Entertainment

Bach, Vivaldi, Kreisler, Chopin, Bruch. Bringing them all together, Blaine Walbauer and Daniel Dowker have designed a stunning violin and piano recital that is both ambitious and delightful.

The Courtenay Branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library will host popular children’s author/illustrator Marie-Louise Gay on Monday at 10:30 a.m.

Remember a time when nothing felt better than rolling down the highway with the top down, good friends along for the ride, and your favourite tunes blaring out of the radio?

After such a warm reception by the Courtenay community last year, Helix Dance Theatre returns with its new 2011 company performing at the Old Church Theatre on May 13.

Performing at Tarbell’s Coffee Bar in Cumberland on May 13 are two of Vancouver Island’s favourite songstresses — Birgit Kuit and Joanna Finch.

Life has been a series of right turns — in more ways than one — for Corwin Fox. In his teens, an opportunity to attend an arts high school saved him from a life of petty crime. A decade later, meeting the love of his life catapulted him from the freewheeling lifestyle of a musician hitchhiking across the continent to being a dad and a full-time student.

On Saturday evening from 6 to 8 p.m., Zocalo Café, at the corner of Fifth and Cliffe in Courtenay, hosts the opening of the 2011 Mayworks Festival of Labour and the Arts Mail Art Exhibition.

A double bill comprised of Ladies of the Canyon and Old Man Luedecke — award-winning new roots and bluegrass — takes the stage at Joe’s Garage Thursday, May 12.

Tambura Rasa is a buoyant cultural cross-pollination that fuses contemporary and traditional sounds and rhythms into one energetic musical brand all their own.

Prepare yourself to witness some of the greatest up-and-coming (VIU-based) jazz talent this Thursday at the Elks’ when the Wigmore Needham Quintet takes the stage at 7:30 p.m.