Considering we begin with a holiday weekend it’s a busy week.  Tuesday sees Dimitry Ivashchenko and Rachel Andrist in recital in the RBA at lunchtime with a program of Russian song that, inevitably, includes Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death and works by Rachmaninov, Borodin, and Tchaikovsky.  At 7.30pm that evening Christina Haldane is giving a DMA recital in Walter Hall.  This isn’t your usual student gig.  Christina has covered at Salzburg and the Royal Opera and made main stage appearances in several European countries.  Both recitals are free.

On Wednesday Soundstreams have a concert called Magic Flutes with a series of contemporary pieces featuring five flute virtuosi, harp, viola, a bunch of percussion and Carla Huhtanen.  It’s at 8pm at Koerner Hall.  Further details.

Thursday’s noon hour concert in the RBA features members of the COC orchestra playing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.  OK, it’s not vocal but it’s a piece that’s been very important for me since I was a teenager so I’ll be there anyway.  Then later on at 9pm, at the Amsterdam Bicycle Club on the Esplanade, Against the Grain have there first Opera Pub Night.  There will be beer, there will be Topher at the piano and there will be surprises.  Admission for both events is free.

The weekend of the 15th/16th is all about the COC with the second show of Norma on Saturday evening and the opening of Handel’s Ariodante with a Sunday matinee, ironically enough given Richard Jones “wee free” Hebridean production.  Sabbath be blowed!