This is American Amanda Miller’s third choreography set to the music of Bach. Miller has worked in the German city of Freiburg since 1997, and has her own company there. Ballet Freiburg Pretty Ugly performed at the Kaaitheater for the first time in the 1998-99 season. The music from Johann Sebastian’s independent work ‘Die Kunst der Fuge’ is performed live by the Freiburger Barockorchester.
Archive for December, 2009
De La Guarda
Acclaimed pop theatre troupe De La Guarda has taken up residency in Las Vegas, and already it’s challenging the conflicted sensibilities of the city. Though some find the show to be ‘too sexy’, De La Guarda’s high-energy, interactive and avant-garde experience is in perfect sync with the Vegas’s new Cirque du Soliel/Blue Man Group demographic. In a rave-like setting, intellibeams pierce thick fog as electronica thumps throughout the warehouse-like showroom. Patrons stand during the performance to allow them room to interact, an experience in itself.
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A Parade of Hong Kong Fine Music Chamber Music Showcase II
Chamber music barely existed in Hong Kong a few years ago. But after the Hong Kong String Quartet was formed in 1995 things changed dramatically. Chamber music concerts now proliferate and this concert celebrates that with the finest groups being selected by organiser Wong Sze-hang for the occasion. At this showcase the HK Percussion Quartet Jenga performs ‘Brazilian Myths’ by Rosauro, the HK Chamber Choir performs ‘Liebeslieder Walzer’ by Brahms and CityBrass performs Uber’s ‘A Day At The Camptown Races’.
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Art Nouveau 1890-1914
Even for the National Gallery, this exhibition covers a lot of territory, including furniture, jewelry, architectural pieces and ceramics, in addition to the more common paintings, sculptures and graphics. All of the pieces are connected to the fin-de-siecle era known as Art Nouveau. There will be a 15-minute educational film on view for the duration of the exhibition, highlighting some of the 350 pieces in the show, which include items from the 1900 Paris World’s Fair and an entire lunchroom designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
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Après l’Apartheid
If these three South African photographers have anything in common, it’s their use of photography as a painterly medium and rejection of engaged socio-realist themes for a form of escapism. Vivian Van Boech’s colourful, tongue-in-cheek scenes are full of references to art history and mythology using animals to create miniature worlds that veer between the fantastical and apocalyptic. Jennifer Lund’s colourscapes with their references to the elements take the image towards abstraction while Tracy Gander plays with light in South African landscapes taken from a moving car.
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Iris Origo’s garden
Anglo-Irish writer Iris Origo died 12 years ago, but her books describing wartime in the Val d’Orcia are still very much alive. She and her aristocratic Italian husband lived at La Foce, a beautiful villa with a superb Giardino al Italiano designed by English landscape gardener Sir Cecil Pinsent, who worked miracles between 1925 and 1939 to construct an oasis in the midst of the infertile terrain. You can not visit the house, but the garden is open to the public and is a worthwhile stop-off point during a tour of the Pienza/Montepulciano area.
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The Y100 FEASTival
Literally fill your plate this winter at the Y100, FEASTival concert. Sponsored by Philly’s favourite alternative radio station, Y100′s concert features an eclectic mix of both alternative and rock bands. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to see five amazing groups of musicians, including Live, The Wallflowers, Everclear, Fuel and Good Charlotte. Don’t forget your group’s picnic – for a terrific combo concert that should have you raging well into dessert.
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Café Luciano
Order a Dean Martini – gin, lillet, orange peel – sink into a deep sofa, and enjoy standards from the newly installed trio that plays on weekends at this Rush Street café. In warm weather when windows open onto sidewalk tables, it doesn’t take much imagination to believe you’re in a trattoria in Rome. A mural of Lake Como runs the length of one wall and house specialities on the Tuscan menu include escarole soup, swimming with sausage and white beans, and country-style rigatoni tossed with smoky Italian bacon, sweet sausage, and herbs.
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