Here’s something different, a singing cook. HELEN MUSA has the details in her latest Arts in the City column.

Singing cook Michelle Pearson will give audiences their “just desserts” in the show Comfort Food Cabaret. Diners will be serenaded by Pearson as she creates a three-course menu accompanied by a live band performing jazz, rock and pop. It has already been seen in Copenhagen at a three-Michelin-star restaurant, in London and Edinburgh and all over Australia. Two shows at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre on April 5.

Inspiring kids (and their equally guilty adults) to repurpose and recycle, comes Clutterbugs, a zany new picture book from Canberra author Maura Pierlot. It explores waste reduction and consumption and encourages young readers to be changemakers. With fun illustrations by Maya Bora, it is filled with playful rhyme and clutterbug characters.

Coro chamber choir makes a welcome re-appearance with Days of Miracle & Wonder. The concert includes the Canberra premiere of Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Glory and the Dream, songs by Tallis, Britten, Whitacre and a work by Cuban composer Beatriz Corona. Wesley Music Centre, April 5.

National Opera has emerged from summer hibernation with news of its 2025 season. Among the highlights will be a condensed, narrated version of the Richard Strauss opera, Der Rosenkavalier, in July and, in time for Christmas in December, a family-friendly production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel at Albert Hall. 

With support from Bendigo Bank branches in Braidwood and Bungendore, the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council art awards have expanded to support and promote the region’s visual art talent. There’s a total prize pool of $25,000, and a top award of $7000. Registrations open at qprc.nsw.gov.au on March 31.

Musica da Camera’s first performance of 2025 will be Angels and Serenades, conducted by Brad Tham. Holy Covenant Church, Cook, April 5. 

The National Capital Orchestra will perform the epic Symphony No. 5. by Shostakovich, whose works have been too rarely performed in Canberra in recent years. Snow Concert Hall, April 6.