IT'S a great irony that James Clarke is getting to put his stamp on the Sonorities Festival of new music in Belfast, which opens tomorrow night, in the very year in which the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has decided to withdraw its funding from the composer in residence post, the only one of its kind in Ireland. Further bad tidings for contemporary music come from the Arts Council in Dublin, which has decided not to fund the Project Arts Centre's ground breaking new music series. Last year's series was curtailed when IMRO failed to provide support, and this year, when the IMRO was restored, the Arts Council effectively pulled, the plug.

Better news is expected shortly on the choral front, when RTE's ongoing problems with the RTE Chamber Choir will be resolved through a re structured relationship with the National Chamber Choir.