April brings flowers, showers, Easter and a whole lot of classical offerings. Many of the concerts are clustered uncomfortably close together mid-month but there are lots to choose from: Read More
April brings flowers, showers, Easter and a whole lot of classical offerings. Many of the concerts are clustered uncomfortably close together mid-month but there are lots to choose from: Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello, and Alexander Melnikov, piano When: April 6, 3 p.m. Where: Vancouver Playhouse April recitals start with a bang as the Vancouver Recital Society
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April brings flowers, showers, Easter and a whole lot of classical offerings. Many of the concerts are clustered uncomfortably close together mid-month but there are lots to choose from:
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Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello, and Alexander Melnikov, piano
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When: April 6, 3 p.m.
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
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April recitals start with a bang as the Vancouver Recital Society brings two favourite performers back to town. Cellist Queyras has wowed us with his impeccable style and wonderful range of timbres; Melnikov is just as impressive, with an extra dollop of dry wit. They perform two of Beethoven’s quirky late piano/cello sonatas, then the wonderful cello/piano duos of Debussy and Rachmaninov. Not that many years separate the latter two works, but they couldn’t be more different in idiom: Rachmaninov celebrates the end of the Romantic era, while Debussy looks forward to the new.
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Palestrina 500, Vancouver Chamber Choir
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Sun Spots
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When: April 11, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Christ Church Cathedral
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Our downtown cathedral may not be as grand as the churches Palestrina wrote for in Rome, but Christ Church Cathedral is a good venue in which to hear his serene, evocative music. This program is anchored around the famous Missa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass). The Vancouver Chamber Choir’s artistic director, Kari Turunen, offers a pre-concert talk on why Palestrina’s work has endured and influenced composers for half a millennium.
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Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony
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When: April 12 and 13, 8 p.m.; April 14, 2 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre
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The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is spotlighting Rachmaninov’s lush Third Symphony, but I suspect Sir Stephen Hough’s legions of Vancouver fans will turn out in droves to hear his precise, elegant playing of one of the most popular of all piano concertos, that of Edvard Grieg. Guest conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky starts the program with a nod to Maurice Ravel’s 150 birthday year: His maritime fantasy Une barque sur l’océan.
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Doulce Mémoire: Now, Let Us Dance! The Art of Dance in the 15th and 16th Centuries
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When: April 12, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
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As noted, Vancouver lacks Italian cathedrals — and we are even more challenged to find spaces that recreate Renaissance palaces. For Early Music Vancouver, the intimate Vancouver Playhouse will have to do. On April 12, it will resound with dance and music from ages ago. What a treat to hear and see great dance hits of a bygone era, live on stage.
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Journey Through the Shades of Dusk at “Music of Twilight”
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When: April 13, 7 p.m.
Where: Koerner Recital Hall
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Faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music present a mixed bag of chamber works designed for an early spring evening. A Boccherini guitar quintet (the one with the extravagant Fandango finale) starts us in twilight; Ravel’s exquisite Piano Trio rounds out the first half of the program. Then Schoenberg’s sensuous, hyper-emotional string sextet Transfigured Night takes us into dark night.