Beyond the Easel
Not all paintings were born on the easel nor rendered on traditional canvases. As the title suggests of this exhibition of rarely seen paintings by four major French Post-Impressionists – Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Ker Xavier Roussel. It brings together 85 luxuriously colourful paintings in unusual formats that were created mainly for private European apartments and mansions around the turn of the last century. They range from folding screens to large paintings that once were part of ensembles that hung on walls, doors and even ceilings.
Giulio Cesare
Set in Egypt in 48BC, Handel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ tells the tale of the period in Julius Caesar’s reign where he meets the seductive Cleopatra and her psychopathic brother Tolomeo. Handel is best known for his concertos and oratorios but operas were his passion. Here his gorgeous arias are performed by renowned counter-tenors David Daniels (Cesare) and Bejun Mehta (Tolomeo), with soprano and Operalia winner Elizabeth Futral as Cleopatra. The staging is directed by Francisco Negrin, with Harry Bicket making his company début conducting this production. In Italian with English supertitles.
Tre
After its lavish spot-the-celeb opening, this new club and eatery is on its way to becoming one of the regular stopping-off points for clubbers making their weekly pilgrimages to the nightlife temples of the trendy Testaccio district. Set out on three floors, there is a ground floor disco and a self-styled ‘kitchen bar’ on the upper level. One of the best features of the club, however, is the two-level terrace. Just the thing for chilling out as those warm Roman evenings approach.
U modrou kachnicky
Arguably Prague’s finest purveyor of gourmet Czech food, The Blue Duckling, as its name translates into English, is well known to parliamentarians and movie actors alike. The original location in the city’s Mala Strana district across the Vltava river has finally grown into a second, more easily found branch in the Old Town district. The new edition still banks on what this place has always done best – the kitchen’s trademark delicate handling of game and their mastery of fine, hearty sauces of natural herbs and Moravian wines. Service is impeccable, the atmosphere old-world and presentation is something that would make a Bohemian grandmother proud.
The Triumph of French Painting
This exhibition includes over 50 major French paintings from the 19th and early-20th centuries, from neo-classicism to post-impressionism. ‘The Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse’ is sponsored by the Baltimore Museum of Art and JP Morgan. Among the immortals on display are Cezanne, Degas, Delacroix, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, and Picasso. An art lover’s delight, this show will be one of the highlights of the season.
Best In Show
From the stars of This Is Spinal Tap – the funniest film ever made – comes another hilarious spoof documentary, this about an oddball group of pet lovers at a dog show.
Country Music Festival
Doubt the cowboy roots of Vegas? A stop at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Country Music Festival will set you strait. An afternoon of yee-hawing, rip-roaring, tobacco-chewing hell raising is in store at this daylong party headlined by contemporary country star George Strait. With cowboy once again chic thanks to Madonna, and easy-on-the-eyes stars like the Sara Evans and LeeAnn Womack pushing their own brand of Babe Bluegrass, we’d be inclined to suggest you iron your denim and get out to the speedway. Other performers include Alan Jackson, Lonestar, Brad Paisley and Asleep at the Wheel.
From Pagan to Christian Rome
One of the final exhibitions to celebrate Holy Year 2000 is also one of the most fascinating. This show is dedicated to the passage from pagan to Christian rituals, and the subsequent transformations in art, politics and town-planning. 400 works, from exquisite gold, silver and ivory jewellery to marble statues, mosaics and illustrated manuscripts depict the arts and life-styles that emerged in the caput mundi between the 3rd and the 8th centuries.
The Real Thing
‘The Real Thing’, which last year won the Tony Award for Best Actress (Jennifer Ehle), opens with Max, an English architect, accusing his wife of adultery. We soon learn this is a scene from a play, written by Max’s friend, Henry, who is himself having an affair with Max’s wife, a left-wing actress named Annie. After Henry marries Annie, he begins to suspect that the tables have been turned on him and that she is carrying on with one of her co-stars. A richly satisfying comedy about marriage and writing, betrayal and integrity, high art and pop culture.
