Since I already slagged off the Galway Arts Festival in this space a few weeks ago, even daring to suggest that the Marble City's equivalent is better in respect of classical music, there can't be many nails left to hammer into my maroon- coloured coffin at this stage. So why stop now? Call me a turncoat and cover me with your blackest tar and brightest amber feathers.

The Kilkenny Arts Festival is just around the corner and under the auspices of this year's curator, violinist Catherine Leonard, it promises to further surpass last year's classical music programme.

The festival, which runs from 10-19 August this year, comprises a total of nine classical music events, most of which will be given in the idyllic surrounds of St Canice's Cathedral.

One of the most intriguing events on the 2007 programme comes compliments of the Contemporary Music Centre, a multimedia event which marries threads of other artistic endeavours to the classical music sphere.

'The Art of Sound' is both exhibition and concert. In the former capacity, it is a meet-the-composer format, with a difference. Eugene Langan's photographic portraits of 20 leading Irish composers will be exhibited in Rothe House, Parliament Street, Kilkenny for the duration of the festival but, rather uniquely, the photographic statements will each be supported by audio and visual insights into the composer's work and style, even life, by virtue of an audio guide and exhibitions of original and graphic music manuscripts.

Interest in the exhibition will undoubtedly soar for the last two days, following a performance on 17 August by one of the subjects of 'The Art of Sound' project. Dublinborn, Berlin-based Jennifer Walshe is not only a leading Irish composer, well-respected throughout Europe and the US, but a highly regarded vocalist to boot and her 2.15pm performance in Rothe House, entitled 'Notations', will showcase her abilities in both regards, singing, as she will, two of her own works among five others, including John Cage's 'Solo For Voice 2'.

From the opposite end of the musical spectrum to Walshe (if that is indeed true), Ensemble Wanda Landowska's evening concert on 16 August is set to generate equal interest. French baroque recorder maestro Sebastien Marq, professor of recorder in Paris and The Hague and founder of the jazz-baroque group Ximproviso, joins forces with soprano Elizabeth Dobbin, cellist Emmanuelle Balssa and harpsichordist Raphael Collignon in a programme of airs, cantatas and suites from the French baroque.

Chamber music, of the very highest standards, is also something for audiences at the festival to look forward to . . . hardly a surprise when the luxury of having a top-class chamber musician as the classical curator is at the disposal of the festival organisers. Leonard will participate in two delectable concerts of this musical variety . . .

'A Musical Crescendo' (15 August) and 'Chamber Masterpieces' (18) . . .

and on both occasions will be joined by, among some illustrious others, Ani Aznavoorian on cello and Jennifer Stumm on viola.

Among her other collaborators in these concerts are Leon McCawley and the Carducci string quartet, both of whom will also present solo programmes in their own right. Ailish Tynan makes a welcome return, with an evening recital on 12 August with UK pianist Julius Drake, who also performs with oboeist extraordinaire Nicholas Daniel.

In fact, the general mix-andmatch nature of the programme and its numerous collaborations is essentially what will make for colourful, exciting music, with musicians donning different cloaks wherever required. That's what it's all about.

Viva Kilkenny.