Although Leon Botstein, president of Bard College and music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, finds the Venezuelan state-funded, national system of youth orchestras admirable, he does not believe the model can be identically copied in the United States.

FORBES: Can El Sistema, Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System, Be Adapted For United States?

This is not to suggest the Bard of Hogwarts is up there with the Bard of Avon, only that her words turn into music coming out of the mouths of such performers as Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane and Miranda Richardson.

WSJ: Phoenix Is on the Money as Johnny Cash

The city's annual summer festivals are not limited solely to the Bare Buns Run, and include Pride Week (early August), western Canada's largest gay pride parade, MusicFest Vancouver (two weeks early August), an international music festival that hosts a free city-centre outdoor stage, and the Bard on the Beach festival (June-September), which sees the work of Shakespeare performed beside the water in a cheerful series of red-and-white circus tents.

BBC: Vancouver: Land of the lotus-eaters