Living in Leitrim will be quite an experiment for Ian Wilson. The county's newly-appointed composer-in-residence is a native of Belfast, who lived in Belgrade before deciding to come back to Ireland and try settling south of the Border.
His appointment makes Leitrim the first rural county to run such a scheme, and along with a writer-in-residence and a photographer-in-residence who have also just taken up their positions, its reputation as an artists' haven seems destined to grow.
The writer, Brian Leyden, who is already well established in the Sligo-Leitrim area, is hoping to foster literary talent, while the Dublin-based photographer, Trish Brennan, will be working with three groups in Manorhamilton, Ballinamore and Ballyshannon.
Ian Wilson's residency will tie in with the first visit of the Irish Chamber Orchestra to Leitrim in March. Last year, while he was still living in Belgrade, the ICO commissioned him to write a piece for one of its Irish tours, and another piece of his, The Capsizing Man and Other Stories, will be included in its March programme.
The work of this graduate of the University of Ulster has been broadcast from South America to the Far East and performed by the National Symphony, Ulster and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestras, the London Mozart Players, the ICO and the Vanbrugh Quartet.
With his Belgrade-born partner, Daniella, a musicologist, and their 14-month-old son, Adam, Ian's home is now in the countryside outside Carrick-on-Shannon. They intend to stay in the area when the five-month residency ends.
"We tried living in Belgrade, but after a while it became obvious that we weren't going to be able to. We didn't want to stay in Belfast either because it's not a place we wanted to bring our son up in," he says.
Now instead of worrying about violence or community tensions, the couple have just to contend with the Leitrim weather and the everyday realities of rural life, particularly difficult for Daniella, who grew up in a city with summertime temperatures of 40C.
But he already seems smitten: after a visit to the Glens of Leitrim, he describes it as "an amazing place". As part of the residency, the county council has commissioned him to write a piece for string quartet, to have its world premiere in August, when it will be performed in the county by the German-based Vogler Quartet (currently undertaking a residency in Sligo).
This new composition, he says, will be inspired by his time in Leitrim, "the experience of being here, the landscape, the weather".
Over the course of the residency "introduction to classical music" workshops will be run in five different locations, with four sessions at each venue. They are in Ballinamore and Mohill this month, Carrick-on-Shannon and Carrigallen in March and Manorhamilton in April.
Each session will focus on the music of a different era. Ian will also spend time with pupils from two second-level schools in the county, and the end-result of their work will be performed before Easter.
Leitrim County Council's arts officer, Ms Terre Duffy, says the residencies tie in with her aim of building audiences and of bringing quality arts to the area. She says there has been a certain amount of surprise in the county at the composer-in-residence scheme.
"It is not the kind of thing you normally associate with rural, boggy Leitrim. People are amazed that he is going to be around and available to them.
"I programme classical music all the time but people are a bit afraid of it, so this is to break down some of those barriers," she says.
Brian Leyden says that as the first writer-in-residence in Leitrim, he can't believe how busy he has been in the first few weeks. He asked people to get in touch with him so he could discover who was out there, and what writing they were doing.
"What has been most notable is how rapid the take-up has been, and the enthusiasm. I've got so busy so quickly," he says.
He will be working with writers' groups and schools and will also be helping those already working in adult and special education.
He is delighted at the number of artists coming to live in the county. "I call it a great cultural cross-pollination. People who uproot themselves tend to have the ability to transform a community, and it can only be to the benefit of everybody," he says.
Trish Brennan's work with three photography groups aims to capture the "real life" of Leitrim and will culminate in an exhibition in the autumn in both Leitrim and Donegal.
Information on any of the three residencies can be obtained from Ms Duffy at (078) 20005.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra will be in St Patrick's Church, Drumshambo, on March 10th; University Concert Hall, Limerick, on March 9th; and in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, on March 12th.