On Wednesday 23rdat Parco della Musica

Dudamel and theBolivar Orquesta

He is barely30 years old

and yet not onlyis he requested bytop concert hou-ses and orchestrasthe world over,he has recentlybeen named “Ar-tist of the Year”

by the prestigious Gramophone recordlabel. He is Gustavo Dudamel andhe is in Rome at the head of theSimon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, foun-ded on the amazing initiative of JoséAntonio Abreu over 30 years ago.The 250-strong orchestra is made upof young musicians from poor shantytowns in Venezuela, to whom the or-chestra provides instruments and aneducation. They will be performingBeethoven, Ravel and Stravinsky.Concert on Wednesday 23rd at Parcodella Musica, tel. 068082058,www.santacecilia.it

The Magic Flute according to Peter BrookBeware: this is not Mozart’s very famous “The Magic Flute”, but “A

Magic Flute” seen through the eyes of legendary British theatre andfilm director Peter Brook. There are seven singers, two actors and apianist. The stage is bare but for bamboo poles. The opera is shortened to90 minutes and performed without a break. Gone are the three ladies, thethree boys, the chorus, the orchestra, the overture, and nearly an additionalthird of Mozart’s score. At the heart of this production are the twospellbinding actors with dreadlocks, who with wry, wise humour, pull allthe strings. They move with the grace of dancers and manipulate thebamboo poles like sculptors. Brookand his collaborators - Marie-HélèneEstienne and pianist Franck Krawczyk- have removed many of the superna-tural, elements from an opera ofteninfantilized. Arias are given purelyhuman contexts. In English with Italiansubtitles. From 17th to 27th Novemberat Teatro Argentina, Largo di TorreArgentina, tel. 06684000311,www.teatrodiroma.net.

CLASSICAL MUSIC THEATRE

King Lear with Claudio AbbadoThe internationally acclaimed

conductor Claudio Abbado hasalways been interested in nurturingyoung talent. After a series of si-gnificant experiences with youngmusicians, the year 2004 saw thebirth of the Orchestra Mozart made

up of 40 young musicians fromacross Europe, of which he becamethe Music and Artistic Director. Ab-bado is in Rome on the podium toconduct the Orchestra and Choir ofthe Santa Cecilia National Academytogether with his Mozart Orchestra

in a project dedicated to Russiancinematography. The programmeforesees music written by Sho-stakovic for Kozincev’s film“King Lear” which will be scree-ned during the concert, as wellas Tchaikovsky’s symphony op.18 dedicated to “The Tempest”.With soprano Anna CaterinaAntonacci and bass Anatoli Kot-scherga. Concert on Sunday 20that Parco della Musica, Viale P.de Coubertin, tel. 068082058,www.santacecilia.it

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Dee Dee BridgewaterOne of the highlights of the

Rome Jazz Festival sees DeeDee Bridgewater honouring iconicjazz figure, Billie Holiday. Over thecourse of a multifaceted career thathas spanned four decades, Dee DeeBridgewater has risen to the top tierof today’s jazz vocalists, putting herown spin on standards as well asrevisiting jazz classics. She descri-bes her latest album as her way ofpaying her respects to Holiday, avocalist who made it possible forsingers like herself to carve out acareer. Concert on Thursday 17th atParco della Musica, tel. 892982,www.auditorium.com

JAZZ

A scene from the show “A Magic Flute”; left Gustavo Dudamel

Conductor Claudio Abbado

bestinRomethe

Sunday 20th at Parco della Musica

From Thursday 17th at Teatro Argentina

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EXHIBITIONSROME IN CARAVAGGIO’STIMET his exhibition explores the lifeand art of the Eternal City du-ring a particularly critical timefollowing the political and so-cial upheavals of the ProtestantReformation and the efforts ofthe popes to restore the powerand prestige of the CatholicChurch. By bringing togethersome 140 paintings from mu-seums and galleries around theworld, the show traces the in-fluence of the two great artistsat the turn of the XVII century,the classical painter Annibale

Carracci from Bologna and therevolutionary Caravaggio fromMilan. Until February 5th, open10am to 7pm, closed on Mon-days, details and bookings on06-32810.HOMO SAPIENS‘Homo Sapiens: the great storyof human diversity’ is the titleof this interactive exhibitionwhich runs Until February 12that Palazzo delle Esposizioni inVia Nazionale 194. Divided intosix sections, it has been put to-gether by a team of geneticists,linguistic specialists, anthropo-logists and paleo-anthropolo-gists to examine the origins ofthe human race, some two mil-

lion years ago, followed by thedevelopment of homo sapienswho migrated, colonised andsettled on the different conti-nents. Open 10am to 8pm or10.30pm on Friday and Satur-day, closed Mondays, detailsand bookings on 06-39967500.MICHELANGELO ANDLEONARDO This exhibition at the CapitolineMuseums offers, for the first ti-me, a chance to compare andcontrast drawings and sket-ches by the two great mastersof the Italian Renaissance, Leo-nardo and Michelangelo,through some sixty of their

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Gallery of Modern Art

ART ROCK

Rome’s Municipal Gallery ofModern Art opens its

doors to the public with aninaugural exhibit that paystribute to Rome. After aperiod of closure, one of thecity’s most significant modernart collections is once againon display in the ancient Car-melite Monastery which hou-ses the museum and has beenrestored according to modernmuseum standards. The per-manent collection, whichgathers over 3000 works,includes sculptures, paintingsand graphic art. It features alarge corpus of works by Ita-lian art protagonists of the20th century. From 19thNovember at Galleria d’ArteModerna di Roma, Via F. Cri-spi 24. Info tel. 060608. 10am-6pm. Mon closed.

Natacha AtlasOnce known for her fusion

of Arabic pop, beats andbelly dancing, Natacha Atlashas dramatically changedmusical direction. In Rome shepresents her new project (andalbum) entitled Mounqaliba,for which Atlas has surroun-ded herself with sophisticatedmusicians – from pianist ZoeRahman to a 20-piece Turkishensemble and a chamberorchestra. In it she continuesto explore acoustic fusions ofMiddle Eastern and westernstyles. Songs include the Ara-bic favourite “MuwashahOzkourini”, Nick Drake's“River Man” and FrançoiseHardy's “La Nuit Est Sur la Vil-le”. Concert on Monday 21stat Parco della Musica, Viale P.de Coubertin, tel. 0680241281,www.auditorium.com.Natacha Atlas

The critically acclaimed American independent rockband “Fleet Foxes” are in Rome to present their

latest effort: “Helpnessness Blues”. The five youngmembers of the band make up a very different sortof rock band, and describe their own music as "baro-que harmonic pop jams". They draw influences fromthe traditions of folk, pop, choral, gospel, sacredharp singing, West Coast music, traditional musicfrom Ireland to Japan, film scores, and their NWpeers. After a successful debut in 2008, this albumwas released this year. Concert on Thursday 17th atAtlantico Live, Viale dell’Oceano Atlantico 271,www.vivoconcerti.com

ROCKThe Fleet Foxes: “Helpnessness Blues”

Thursday 17th at Atlantico Live

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works on display until February19th 2012. Opening hoursfrom 9am to 8pm, closed onMondays, tickets euro 6 or eu-ro 12 for joint entrance to theexhibition and museums, de-tails on 06-0608.THE RENAISSANCEIN ROMEEntitled “The Renaissance inRome” this exhibition exploresartistic, architectural and urbanplanning in 16th century Rome.Seven sections bear witness to

an extraordinarily fertile and so-phisticated period in the historyof art which started off still im-bued in classical culture, anddeveloped within the influenceof a new and enthralling reli-gious spirituality. It includes ma-sterpieces by Raphael, Miche-langelo and others. Until 12thFebruary at Palazzo Sciarra, ViaM. Minghetti 22, tel.0639967888. 9am-6pm. Satur-day 9am-2pm. Sunday closed.PIET MONDRIANThis is a major retrospectivethat aims to cover the over 30years of Piet Mondrian’s activi-ty. More than seventy oil pain-tings and drawings by theDutch artist who is consideredto be one of the founders of ab-stractionism, as well as an im-portant representative of neo-plasticism, highlight the overallcoherence of an artist whosecapacity for renewal and arti-stic growth remained constantthroughout his career. Until29th January 2012 at Com-plesso del Vittoriano, Via SanPietro in Carcere. For informa-tion tel. 066780664. OpenMonday to Thursday 9.30am -7.30pm; Friday and Saturday9.30am - 11.30pm; Sunday9.30am - 8.30pm.ALEXANDER RODCENKOAND SOCIALIST REALISMSTwo important exhibitions bringRussian art to Rome in this Ye-ar of Russian culture in Italy inwhich a number of events, bothin Italy and in Russia, highlightthe cultural, political and diplo-

matic ties between the nations.A retrospective dedicated tothe eclectic ar tist AlexanderRodcenco (1891-1956) di-splays some 300 works, ran-ging from original photographsto photomontages and periodprints. The other exhibition, en-titled “Socialist realisms. So-viet painting 1920-1970”, tellsthe story of an extraordinarymovement in 20th century artin which the Soviet state active-ly promoted realist painting andits development by supportingthousands of talented artistsfrom all over its immense empi-re. Until 8th January at Palazzodelle Esposizioni, Via Nazionale194. 10am-8pm. Fri and Sat10am-10.30pm. Mon cloFILIPPINO LIPPI ANDSANDRO BOTTICELLI IN15TH CENTURY FLORENCEThis exhibition aims to shine thelight on the approximately 34 ye-ars of Lippi's career. Lippi wasan extremely prolific artist andhis work ranged from panels, tofrescoes, from drawings on co-loured paper to paintings. Theworks on show are from leadinginternational museums and pri-vate collections. A selection ofworks by Botticelli also providesthe public with an opportunityfor stylistic comparison with hismaster, his friend, and ultimate-ly his rival. Until 15th January atScuderie del Quirinale, Via XXIVMaggio, tel. 0639967500.sed.Info tel. 0639967500.

con la collaborazione di Linda Bordoni

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“Days of the Dinosaur” is a touring interactiveexhibition that aims to provide visitors with a

first-hand experience of the world of the gigantic ani-mals that owned Earth tens of millions of years ago.The exhibition features over fifty life sized dinosaurrobots, complete with moving eyes, tongue and claws,as well as skeleton replicas and an interactive areawhere children get to become palaeontologists forone day. In addition to the great thrill of watchingdinosaurs in motion, the exhibit provides related infor-mation throughout the entire tour, with Palaeontolo-gy experts as guides who take on the challenge ofanswering questions posed by the children. Excavationreplicas, a souvenir shop, drawing areas, a “Dinobar”

and a sandbox for children to play palaeontologists, make up the "Days of the Dinosaur" exhibit that stars alarger than life thirteen meter long and nine meter high Giganotosaurus! A section dedicated to Jurassicremains found in Europe has been added especially for the local public. From 18th November to 18th Januarydaily from 10am at Nuova Fiera di Roma, Via Portuense 1645/1647. Reduced family tickets available. Tel.0665074200. For information www.daysofthedinosaur.it

EXHIBITION

A day with the dinosaursFrom Friday 18th at the Nuova Fiera di Roma

Medfilm This year’s edition of the

MedFilm Festival is presen-ted as a special one, with afocus on the social and politi-cal realities of the ArabSpring. In its 17th year, thefestival, which shines thelight on film-making in Euro-pe and in the Mediterraneanbasin, highlights Tunisia,Egypt and Romania. Each ofthese countries have filmsparticipating in the main sec-tions of the festival plus threeSpecial Showcases focusingon their best films. All in all,the 9-day calendar presents40 premieres, 3 competitions,13 documentaries and 18shorts. From 19th to 27thNovember, screenings andevents at Auditorium Conci-liazione and Casa del Cinema.Info www.medfilmfestival.org

FESTIVAL

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