Wednesday 13 February 2013

March at the Barbican

Next month is a terrific one at the Barbican with a chance to see the Guildhall students in a Mozart masterpiece and a troubling examination of contemporary America. Elsewhere in the centre there is rare French baroque and rare Italian 20th century opera. Gustavo Dudamel bring the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a residency and, as we get close to Easter, one of Bach's passions makes an appearance with a terrific cast.

Guildhall School of Music and Drama performs Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (28/2 - 6/3) directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans and conducted by Dominic Wheeler. Lully's Phaeton will receive a concert performance in the Barbican Hall given by Les Talens Lyriques under Christopher Rousset. Chances to hear French baroque opera in London are getting greater, thank goodness, but this is still a wonderful and rare opportunity. And in the cinema there is a chance to catch up on one of the rarer 20th century operas, Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini (based on Dante) with a performance from the Met in New York. It certainly doesn't crop up very often, this production was last seen in 1986. (16 March)

Also at the Guidhall School, but spoken word this time, is The Laramie Project a troubling play based on Matthew Shepard's murder at Laramie, Wyoming. The play arose from the visits of a group of actors to the town, listening to the inhabitants reactions. It has been described as Our Town with a question mark 'Could this be our town?'. (22-27 March)

The Art Gallery has the show The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns, and in parallel to this in the theatre there is the Gate Theatre's production of Watt based on texts by Samuel Beckett (26 Feb to 16 Mar). Also on 13 March we have Cabaret Duchamp a one off evening 'a lively event in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp' with Will Gompertz.

The concerts start with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson performing Michael Tippett's 3rd Symphony and Beethoven's Triple Concerto (1 March).

Venezualan whiz-kid Gustavo Dudamel is bringing the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a residency (14 to 17 March), with music by Unsuk Chin, Joseph Pereira, Vivier, Debussy, Stravinsky and of course John Adams including the European premiere of his The Gospel According to the Other Mary based on the New Testament stories of Lazarus and Jesus's Passion, drawing on Mexican poetry.

The month concludes with a performance of Bach's St John Passion (29 March) given by the Academy of Ancient Music directed by Richard Egarr, with James Gilchrist, Matthew Rose, Elizabeth Watts, Sarah Connolly, Andrew Kennedy and Christopher Purves - a completely terrific cast. And Valery Gergiev conducts Brahms's German Requiem paired with Szymanowski's Stabat Mater with the LSO (30 & 31 March).

Elsewhere on this blog:

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