Irish singer Michelle O'Rourke and cellist Kate Ellis have been selected to perform in the Huddersfield Short series in November, as part of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Are animal sounds music? Emily Doolittle explores the connections between our own songs and those of animals and birds.

Anna Murray talks to the director of new student-run contemporary music ensemble Kirkos after Blackout, their final performance of the season.

Alarm Will Sound will perform John Cage's Song books in Cork on 6 June.

Martin Dowling's and Úna Monaghan's performance of Owenvarragh, a Belfast Circus on The Star Factory, used Cage's Roaratorio template and Ciaran Carson's poetry to recreate the soundscape of Belfast.

A performance of John Cage's Musicircus in London delights Liam Cagney, but he is less convinced by the deification of the composer.

Ciaran Carson's novel The Star Factory will be performed in Belfast using a John Cage score, to mark Cage's centenary.

Stephen Graham rounds up classical news, including Resurgam celebrating Gabrieli, an exciting line-up for MaerzMusik 2012 in Berlin, Cara O'Sullivan in Sligo, the first EPTA Piano Festival and Concorde at the Contemporary Music Centre.

Stephen Graham's classical music news, including live opera from New York, the Quiet Music Ensemble celebrating John Cage, Linda Buckley performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Irish Composers' Collective and a John Kinsella

Composers are afraid of using the basic building blocks of their trade.

"If you don’t have a friend who is an artist, you’re wasting your time." – Morton Feldman was closely associated with a number of visual artists, particularly those of the New York School.

The music of Donnacha Dennehy.