Family and friends rarely hear me say a good word about the state of the country, I can assure you, but when it comes to deciding on the contents of this column, I am reminded weekly that you'd need more than a heavy political boot to stamp out the vibrant flames of culture in this little island. At the risk of my contributions to this page appearing more like a diary of events than a percipient editorial, I feel compelled to let the sheer number and variety of the events on offer this week illustrate this point.

The culture trail starts tonight (8pm) at Airfield House in Dundrum, with Finghin Collins there giving the recital that his Con Brio audience at the Model Arts and Niland Gallery in Sligo will have undoubtedly enjoyed two days ago. Works by Roberto Gerhard and Federico Mompou, the two eminent Spanish composers whom Collins championed in his programme for the Waterford New Music Week in February, feature tonight alongside the popular choices of Haydn, Handel and Liszt.

The Irish Chamber Orchestra gives the second chapter of its 'Spring Series' this week, following on from the electrifying success of the first, under Pekka Kuusisto. The orchestra's inspirational artistic director, Anthony Marwood, has put together another sterling bill of fare, including Mendelssohn's 'Octet, Op 20' and Schoenberg's 'Verklaerte Nacht', two of the finest examples of writing in the repertoire. Luckily for Marwood, he also gets to direct the orchestra for this three- stop tour, which begins in the homestead, UCH Limerick this Thursday (29). The NCH Dublin hosts the orchestra's last performance next Sunday (1 April), having treated the acoustic of St Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork and its increasingly ardent Cork audience to an early Easter gift on Saturday (31). Miss this stop on the culture trail at your own disappointment.

Dublin-born, New York-based pianist, Isabelle O'Connell has carved out a successful career in the Big Apple since making her acclaimed debut there, in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, in 2002. Her fervent advocacy of contemporary music is one of her most notable attributes as a performer. In two Irish recitals next weekend, she combines the musical worlds of old and new, with Ligeti's 'Musica Ricercata' and Beethoven's 'Op 110' sonata common to her two different programmes. Wexford St Iberius' Church opens its doors for her 8pm concert on Friday (30) and O' Connell appears as the guest of honour at the 'Sundays At Noon' series in the Hugh Lane Gallery next week (1 April), where works by Irish composers Seoirse Bodley and John Buckley will enjoy the luxury of this pianist's playing.

The 'Membra Jesus Nostri' (Wounds of our Lord Jesus) cantata by Dietrich Buxtehude, 2007 marks the 300th year of this important liturgical composer's death, will be performed at the Donnybrook Church of the Sacred Heart next Saturday (31, 7.30pm) by the Crow Street Consort, a newly- formed period instrument group directed by Michael Quinn. A profound influence on Bach and Handel, if this concert comes as an introduction to the music of Buxtehude to you, it also serves as an introduction to the Crow Street Consort, in this, their first public performance.

Bach's own 'St John's Passion' will resound in St Mary's Pro Cathedral the day after (1 April) when the Dublin Bach Singers and the Orchestra of St Cecilia perform this most poignant setting of the Easter narrative. Fittingly, all proceeds at the door go to Trocaire's Lenten Campaign.