This October, Pharos Arts Foundation welcomes back the 17th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival. Nights of exquisite musical encounters have already begun at The Shoe Factory in Nicosia welcoming esteemed composers, soloists and ensembles for world premieres.

Until October 14, the festival will present unique and superbly adventurous concerts. Firmly centred on the music of today, the programme of each concert will also reveal the continuities, transformations and creative impulses that connect contemporary creation to the wider history of music. Alongside the concerts, the festival will present an array of interdisciplinary events, including lectures, workshops and educational activities for young people.

Up next is Friday’s concert on October 9 with the LAB51 DUO. Soprano Johanna Vargas and pianist Magdalena Cerezo will present three iconic works by Bernhard Lang, Georges Aperghis and György Ligeti, promising a unique performance, in which hypnotic electronics, surreal physical theatre and breathtaking vocal acrobatics collide.

On Wednesday, October 14, a dramedy concert titled Silence is Golden will take place led by the extraordinary soprano Sarah Maria Sun, alongside the internationally acclaimed clarinettist Julian Bliss and pianist Jan Philip Schulze.

The three musicians will offer an intoxicating interplay of seriousness and humour, ranging from Lied and cabaret song to opera, Broadway and contemporary music, in works by Schubert, Gershwin, Britten, Mahler, Weill, Aperghis and Bernstein.

17th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival

Music concerts with esteemed international musicians and composers. October 9 and 14. The Shoe Factory, Nicosia. 8.30pm. €25. Tel: 22-663871. www.pharosartsfoundation.org