Arts editor HELEN MUSA starts her new arts year with news of singers Sarah Blasko and Amy Shark.

Three-time platinum and ARIA Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician and producer Sarah Blasko will be at The Playhouse in celebration of her seventh solo album, I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain, an album of late-night reflections on goodbyes, grief, new beginnings and an important friendship, performed live with her full band, February 1.

Musica Viva presents percussionist, composer, and sound artist Matthias Schack-Arnott and French pianist Cédric Tiberghien in The Cage Project, John Cage’s sonatas and interludes of 1948. Llewellyn Hall, January 31.

The Australasian Quilt Convention will be at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, April 10-13, with the Challenge theme of On the Map. Quilts will be judged based on the interpretation of the theme, excellence and craftsmanship. Entrants can submit images of their completed quilts at aqc.com.au by February 6.

Our Grassy Landscapes: a celebration of the people who care for them, the eighth book by Canberra historian and landcarer Jenny Horsfield tells a story of ecological change, pioneering settlement, science, politics and volunteer action, moving from the mountains and tablelands of the Monaro to our own landscape and growing city. The book is illustrated with photographs and the black-and-white drawings of local conservationist Michael Bedingfield. 

Salut! Baroque’s 30th anniversary season launches with Music to Celebrate, billed as a feast of glorious music, with compositions spanning the 400 years during which creativity bloomed as concerts moved away from the confines of the church and royal courts into the public realm. Wesley Uniting Church, January 31.

Alt-pop singer-songwriter, Amy Shark, is in town on her Solo Acoustic Songs and Stories regional tour, and plans to perform the entire set acoustically, Canberra Theatre, January 29.