Vancouver’s contemporary-music scene is getting so strong that it’s beginning to bump jazz out of its favourite watering holes—or at least that’s what’s happening with the Ironworks Sessions, held at the venerable Railtown institution and jazz-fest venue. This Friday (May 8), series curator and acclaimed pianist Jane Coop (shown here) will invite VSO concertmaster Dale Barltrop to the Ironworks to perform Olivier Messiaen’s exquisite Louange a l’Immortalité de Jésus, along with works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Joe Chindamo, and Vancouver’s own Stephen Chatman. The program’s stuffed with brilliance, but the ambiance won’t be stuffy at all.