CRASH ENSEMBLE, Project Arts Centre, Dublin Thurs 8pm €20 01-8819613

South African composer Kevin Volans, a long-time Irish resident (and also an Irish citizen), shot to fame when the Kronos Quartet's recording of his 1985 string quartet, White Man Sleeps, became an international best-seller in 1993.

Volans turns 60 in July, and Crash Ensemble's get-in-early birthday celebration on Thursday goes back well beyond the Africa-influenced piece for which the composer is still best known. His Nine Beginnings for two pianoswas written in 1976 (when Volans gave the premiere in Cologne with fellow-composer Gerald Barry). Into Darknessfor ensemble dates from 1987, and the evening's third Volans piece is a new commission, Trumpet Vibes, for cello and piano.

Volans has also had a hand in choosing the rest of the music in the concert, which is one of Crash Ensemble's Free State concerts representing the work of Irish composers. He has selected works by Jonathan Nangle ( my heart skipped a thousand beats), Simon O'Connor (a new commission), and Jennifer Walshe ( i: same person/ii: not the same person).