The Vancouver Opera Festival has provided a sweeping Russian theme for its events this year, with one of the rarest occasions happening Sunday (May 6), away from ground zero at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre plaza and out at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Early Music Vancouver is copresenting this trip into an era when the two “greats”—Catherine and Peter—held sway.

It was also a period of rich Baroque music, as evidenced in the show Russian White Nights: Opera Arias From 18th Century St. Petersburg. Alexander Weimann conducts the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in this meticulously researched program. Superstar Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin is on hand to give voice to composers like Araia, Berezovsky, and Fomin—names you might never have heard of, but might never forget after this concert.