Here’s arts editor HELEN MUSA’s latest Arts in the City column.

Singer and actor Nikki Nouveau conjures the spirit of Parisian legend Édith Piaf in No Regrets: The Edith Piaf Story, a cabaret delivered in French and English weaving the singer’s turbulent life through chansons including La Vie en Rose, Padam and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. Belconnen Arts Centre, March 28.

The inaugural Upstageing Canberra Festival, presented by the Council on the Ageing ACT, celebrates the artistic vitality of older Australians. Designed to show that creativity never retires, the festival highlights older Canberrans working across music, theatre, storytelling, visual arts and craft, while encouraging intergenerational exchange and community participation. Canberra, March 20–29.

Highlights of Upstageing include Canberra Choral Society’s Our Stories, directed by Dan Walker with soloists Rachel Mink and Alasdair Stretch and the choir explores memory, identity and belonging from across generations, National Gallery of Australia, March 29; and The Makers Showcase, craft and visual arts displays in the Fitters’ Workshop, March 22, 29.

The inaugural Dante Oration explores the life and legacy of Dante Alighieri, with lecturer Simona Martorana speaking on Dante’s relationship with classical poetry and its influence within the Divine Comedy; the evening opens with the choir of the Dante Alighieri Society. Italian Cultural Centre, Forrest, March 26.

Canberra Symphony Orchestra hops into Hallyu! The Korean Wave with Spark, Bloom!, an evening beginning with lakeside drinks before unfolding into a performance in the atrium, where percussionist Claire Edwardes joins Korean jazz vocalist Sunny Kim and CSO percussionists in blending K-pop sparkle with contemporary Australian sounds. Audiences will be invited to an after-hours opening. National Museum of Australia, March 26.

Virtuoso violinist Ilya Gringolts reunites with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for The Devil’s Violin, tackling Giuseppe Tartini’s fiendishly difficult Devil’s Trill Sonata. The Russian-born prodigy directs the ensemble in a daring program. Llewellyn Hall, March 28.

Irish queer folk singer-songwriter Gráinne Hunt arrives in Canberra as part of her Australian tour, performing with San Diego drummer and vocalist Jules Stewart to create harmonies and storytelling that has drawn comparisons with Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile. Smith’s Alternative, March 16.

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