THE BEST_94-96_1081_MASTRO The Best in Rome_DX-SX 26/09/11 20.12 Pagina 94
the
bestinRome
FESTIVAL
From 5th at Parco della Musica
Flamenco! A great
Spanish art
R
ome’s Auditorium comes to
life with the art of flamenco.
Produced by the Musica per
Roma Foundation, and with the
direction of Juan Angel Vela del
Campo, the festival at its 4th edition offers more than just a taste
of the three main categories of
the art of flamenco: “el cante” –
traditional flamenco singing, “el
toque” – instrumental music
accompanied by the clapping of
hands and the tapping of feet,
SHOW
From 29th at the Nuova Fiera di Roma
Ben Hur, the gladiator live
T
ouring Europe since
2009, “Ben Hur Live” at
last disembarks in Rome
with the promise of being
able to host 2.400 spectators
per show. The statistics are
mind-boggling. It requires
620 tonnes of sand, involves
a cast and crew of 400 and a
total of 46 horses, donkeys
and ponies. The extravaganza A scene from the show “Ben Hur”
is the brainchild of German impresario Franz Abraham, and tells the
famous story of the Jewish prince Judah Ben Hur, who heroically frees
himself from slavery in a sea battle, converts to Christianity, and then forgives his Roman nemesis Messala after making him bite the dust at the
racetrack. The music is by the Police's Stewart Copeland, and Italian
actor Luca Ward provides live on-stage narration. The highlights of the
show are undoubtedly the sea battle, and the famous chariot race which
featured Charlton Heston in the Oscar-winning Hollywood success.
From 29th September to end November at the Nuova Fiera di Roma.
Tickets from 32 to 122 euros. Info www.benhurlive.com
ROCK
Monday 3rd at Parco della Musica
Antony and the Johnsons’ “Swanlights”
2
94
and “el baile” – dance. The programme features many big
names including acclaimed contemporary flamenco dancer and
choreographer Israel Galvan
with his recent work “La Curva”.
For dance fans other names to
look out for are those of Eva
Yerbabuena and Rafaela
Carrasco. And there is star singer Carmen Linares with a programme dedicated to Spanish
poets, and multi award-winning
pianist David Pena Dorantes
thanks to whom the piano has
acquired star status in the flamenco firmament. Auditorium
Parco della Musica, Viale P. de
Coubertin, tel. 0680241281,
www.auditorium.com
TROVAROMA
005 was the year that Antony and the Johnsons broke through to
mainstream awareness with their Mercury Award-winning album “I
am a Bird Now”. Described as something of a modern-day William
Blake, the sophisticated New York singer and composer Antony Hegarty,
has continued to release success after
success including the 2009 “The
Crying Light” and the 2010
“Swanlights”, into which he dips for
this Rome concert that goes to stage
with the collaboration of Light
Designer Chris Levine. In both
albums Hegarty expresses a visionary, elemental sense of nature, and
especially in “Swanlights” he continues to link himself with what he
sees as a dying natural world. A
world of which he sings with such
love and sadness that it is clear that
Antony is talking about the end of
everything, not just himself.
Auditorium Parco della Musica,
Viale P. de Coubertin, tel.
Antony
0680241281, www.auditorium.com
THE BEST_94-96_1081_MASTRO The Best in Rome_DX-SX 26/09/11 20.12 Pagina 95
ART
Georgia O’Keeffe
Lippi and Botticelli
E
T
EXHIBITIONS
MENASHE KADISHMAN
An exhibition by the Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman features his famous “Sheep”.
The sheep portraits have become Kadishman's trademark since the 1978 Venice
Biennale, where he presented a flock of coloured live
sheep as living art. In 1995,
he began creating sheep portraits and sculptures, figures
permeated by Biblical symbolism, metaphors of life, peace and brother hood. Until
30th November at Ermanno
Tedeschi Galler y, Via del Portico d’Ottavia 7, tel.
0645551063. 10am-1pm,
3pm-7pm. Saturday and Sunday by appointment.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
THREE AMIGOS
This is a single project that comes to life in three prestigious art venues. It offers the
public the chance to get to
know three big names of the
New York art scene of recent
years. They are Dan Colen,
Nate Lowman, and the youngest and least for tunate,
Dash Snow. The memor y of
Snow has lives on at Macro
with the screening of his work
“Sysiphus, Sissy Fuss, Silly
Puss”, filmed in super8 in
2009, the year of his death.
Nate Lowman occupies two rooms of the American Academy
in Rome with a complex installation made up of some thirty
paintings. Dan Colen is hosted by Palazzo Rospigliosi for
which he has created twenty
large canvases. Macro, Via
Nizza 135; 11am-10pm; Mon
closed; tickets 11 euros, reduced tickets 9 euros; until 11th
December. American Academy, Via Angelo Masina 5, tel.
065852151; 11am-6pm; free
entry; until 11th October. Palazzo Rospigliosi, Via XXIV
Maggio
43,
tel.
0647848064; 11am-6pm;
free entry; until 9th October.
DAN COLEN
“Trash” is the title of Dan Colen’s first major exhibition in
Rome. This show demonstrates how Colen has learned to
work with abject things and
materials by tapping into their
From 30th at Teatro dell’Opera
“Elektra”, tragedy and myth
R
ichard Strauss' monumental “Elektra” returns to the Rome stage
in a production directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff which premiered
successfully at the 2010 Salzburg Festival. The libretto by Hugo von
Hofmannsthal is a highly focused and suffocating adaptation of
Sophocles' near-demented Elektra and her obsessive drive to avenge
the murder of her father, Agamemnon. On the podium, Stefan Soltesz conducts a stellar cast including Felicity Palmer, Eva Johansson,
Melanie Diener, Wolfgang Schmidt and Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester. From 30th September to 8th October at Teatro dell’Opera, Piazza B. Gigli, tel. 06481601, www.operaroma.it
Eva Johansson
TROVAROMA
the best
ntitled “Filippino Lippi and Sandro Botticelli in
his retrospective curated by Barbara Buhler
15th century Florence”, this exhibition aims to
Lynes of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa
shine the light on the approximately 34 years of
Fe, shines the light on the multi-faceted universe of
Lippi's career. Lippi was an
the American artist who plaextremely prolific artist and
yed a part in changing the
his work ranged from
course of modern history of
panels, to frescoes, from
art. The exhibit shows more
drawings on coloured
than 60 works as well as a
paper to paintings. The
selection of photographs by
works on show are from
famous American photograleading
international
phers capturing moments
museums and private coland places in the life of
lections. A selection of
O’Keeffe. Spectators can also
works by Botticelli also provisit a faithful reconstruction
vides the public with an
of the artist’s workshop comopportunity for stylistic
plete with tools and persocomparison with his master,
nal objects. From 4th Octohis friend, and ultimately
ber to 22nd January at Fonhis rival. From 5th October
dazione Roma Museo, Palazto 15th January at Scuderie
zo Cipolla, Via del Corso 320,
del Quirinale, Via XXIV “Adoration of the Magi” by Botticelli from the
tel. 0639967888. 10am to
Uffizi Gallery in Florence
Maggio, tel. 0639967500.
8pm. Mondays closed.
95
THE BEST_94-96_1081_MASTRO The Best in Rome_DX-SX 26/09/11 20.12 Pagina 96
ROCK
Mr. Big
R
eunited after a 16 year
hiatus, the American pop
metal group Mr. Big has
recently released a new
album entitled “What if…”.
Eric Martin, Paul Gilbert, Billy
Sheehan, and Pat Torpey,
along with producer Kevin
Shirley have produced their
special blend of soul, rock,
power-pop and heartfelt ballads. Critics agree that “What
if…” may not break new
ground stylistically, but Mr.
Big has pulled of an admirable feat by reuniting in spite
of personality conflicts, and
putting together a solid
album so they can return to
the stage. Live in concert on
Saturday 1st at Atlantic Live,
Viale dell’Oceano Atlantico
271,
tel.
0654220870,
www.the-base.it
96
individual histories and exposing their latent ener gies.
Each painting is described as
“an actual and still-potent record of real time and visceral
experience, offering unexpected moments of transcendence”. Until 29th October at Gagosian Gallery, Via Francesco
Crispi 16. 10.30am-7pm & by
appointment. Sunday and
Monday closed.
MAXXI
Rome’s Museum dedicated to
the Arts of the XXIst century
inaugurates the season with
two new exhibitions: “Campo
Baeza. The Tree of Creation”
and “Exhibiting the collection.
Architectural Projects from
the Collexion of MAXXI Architettura 1950-2010”. The former, which consists in a large
installation that recreates the
mental landscape of Alber to
Campo Baeza represents the
third episode of the Museum’s Nature cycle exploring
new interpretations of contemporar y architectural research (Until 30th October).
The latter presents a selection of over 70 works by 18
architects, the majority of
which are on show for the
first time while all are drawn
from the Museum of Architecture’s collections (until 13th
November). Both exhibitions
are visible from 8th September. Museo Nazionale delle
Arti del XXI Secolo, Via Guido
Reni 4a, tel. 063225178.
11am-7pm. Thursday and Saturday 11am-10pm. Monday
closed.
ROMAN AQUEDUCTS
Thirty architects, artists, photographers, writers, poets and
one musician focus on a single subject: Roman Aqueducts. Works by the likes of
Santiago Calatrava, Paolo Portoghesi, Mimmo Paladino, Valerio Magrelli and music composed for the occasion by
Giorgio Battistelli celebrate
the beauty and the genius of
this incomparable architectural element that gives a uni-
FESTIVAL
que historical and aesthetical
identity to so much Roman
landscape. Until 6th November at Cinecittàdue Arte Contemporanea, Cinecittà Shopping Centre, Viale Palmiro Togliatti 2, tel. 067220910.
Open from 11am to 7.30pm.
BATTLE PAINTERS BATTLE
PAINTING FROM THE
XVITH TO THE XVIIITH
CENTURY
The exhibition displays paintings devoted to the themes of
war and militar y life. The 60
works on show exhaustively illustrate the genre, with paintings
by all of its most significant exponents from the beginning of
the 17th, throughout the XVIIIth
century. Villa d’Este, Tivoli. Tel.
0774335850. Open from
8.30am to 6.45pm; Monday
closed. Until 30th October.
PORTRAITS. THE MANY
FACES OF POWER
More than 150 precious artifacts are on show, including
bas-reliefs, busts and statues
on loan from major European
museums. The exhibition examines the origins of Roman
portraiture, as well as the different techniques used by Roman artists ranging from the
Republican era to the late-ancient period. Until 23th October at the Capitoline Museums, Piazza del Campidoglio 1. Opening hours 9am to
8pm. Monday closed. For information tel. 060608.
con la collaborazione
di Linda Bordoni
From 29th to 2nd at the Nuova Fiera di Roma
“Romics”, cartoons, animation and videogames
R
“Pirates” a new animation feature film released
by Aardman Animation to be premiered
at “Romics” on Saturday 1st
TROVAROMA
omics is the name of the annual Rome festival
which claims to offer “the best of international
cartoons, animated films and videogames”. The
four-day event, at its 11th edition, includes a diverse programme featuring encounters with a host of
well-known cartoonists, lectures, a competition for
the best graphic novel, a dubbing Gala, a cycle of
world animation-film premieres and exhibitions. A
side-programme features a number of special events
including a “Smurfs” party and a tribute to Dylan
Dog. There is also a fun “Cosplay” parade brought
to life by live cartoon characters and animation
heroes. This year the space has been enlarged to
comprise a food pavilion, as well as commercial
stands and a sprawling “entertainment” area. From
29th September to 2nd October at Nuova Fiera di
Roma. For information tel. 0693953069,
www.romics.it