forward to.

Romain Descharmes. Remember him? On 19 May last year, he was awarded first prize at the Axa Dublin International Piano Competition, an accolade by which the winner benefits from a large number of concert engagements worldwide several of which, not surprisingly, are hosted by Irish venues and orchestras.

The 27-year-old Frenchman, a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, will have been continuing an increasingly busy concert schedule since his 2006 triumph xx but this week, with recitals in Galway and Dublin, he will revisit the country of which he must surely have the fondest memories.

Following a hugely important Wigmore Hall debut tomorrow (19 March), Descharmes will give his first Irish performance in the University of Galway's Aula Maxima on Tuesday (20) as part of Music for Galway's season. The enticing programme of Ravel (he performed the Ravel concerto in the Axa Final), Brahms and American composer Frederic Rzewski's 'Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues' will also be heard in Descharmes' National Concert Hall debut on Tuesday, 27 March.

Some might say there will be less pressure on him on this visit to the NCH stage but surely the contrary is true?

As luck would have it, Dublin audiences will have to choose between Descharmes' recital and an equally appealing 'Classical Trio' performance in the Coach House of Dublin Castle, which takes place at the same time as the former. Irish violinist Catherine Leonard, UK cellist Guy Johnston and UK pianist Charles Owen comprise the trio, which begins a Music Network tour of the country next Sunday (25).

Prior to the Dublin recital, audiences at Dun Laoghaire (25) and Drogheda (26) will have the chance to relish this ensemble of truly outstanding musicians.

Johnston, a former BBC Young Musician of the Year, and Owen rank among the most in-demand solo and chamber performers in the UK, while Leonard needs no introduction to an Irish audience.

Subsequent to the Dublin recital, their programme of Schumann, Ravel, Schubert and Beethoven ('Archduke' trio) will also be given in Portlaoise (1 April), Listowel (2), Ennis (3) and Castlebar (4). Chamber music of the highest standards of integrity and beauty is a safe bet with this trio.

It's always advisable to keep a close eye on events in Cork just in case they're planning a revolution or anything but thankfully, a classical music concert is all that's on the cards at the moment. The Cork Chamber Orchestra, a collection of the finest staff members and MA students from the Cork School of Music led by the eminent CSM violin professor Adrian Petcu and conducted on this occasion by Fergus Sheil, will give performances in St Nicholas' Church, Galway next Sunday (25) at 3pm and St Fin Barre's of Cork on Monday 26th (8pm).

Cork-born flautist Patricia Moynihan is the soloist in Lennox Berkeley's concerto arrangement of the Poulenc flute sonata, a tremendously exciting piece of music. Moynihan freelances with all of the top London orchestras and is principal flute with Camerata Ireland. The rarely heard symphony No 6 of Haydn, better known by its adopted nickname 'Le Matin', will be performed alongside the symphony No 8 by Beethoven and Elgar's ever-popular Serenade for Strings.