Thursday, April 12th

Music Current 2018
Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, smockalley.com; until Saturday
Music Current, Dublin Sound Lab's annual festival of new music, is designed to offer a showcase of contemporary Irish electronic music and new international repertoire. This year's newly-commissioned works are by Elis Czerniak, Francis Heery and Silvia Rosani, and the line-up of composers also includes Stefan Prins, Catherine Lamb, Ann Cleare, Rick Berukhardt, John Cage, Fergal Dowling and Helga Arias Parra. Performers include pianists Stephane Ginsburgh, Izumi Kimura and Xenia Pestova, the ensemble YARN|WIRE, and the festival also includes a slew of master classes and workshops, and a public panel discussion at the Contemporary Music Centre.

Friday, April 13th

Le nozze di Figaro
National Opera House, Wexford, €15-€80; also Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, Apr 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, irishnationalopera.ie
The newly founded Irish National Opera company has chosen Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro for its first new production, which will run for a single night in Wexford and four nights in Dublin. The title role in this unfading comic masterpiece is taken by New Zealand bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu, with Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, fresh from her debut at the Metropolitan opera in New York, as his betrothed Susanna. The noble couple of the Count and Countess Almaviva are Ben McAteer and Máire Flavin, with Aoife Miskelly as the disruptive page, Cherubino. Also making an appearance is the veteran soprano Suzanne Murphy as Marcellina. Patrick Mason directs. The designer is Francis O'Connor and Peter Whelan conducts, with the Irish Chamber Orchestra in the pit.