Do it all: not everyone will make it to the future
January marks the beginning of a new calendar, which means this is usually the time people reflect back on their previous year and try to do everything they didn’t get around to. For example, visit a theatre premiere that everybody keeps talking and writing about. Or go to an exhibition that all of your friends keep recommending. They found time time for it! How about you?
If you haven’t had a chance to visit the exhibition “Not Everyone Will Be Taken Into the Future” at the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val, you still have a chance to take a peek into the future until January 13. Your guide into this breathtaking journey is Ilya Kabakov, who has lived in New York since 1988. Kabakov’s work “Beetle” was sold for $5.8 million at an auction in London in 2008. It’s the most expensive work of contemporary Russian art that has ever been sold. Ilya Kabakov is one of the founders of Moscow Conceptualism, and the creater of a special type of art called “total installation.” In the 1960s, he was an active participant of dissident art exhibitions in the Soviet Union and abroad. Since the late 80s, he has worked on all projects jointly with his niece Emilia Kabakov, whom he married in 1992. Over the years, the couple has held over 500 personal exhibitions across some of the most prestigious venues in the world. But this is the first retrospective exhibition of such scale for the Kabakovs in the artist’s home country. Aside from the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Hermitage Museum, the Tate Modern Gallery (London) and other museums from all over the world took part in the exhibition.
The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting an open exhibition called “The Fabric of Prosperity” until January 27. It’s an international project that brings together artists from the US, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Russia, Germany, Egypt, Morocco, and other countries. The project is dedicated to clothes in art, outside the context of the fashion industry. The exhibition includes works by avant-garde, underground, and contemporary artists, as well as artists from the new generation. The exhibition is borrowed from the treatise “Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation” (1780) by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who dreamed of achieving a just society through the universal “principle of utility,” which creates the “fabric of prosperity” of any society. Both work uniforms and personal items are on display at the exhibition. One exhibit – an installation from the Bangladeshi artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin – is made out of clothes from refugees. An installation by the English artist Sharon Kivland is dedicated to the dress code of the Great French Revolution. Japanese artist Yuichiro Tamura is displaying his collection of traditional Japanese embroidery bombers, custom made for American soldiers during the Korean War (1950–1953).
If you didn’t get a chance to see the fall premiere of the opera “Frau Schindler” at the Moscow Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater, which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this season, you can still catch it in the winter or spring. Back in November, the theater presented the premiere of “Frau Schindler” by Thomas Morse, one of the most popular composers in the United States. The opera, inspired by Spielberg’s legendary Schindler’s List, tells the story of Emily Schindler, the wife of Oscar Schindler, who helped her husband save thousands of Jews during World War II.
On February 2, a real virtuoso from the United States, the great drummer Steve Smith, will perform on the stage of the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music. Each of his performances inevitably becomes a big event. He can work wonders with just one drum and one drumstick, making the room explode with delight. Steve is one of the top 25 drummers of all time. And on February 17, one of the founding fathers of the legendary United Nations Band Dizzy Gillespie, a 14-time Grammy winner, in the “Latin jazz” nomination category, and saxophonist from Cuba Cuba Paquito de Rivera, will appear on the same stage.
The playbill of the new Zaryadye Concert Hall has a lot of surprises in store for opera lovers in both the winter and spring. For example, the venue will host Mexican operatic tenor Ramón Vargas (February 20) and Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča (March 1).
Are you a fan of choirs? Then you definitely need to visit the Beethoven Hall at the International House of Music on March 2, which will be hosting a children’s choir from Lyon. Back home in France, the amazing choir is known as the “Lyon Nightingales.” The young singers became famous in 2004, after the release of Christophe Barratier’s movie “The Chorus,” which starred the soloist of the choir Jean-Baptiste Monnier. The choir “Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc” is fairly recent – it was first set up in 1986. It consists of 75–80 boys and girls aged 10 to 15, who study at St. Mark’s College in Lyon. The young singers take part in the services at Lyon’s Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-Fourviere, perform concerts throughout France, and tour abroad. They perform religious music, Gregorian chants, folk songs, and works by contemporary composers.
On March 3, Crocus City Hall is hosting a performance by a group that had a huge fanbase in the USSR back in the 80s – the French band “SpAce,” headed up by its irreplaceable 65-year-old lead singer Didier Marouani. Incidentally, this was the first band to ever bring a full-fledged stadium laser show to the USSR in 1983. They held 21 concerts, and 600,000 people attended the shows. But the 1992 performances by “SpAce” were truly exceptional: they were the first foreign artists who were allowed to perform at the Red Square. That year, the band gathered a crowd of 360,000 people. The theme of space permeates the band’s art. They dedicate their performances to space exploration, and the electronic melodies conjure up images of space. Moreover, “SpAce” have performed for Russian astronauts in Star City several times. The “Space Opera,” which was written by Didier Marouani, was sent into space, to the famous Mir space station. This time, the guests are in for a new light and laser show. Marouani keeps up with the times, so the band’s old hits will be presented in a new light during the show.
And there is another famous French artist coming to Russia! Mireille Mathieu’s shows in Moscow have at this point become a tradition. On March 6, the singer will give a concert on the main stage at the Kremlin Palace – yet another gift to fans of her talent and voice, which continues to be unmistakably unique. She is 72 years old, and just as beautiful as ever. It’s hard to believe, but this woman has been able to win the battle with age.
On March 14, Crocus City Hall will have another surprise for fans of 80s music: the long-awaited solo concert by the legendary Dieter Bohlen. The successful 64-year-old producer and composer, the author of several hits, and founder of the band Modern Talking will be performing all of his most famous songs. His ex-colleague Thomas Anders makes appearances in Moscow more often, but Bohlen has plenty of fans in the city as well. Every one of Dieter’s concerts is a fantastic show that is filled with unbelievable energy that fires people up the minute they hear the first few chords of the unforgettable hits “You’re my heart, you’re my soul,” “Cheri Cheri Lady,” “Brother Louie,” and many others.
2019 will mark the 130-year anniversary since the birth of the great dancer and choreographer Vaclav Nijinsky. In honor of this anniversary on April 18, the Andris Liepa Center will be hosting a gala concert of featuring ballet stars on the stage of the Kremlin Palace. The concert program includes productions by the legendary Nijinsky performed by contemporary dance performers, as well as premiers by choreographers dedicated to the genius performer.
