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April is the month of showers, flowers and concerts — with many events to consider on the classical calendar.
It all starts with a dragon’s roar: the seventh instalment of the Sound of the Dragon Music Festival. This year it’s a three-event sampler series, mainly at The Annex, April 2-5, featuring the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra from Taiwan, Toronto’s PhoeNX Ensemble, 88 Strings, the Vancouver Erhu Quartet and the Multicultural Wind Ensemble.
One of the primary missions of the Vancouver Recital Society is to bring the best international performers to town. This month, however, it’s highlighting two world-class artists who happen to make their homes among us, with a duo clarinet and piano recital by Jose Franche-Ballester and David Fung. Their Sunday afternoon program launches with a short work composed by their University of British Columbia colleague Dorothy Chang, then moves on to sonatas by Brahms and Poulenc as well as more aphoristic pieces by Schumann and the brilliant contemporary composer and clarinet virtuoso Jörg Widmann. April 12, 3 p.m., Vancouver Playhouse.
The Vancouver Chopin Society has become very, very enamored with pianist Danil Trifonov and it is betting big on his latest performance. Trifonov is very much a performer in the grand Russian tradition: On this visit, he’s also spotlighting his Russian repertoire. He’ll begin with a Prelude and Fugue by composer and pedagogue Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915), followed by a big set of Prokofiev pieces and a rarely heard sonata by Nikolai Myakovsky (1881–1950). Schumann’s Sonata rounds out this highly unusual program. April 19, 3 p.m., The Orpheum.
The end of April sees Vancouver Opera’s last blockbuster production for the 2025/26 season, Puccini’s La Bohème. Just like the Chopin Society, VO has high hopes of a great turnout for this saga of bohemian love in a Paris garret — so much so that this is a rare double-cast proposition, with Jonelle Sills and Lucia Cesaroni sharing the role of Mimi over the course of five performances. April 25-May 3, Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Yo-Yo Ma.
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has been a bit preoccupied with the little matter of its first European tour this April, but it will be back home with a one-night-only special program, April 24, 7:30 p.m., at the Orpheum. Just two works: Rachmaninov’s lush Second Symphony, a fan favorite the VSO took with them to Europe, and Elgar’s Cello Concerto. The latter features Yo-Yo Ma. No need to say more.
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