Classical

Playing the keyboard music of Bach on the piano is no longer the threatened activity it once seemed destined to become. And one of the younger pianists whose name has become synonymous with Bach, Canada's Angela Hewitt (right), can be heard at either end of Ireland this year. Hewitt was launched to Bachian prominence by winning the Toronto International Bach Competition in 1985, and the centrepiece of her Irish activities will be the monumental Gold- berg Variations, which she's playing at the Elmwood Hall in Belfast tomorrow afternoon (4 p.m.), and at Bantry House in Co Cork on Sunday, July 30th, as part of a Bach weekend. The year's Bach celebrations have also delivered a bigger than usual Bach festival at St Ann's, Dawson Street. This opens tomorrow afternoon (3.30 p.m.) with harpsichordist Malcolm Proud launching a six-recital series within the festival, in which he'll cover the entire series of English and French Suites.