Spring Awakening

                                                              

  ▲ STEVEN ISSERLIS
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, March 21
London-based Isserlis, one of the most distinguished musicians currently touring, taps into the cello’s sonorous potential with four sonatas: Barber’s; Schumann’s Violin Sonata in A Minor (arranged for cello by Isserlis himself); Chopin’s haunting Sonata in G Minor; and Dohnányi’s Sonata in B-flat Minor. 604-280-4444. Ticketmaster.ca

 

  ▲ PHILIP GLASS
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, April 5
The most influential classical composer of our time will perform his most recent études and other works for solo piano. When Glass last gave a solo recital at the Chan (in 2005) the packed audience seemed to experience a collective trance under his swirling, minimalist chord progressions. 604-280-4444. Ticketmaster.ca

 

 ▲ ITZHAK PERLMAN
Orpheum Theatre, April 26
The world’s greatest violinist plays one of the best-loved works of all time, Mendelssohn’s joyous and virtuosic Violin Concerto, with the VSO (Bramwell Tovey conducts). The orchestra bolsters the program with the “Overture” to Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and both the “Nocturne” and “Wedding March” from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 604-876-3434. Vancouversymphony.ca