Brandenburg Concertos kick off 2019 Vancouver Bach Festival

Les Boréades de Montréal. Hugo B Lefort photo.

A two-night performance of the complete Brandenburg Concertos opens the 2019 Vancouver Bach Festival.

A presentation of Early Music Vancouver, the 14-concert festival takes place July 30-Aug 9 at Christ Church Cathedral and the Chan Center for the Performing Arts. This year marks EMV’s 50th anniversary, and the arts company is pulling out all the stops with performances by top West Coast artists specializing in period performance, and guest artists from across Europe and North America.

Find out more about the programming, including the Concertos, below.

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Brandenburg Concertos kick off 2019 Vancouver Bach Festival

Six concerts to see in June in Vancouver

Graftician (aka Roxanne Nesbitt).

It’s a big month for local music fans, as the Vancouver International Jazz Festival (June 21-July 1) gets underway. Meanwhile, there are lots of other shows happening, including a 20th anniversary tour for a classic Americana album, a sort-of comeback by a British chanteuse who’s collaborated with Eminem, and a local singer/songwriter with a penchant for exciting visuals. Here are six concerts to check out in Vancouver in June.

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Six concerts to see in June in Vancouver

Piaf! The Show comes to Vancouver

Anne Carrere as Piaf.

Piaf! The Show has sold more than a million tickets in more than 50 countries and garnered positive reviews worldwide. On Tues., March 19, the musical celebration of the life and music of legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf, who died in 1963, comes to Vancouver’s Chan Shun Concert Hall.

Playing Piaf is Anne Carrere, a young French performer who has been hailed as the singer’s “legitimate musical heiress.” Conceived and directed by the Nice-based Gil Marsalla, the show was inspired by the award-winning movie La Vie En Rose (2007, with Marion Cotillard as Piaf) and premiered in 2015.

Find out more about Piaf! below.

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Piaf! The Show comes to Vancouver

Multi-media show celebrates the life of African-American poet Gwendolyn Brooks

A musical salute to the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize is coming to the Chan Centre.

On Sunday, Feb. 24, Chicago’s Manual Cinema presents No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. The multimedia production features shadow puppets, video projection, and a six-piece live band. Find out more about Brooks and the show dedicated to her below.

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Multi-media show celebrates the life of African-American poet Gwendolyn Brooks

The Chan Centre presents Noche Flamenca’s Antigona, March 12 (Free Tickets!)

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC) presents Noche Flamenca’s Antigona, their critically-acclaimed work fusing flamenco and Greek tragedy, March 12 at 7pm in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. Adapted from Sophocles’ Antigone, and starring Bessie-award winner Soledad Barrio as the lead, Antigona looks at repression, heroism and loss in a fiery, multi-media spectacle.

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The Chan Centre presents Noche Flamenca’s Antigona, March 12 (Free Tickets!)

Elvis Costello in a rare, exclusive Vancouver appearance this Wednesday night!

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Elvis Costello makes a rare non-concert appearance this Wednesday in Vancouver. Mary McCartney photo.

Besides being one of the most respected bespectacled songwriters of his generation, Elvis Costello is also a part-time Vancouverite. The British singer/songwriter lives here at least part of each year with his wife, Vancouver Island native/jazz singer Diana Krall, and their two sons.

Perhaps proximity is why the city is lucky enough to host Costello in a rare non-concert appearance; on Nov. 23, the Vancouver Writers Festival presents Elvis Costello in Conversation with Stephen Quinn, an exclusive event at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., University of British Columbia).

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Elvis Costello in a rare, exclusive Vancouver appearance this Wednesday night!

Bach’s greatest hits in downtown Vancouver!

Jan Gates photo.

Jan Gates photo.

After we’ve had our fill of the beach, the fireworks, and street parties, it’s nice to know we can still get some culture in the city.

On Aug. 2-12, a plethora of musical talent pays tribute to one of the greatest composers of all time. Held downtown at the Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard St), with a special concert at the Chan Centre (6265 Crescent Road), the first-ever Vancouver Bach Festival hosts orchestras, small ensembles and more performing the best of Bach.

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Bach’s greatest hits in downtown Vancouver!