May in Vancouver: Pictures at an Exhibition, 350 singers at the Chan, and a first year ends

Just as orchestras and ensembles across Vancouver wrap up their seasons, so too concludes the first year of Allegro Classical.

We set out to connect more people to classical music, and it has been genuinely something to watch this community grow — not just in Vancouver, but across the country. Hundreds of people now visit Allegro every month to check what's on in their city. Thank you for supporting your local classical music community.

May itself is generous. The VSO plays Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in Ravel's orchestration, which is about as vivid as orchestral music gets and an easy first concert to recommend — each movement is a picture, and you can hear it. Chor Leoni's The Big Roar goes the other direction entirely, scaling from nine voices to three hundred and fifty at the Chan Centre.

Two more worth knowing about: Hayato Sumino, the Japanese pianist better known online as Cateen, at the Playhouse; and Sakka Music's pairing of Schubert's Trout Quintet with Vaughan Williams at St. Helen's — a rare chance to hear that unusual piano-quintet-with-double-bass scoring twice in one evening.

This is the same lineup that went out in this month's newsletter, adapted here in case you'd rather browse than scroll an inbox. If you're new here, Discover is the editorial side of Allegro — a little more opinionated than the full listings. Subscribe below and I'll send the next one straight to your inbox.