A guide to what's going on this week .
Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusistodirects the Irish Chamber Orchestra in a series of concerts this week, with the programme including a Bach Brandenburg Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. The concerts take place at UCH, Limerick on Thursday, City Hall, Cork on Saturday and the NCH, Dublin on Sunday. Call 01-4170000 or 1890-923543.
From 11am today, Brown Thomas in Dublin will host a Baslerfashion event,where customers can have a glass of champagne while viewing the new spring/summer collection. The same event will be held in BT stores in Limerick, Cork and Galway in March. See www.brownthomas.com for more.
Stars of the Irish traditional music scene will be out in force at the INEC, Killarney today and tomorrow for the eighth annual Gatheringtraditional music festival. Highlights include performances by Arcady tonight at 9pm and Dervish will no doubt perform John Waters's masterpiece tomorrow at 8:30pm. For full listings, see www.thegathering.ie.
John Murphy's The Country Boyis a bittersweet family drama about two brothers, one living the American dream and the other stuck at home with a cantankerous father. It runs from Thursday, March 1st to Saturday, March 3rd at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire. See www.paviliontheatre.ie.
Westport Wellness Weekbegins on Monday and runs until Thursday, with Tai Chi and Pilates classes as well as an organic farmers' market, free spa treatments and homeopathic remedies. See www.westportwellness.ie for details.
Book clubs around Ireland are invited to Ennis, Co Clare next weekend for the Ennis Book Club Festival. Running from Friday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 4th, the programme includes readings, lectures, workshops and exhibitions. Speakers include Edna O'Brien, Patrick McCabe, Carlo Gebler, Charlie Bird and Rosita Boland. See www.ennisbookclubfestival.com.
On Thursday at 8pm, Grammy award-winning saxophonist and composer Branford Marsalisplays the RDS. See www.rds.ie.
Perrier Award nominee David O'Dohertyplays The Martello in Bray on Wednesday at 9pm (01-2867950) and the Queens in Dalkey on Thursday (01-2854569). The Ambassador could be venue of the week for attracting Indigo Girlsand special guest Catherine Feeneytomorrow night, and Amy Winehouseon Friday. See www.mcd.ie.
The Choice Music Prizefor album of the year will be decided at Vicar Street on Wednesday night with Director, The Divine Comedy, Duke Special, The Immediate, David Kitt, Messiah J & The Expert, Republic Of Loose and Si Schroeder performing.
On Friday evening at Vicar Street you can catch Samantha Mumba, while The Killersplay the RDS on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Irish interest in tomorrow night's 79th Annual Academy Awardswill focus on best costume design nominee Consolata Boyle, best actor nominee Peter O'Toole, and best documentary feature nominee Deliver Us from Evil.
There's only one sporting event really worth mentioning this week and that's the visit of Brian Ashton's England to this afternoon. Unlikely to be much of a singsong.