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Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.<\/em><\/p>\n April is the month of showers, flowers and concerts \u2014 with many events to consider on the classical calendar.<\/p>\n It all starts with a dragon\u2019s roar: the seventh instalment of the Sound of the Dragon Music Festival<\/a>. This year it\u2019s a three-event sampler series, mainly at The Annex, April 2-5, featuring the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra from Taiwan, Toronto\u2019s PhoeNX Ensemble, 88 Strings, the Vancouver Erhu Quartet and the Multicultural Wind Ensemble.<\/p>\n One of the primary missions of the Vancouver Recital Society<\/a> is to bring the best international performers to town. This month, however, it\u2019s highlighting two world-class artists who happen to make their homes among us, with a duo clarinet and piano recital by\u00a0Jose 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 J\u00f6rg Widmann. April 12, 3 p.m., Vancouver Playhouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Vancouver Chopin Society<\/a> 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\u2019s also spotlighting his Russian repertoire. He\u2019ll begin with a Prelude and Fugue by composer and pedagogue Sergei Taneyev (1856\u20131915), followed by a big set of Prokofiev pieces and a rarely heard sonata by Nikolai Myakovsky (1881\u20131950). Schumann\u2019s Sonata rounds out this highly unusual program. April 19, 3 p.m., The Orpheum.<\/p>\n The end of April sees Vancouver Opera<\/a>\u2019s last blockbuster production for the 2025\/26 season, Puccini\u2019s La Boh\u00e8me. Just like the Chopin Society, VO has high hopes of a great turnout for this saga of bohemian love in a Paris garret \u2014 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n