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LONDON FOR FUN Newsletter: 12 February 2013 Issue No.222

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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 - Heidi Specker - Termini - Termini was created during Specker’s 2010 residency at the German Academy’s Villa Massimo in Rome. Comprised of different series of images, it begins with an interest in Surrealism and Metaphysics at the home of Giorgio de Chirico and progresses to the Rationalism and New Objectivity of Carlo Mollino. The theme of memory and of intellectual legacy is central to the poetics of Heidi Specker. Surfaces, buildings and objects are transfigured, starting with the precision with which they are photographed. The image, which is often a close-up, modifies spaces and proportions, isolating the subjects from the context and making them absolutes. Until 16 March. www.brancolinigrimaldi.com

2 - Medea - Banished, betrayed, besieged on all sides, the barbarian sorceress Medea exacts a terrible vengeance upon her faithless lover and all those he holds most dear. Celebrated opera director David McVicar makes a welcome return to ENO to rework one of the most enduringly disturbing of all the Greek myths – that of a mother who murders her own children – Charpentier’s thrillingly orchestrated score boasts a harmonic daring and psychological complexity unparalleled in its day. The exemplary cast includes internationally acclaimed British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly in the title role, US tenor Jeffrey Francis making his ENO debut as Jason and exceptional baritone Roderick Williams as Orontes. Medea is conducted by period specialist Christian Curnyn. From 15 February until 16 March. www.eno.org

3 - Barber of Seville - Two centuries after its premiere – and now universally accepted as the composer’s comic masterpiece – Rossini’s prequel to The Marriage of Figaro remains as tuneful, ironic and uproariously funny as ever. Set in an elegant comic-opera vision of 18th-century Seville, Jonathan Miller’s Tiepolo-inspired staging brilliantly intercuts the traditions of the Italian commedia dell’arte and the Whitehall farce to create what, at its last revival, one reviewer called ‘an evening of unalloyed pleasure, insight and subtlety of characterisation’. The talented flautist-turned-conductor Jaime Martin, here making his operatic debut, brings an authentic Hispanic touch to bear on this 25th anniversary revival. Bronze-voiced baritone Benedict Nelson, star of the 2011/12 season, Billy Budd, is Figaro; charismatic young lyric soprano Lucy Crowe returns as the feisty Rosina, following sensational debut appearances in 2007’s Agrippina and The Coronation of Poppea, and Andrew Shore, ENO’s Olivier Award-nominated buffo baritone, reprises his ‘classic portrayal’ (The Guardian) of Doctor Bartolo, the poor girl’s pompous old fool of a guardian. From 25 February until 17 March. www.eno.org

4 - Ansel Adams: Photography from the Mountains to the Sea - Ansel Adams is the most popular and arguably the most influential photographer in American history. Famous for dramatic and evocative landscapes, he produced iconic and beautiful images of American nature. The forests, mountains and coastlines of the US provided a rich environment for Adams’s pioneering photography, and this exhibition brings together his most powerful and striking pictures of water in all its forms, from awe-inspiring images of epic seascapes, dramatic rapids and geysers, to crashing waterfalls, placid ponds, raging rivers and beautiful ice-locked landscapes. Fluid, ephemeral, and unpredictable, water brought dynamic motion and feeling to his pictures. Water provided Adams with a persistent source of inspiration and opportunity for experimentation both in his art and his photographic process. Adams was a true pioneer whose influence continues to be felt to this day. Witness over 100 original prints from the extraordinary detail of the tiniest images through to three of his ground-breaking photographic murals, each almost three meters in height. Until 28 April. www.rmg.co.uk

5 - Schwitters in Britain - Schwitters in Britain is the first major exhibition to examine the late work of Kurt Schwitters, one of the major artists of European Modernism. The exhibition focuses on his British period, from his arrival in Britain as a refugee in 1940 until his death in Cumbria in 1948. Schwitters was forced to flee Germany when his work was condemned as ‘degenerate’ by Germany’s Nazi government and the show traces the impact of exile on his work. It includes over 150 collages, assemblages and sculptures many shown in the UK for the first time in over 30 years. Until 12 May. www.tate.org.uk

6 - Ice Age Art: Arrrival of the Modern Mind - Discover masterpieces from the last Ice Age drawn from across Europe in this groundbreaking show. Created between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago by artists with modern minds like our own, this is a unique opportunity to see the world's oldest known sculptures, drawings and portraits. These exceptional pieces will be presented alongside modern works by Henry Moore, Mondrian and Matisse, illustrating the fundamental human desire to communicate and make art as a way of understanding ourselves and our place in the world. Until 26 May. www.britishmuseum.org

7 - Man Ray Portraits - Man Ray Portraits is the first major museum retrospective of the influential artist’s photographic portraits. Featuring over 150 vintage prints from his career in America and Paris taken between 1916 and 1968, the exhibition highlights Man Ray’s central position amongst the leading artists of the Dada and Surrealist movements. The exhibition includes Man Ray’s revolutionary photographic techniques such as solarisation and early experiments with colour. His subjects include friends, lovers and contemporaries, ranging from Kiki de Montparnasse and Lee Miller to Pablo Picasso and Catherine Deneuve. Until 26 May. www.npg.org.uk

8 - Lichtenstein: A Retrospective - Lichtenstein: A Retrospective is the first full-scale retrospective of this artist in over twenty years. Co-organised by The Art Institute of Chicago and Tate Modern, it brings together 125 of his most definitive paintings and sculptures and will reassess his enduring legacy. Renowned for his works based on comic strips and advertising imagery, coloured with his signature hand-painted Benday dots, the exhibition showcases key paintings such as Look Mickey 1961 lent from the National Gallery Art, Washington and his monumental Artist’s Studio series of 1973–4. From 21 February until 27 May. www.tate.org.uk/modern

9 - David Bowie is - The V&A has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive to curate the first international retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie - one of the most pioneering and influential performers of modern times. David Bowie is will explore the creative processes of Bowie as a musical innovator and cultural icon, tracing his shifting style and sustained reinvention across five decades. The V&A’s Theatre and Performance curators, Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh have selected more than 300 objects that will be brought together for the very first time. They include handwritten lyrics, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, Bowie’s own instruments and album artwork. From 23 March until 28 July. www.vam.ac.uk

10 - Life and Death - Pompeii and Herculaneum - Preserved under ash, their rediscovery nearly 1,700 years later provided an unparalleled glimpse into the daily life of the Roman Empire. From the bustling street to the intimate spaces of a Roman home, this major exhibition will take you to the heart of people’s lives in Pompeii and Herculaneum. From 28 March until 29 September. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

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

Events listing:
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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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