COUNTRY singer-songwriters, 2015 Golden Guitar winner Amber Lawrence and former Country Music Association Global Artist of the Year Catherine Britt will be in town with their “Love & Lies” tour with 2017 Golden Guitar New Talent of the Year, Fanny Lumsden. At the Harmonie German Club, Friday, May 12, bookings to harmonieclub.com.au

“VELVET”, billed as “a party with an exhilarating disco soundtrack that never lets up,” is coming to town. It features Tom Oliver playing a young ingénue who slips behind the red velvet rope at a glamorous nightclub, where he encounters members of the glitterati such as singer Marcia Hines and aerialist Emma Goh. At The Playhouse, May 3-14. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

NGA staff are over the moon as news that “Versailles: Treasures from the Palace” drew 190,128 visitors. It’s no coincidence, they figure, that the ACT has recorded a 12.8 per cent visitation increase for the year ending in December, saying 70 per cent of their visitors came from outside the ACT.

THE 18th John Briscoe Memorial Art Award is coming up at the Raglan Gallery in Cooma. Sponsored by the Briscoe family in memory of their father, a prominent Monaro artist, it will be judged by former Canberra artist Jude Rae and announced at the opening on May 6. The show runs Wednesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 4.30pm, until May 28.

ANGELA Hewitt, one of the world’s greatest pianists, will perform work by Bach and Beethoven for Musica Viva, at Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music, on Thursday, May 11. Bookings to musicaviva.com.au

BRINDABELLA Orchestra, formerly the U3A Orchestra, will present a program of works by Gustav Holst, Brahms, R. Vaughan Williams, Dvorak and Strauss, conducted by Rosalie Hannink at Queanbeyan Uniting Church, Rutledge Street, 2pm, on Sunday, May 7. Entry donation is $5, which includes a program and afternoon tea.

THE National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature is presenting “Still touching hearts: an evening with May Gibbs”, to celebrate the life and work of this Australian children’s author and creator of the Big Bad Banksia Men. Jane Brummitt, an expert on Gibbs, will present an original piece of Gibbs’ artwork to the centre. At Alia House, 9-11 Napier Close, Deakin, 5.30pm-7pm, on May 11. Tickets at the door.

SOPRANO Sarahlouise Owens and keyboard player Ariana Odermatt present a rare concert of songs and arias from operas by Cavalli, Rameau, Gretry and Vivaldi at Wesley Music Centre, 20 National Circuit, Forrest, from 12.40pm-1.20pm, on Wednesday, May 10. Entry is $10 or donation. No bookings required.