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LONDON FOR FUN Newsletter: 11 October 2011 Issue No.209

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http://www.londonforfun.com
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1.) Top 10 London events
2.) Other Events, Theatre listings, Museums and Galleries
3.) How to unsubscribe

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1. Top 10 London events
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1 - Der fliegende Holländer - Tim Albery’s Olivier-nominated production of Wagner’s opera was new in the 2008/9 Season, and is back early in this one with a special musical highlight too: the return of Jeffrey Tate to the Royal Opera House to conduct a score that utilizes the brilliance and richness of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House to the full. Anja Kampe comes back to the role of Senta – for which she was also Olivier-nominated – the young woman desperate to leave her unfulfilling life in an isolated Baltic port. The mysterious Dutchman, this time to be sung by leading Wagner interpreter Falk Struckmann, seems to offer escape to Senta. The production itself is dark and intense, to match the psychological themes of longing and denial, hope and redemption. Visually imposing, Michael Levine’s set designs evoke the elemental forces of nature and the towering hulks of the ships that do daily battle with them. Driving it on is Wagner’s magnificent score which utilizes a world-class cast and the large Royal Opera Chorus to the full for an absorbing drama and a thrilling operatic experience. From 18 October until 4 November. www.roh.org.uk

2 - Taryn Simon - Tate Modern premieres an important new body of work by the American artist Taryn Simon, who chronicles generational histories through an elaborate assembly of image and text. In each, the external forces of territory, power, circumstance or religion collide with the internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance. From feuding families in Brazil to victims of genocide in Bosnia, and human exhibitions in the United States to the living dead in India, Simon forms a collection that maps the relationships among chance, blood and other components of fate. Simon’s presentation explores the struggle to determine patterns embedded in the narratives she documents. Until 6 November. www.tate.org.uk/modern

3 - The Marriage of Figaro - Widely regarded as the greatest comic opera ever written, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro whisks us through the whirlwind events of ‘one crazy day’ (to borrow Beaumarchais’s title for his original play) as Figaro, the Count’s valet, attempts to wed his beloved Susanna, the Countess’s maid, before their philandering master can bed her first. Following her much-praised ENO productions of Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea and Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers, leading stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw plots a path through The Marriage of Figaro’s moral maze of disguises, deceptions, sexual intrigue, mutual suspicion and mistaken identity. Former ENO Music Director Paul Daniel returns to conduct an impressive young cast led by Iain Paterson, recently admired at ENO in such diverse roles as Verdi’s Amonasro, Gounod’s Mephistopheles, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Wagner’s Amfortas, as Figaro and Kate Valentine as the predatory Count’s long-suffering but all-forgiving wife. From 5 October until 10 November. www.eno.org

4 - The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World - Led by painter Wyndham Lewis and named by American poet Ezra Pound, the revolutionary Vorticist artists reacted against the culture of Edwardian England with a radical new aesthetic that embraced the maelstrom of the modern world. This exhibition celebrates the electrifying force and vitality of Vorticism by bringing together over 100 works including paintings, sculptures, as well as the rarely seen Vorticist photography of Alvin Langdon Coburn, claimed as the first ever abstract photographs, and newly revealed works by key women Vorticists. Drawing on new research, the exhibitiongoes beyond a purely British interpretation of Vorticism, highlighting the movement’s connections with the American avant-garde in New York. Until 4 December. www.tate.org.uk

5 - Laurel Nakadate - Working in film, performance and photography, Nakadate often puts herself – her body and personal relationships – at the centre of the nexus of author, artwork and audience. She creates highly charged scenes that put in play relationships premised on gender, power and sexuality. Using a finely tuned emotional tone, Nakadate’s work demonstrates an unusual level of humanity, as she foregrounds vulnerability, emotion and sensitivity with a striking level of candour. Issues of identity, social class and mental health are central to her practice. Several recent works have focused on teenagers as cyphers for universal human struggles, and as lynchpins for understanding the highs and lows of popular culture. Until 11 December. www.zabludowiczcollection.com

6 - Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement - This landmark exhibition focuses on Edgar Degas’s preoccupation with movement as an artist of the dance. Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement traces the development of the artist's ballet imagery throughout his career, from the documentary mode of the early 1870s to the sensuous expressiveness of his final years. The exhibition is the first to present Degas’s progressive engagement with the figure in movement in the context of parallel advances in photography and early film; indeed, the artist was keenly aware of these technological developments and often directly involved with them. Until 11 December. www.royalacademy.org.uk

7 - V&A Illustration Awards 2011 - The V&A Illustration Awards celebrates the best illustration published over the last year. Original artwork from the best illustrated book, book cover, magazine and student illustrator of the year will be on display, together with a selection of all competition entries. Until 17 December. www.vam.ac.uk

8 - Masterpiece a Month: Presiding Genius - The Gallery celebrates its 200th year with an astonishing international loan exhibition. Masterpiece A Month: Presiding Genius will feature a loan masterpiece every month in star position at the end of the Gallery’s enfilade. Until 31 December. www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

9 - This is Design - To coincide with the opening of the Design Museum’s latest exhibition, ‘This is Design’, the museum has announced two major acquisitions to its Collection: Britain’s celebrated red telephone box, donated by BT and a set of traffic lights designed by David Mellor. The acquisitions are both featured in ‘This is Design’ which celebrates and features highlights from the museum’s Collection including the Anglepoise lamp, UK road signs, UK traffic lights, the candlestick telephone and the Moulton bicycle. The telephone box, also known as the K6 Kiosk, celebrates its 75th birthday this year. It was introduced in 1936 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the coronation of King George V. The “Jubilee Kiosk”, as it became known, was designed by English architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) and was similar, but smaller than its predecessor the K2, also designed by Sir Giles. The older K2 had not featured outside London, but the “Jubilee” model became the first genuinely standard telephone box to be installed all over the country. The Traffic Lights, redesigned by David Mellor in 1966, were commissioned by the Department of the Environment as part of the total redesign of the national road traffic sign system. Mellor’s iconic design is still in use today and are a familiar sight on Britain roads. Until 22 January 2012. www.designmuseum.org

10 - Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize - The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize presents the very best in contemporary portrait photography, showcasing the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals and photography students. Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family. This year the competition attracted over 6,000 submissions by 2,506 photographers from around the world. The selected sixty works for the exhibition include the five shortlisted images and the winner of the ELLE commission. From 10 November 2011 until 12 February 2012. www.npg.org.uk

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2. Other Events, Theatre listings, Museums and Galleries:

Events listing:
http://www.londonforfun.com/events-in-London.htm

Theatre listings:
http://www.londonforfun.com/London-theatres.htm

Museum listing:
http://www.londonforfun.com/London-museums.htm

Galleries listings:
http://www.londonforfun.com/galleries-in-London.htm

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