Hop to it! Egg hunt, romance in store this Easter weekend

A romantic musical journey, an egg hunt packed with history and some award-winning art top this weekend's list.

Bytown Museum hides history lessons alongside sweet treats

Ottawa's Bytown Museum hides a history lesson in every Easter egg during their holiday hunt. (Bytown Museum)

A romantic musical journey, an egg hunt packed with history and some award-winning art top this weekend's list.

Toujours l'amour


​French pianist Alexandre Prévert breezes into Ottawa this weekend in search of romance — or at least the romantic heart he believes beats in all music lovers. In a show that poses the musical question, 'Which romantic are you?' the 21-year-old graduate of Conservatoire de Paris blends works by Beethoven, Debussy and Schumann with poetry and stories of true love.
Pianist Alexandre Prévert explores the meaning of romance through the works of Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy. (Alexandre Prévert )

Prévert said he discovered many of the pieces in his piano repertoire were really about love, some written while their composers were going through tumultuous relationships.

"I'm making a point that these big guys, these legendary classical composers, we often don't think about them as human beings, although they loved and experienced love like all of us," he said.

Prévert, Piano & Poetry has toured throughout Europe, including a stop at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Next week the show will visit intimate concert spaces in Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa.

When: Saturday at 7 p.m.

Where: Steinway Piano Gallery, 1481 Innes Rd.

Cost: Free

Fill your basket

The folks at Ottawa's Bytown Museum have cleverly concealed a history lesson within an Easter egg hunt. Staff at the museum have been busily stashing eggs containing clues and historical facts among its curios and artifacts, ensuring children will explore every nook and cranny of the creaky-floored building.

"We hide them in very strange places," said museum director Robin Etherington. "We have as much fun hiding them as the children do finding them."
Can you spot the egg? (Sandra Abma/CBC News)

Where: Bytown Museum, 1 Canal Lane (beside the Rideau Canal Locks at the Ottawa River)

When: Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m to 4 p.m. (The museum is closed on Good Friday.)

Cost:  $2 on Saturday and Monday. Sunday is free. 

Award-winning art

Signature works from this year's winners of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are on display at the National Gallery of Canada. The prize honours artists who have made an enduring and significant contribution to Canadian art in a variety of disciplines including photography, multi-media installations and painting.
Photograph of ashes by Governor General's Award-winner Spring Hurlbut. (Spring Hurlbut)

The entrance to the temporary gallery is guarded by a huge life-size bison from an installation by visual and performance artist Adrian Stimson of the Siksika Nation in Alberta. Stimson says his art is inspired by "the history of colonialism and how it affected my people."

Where: National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Dr.

When: The gallery open Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost:  Adults $15, seniors $13, students $7. Children under 11 are free.

'Beyond Redemption,' Adrian Stimson's installation inspired by the slaughter of bison, is on now at the National Gallery of Canada. (Sandra Abma/CBC News)