Festival
of World Cultures
This year's festival includes artists from
more than 50 countries. There are over 160 events to
choose from in 40 venues around
International
Festival of Street Theatre
Featuring theatre companies and performers
from far-flung corners of the world, as well as
Performances are avant
garde, creative and often spectacular. Unlike the
nearby Ambert festival, which is aimed primarily at
children, this festival is very much for grown-ups. The French invented the
Theatre of the Absurd and at Aurillac you will see
how determined they are to nurture and expand this theatrical tradition.
The Antwerp Summer Festival (Zomer van Antwerpen) stages
varied productions and performances including installations, outdoor movies,
theatre, dance and music from around the world. Much of the festival is free.
Spectators enjoy a feast of music from
around the world and thematic open-air movies against the stunning background
of the quays of the River Scheldt. The pick of the international new circus
scene, visual-theatre pieces, dance in unexpected locations and lots of
one-offs and unusual installations completed the programme.
Long
Night of the Museums
More than 110 of
The evening offers a nocturnal cultural
experience. Tickets provide admission to all the galleries, plus unlimited
transport on the extensive shuttle bus network, which runs along 12 different
routes, linking participating museums, galleries and exhibition spaces.
In addition to the permanent exhibitions, various institutions offer concerts,
readings, dance and theatre shows, special tours and "exotic menus"
to see visitors through to the early hours.
First held in 1920, the Salzburg Festival
is one of the cultural highlights of the year. Alongside the regular residency
of the Vienna Philharmonic, musicians and ensembles of the highest calibre fill the beautiful Alpine city with music and
drama.
In 2008 artistic director Jürgen Flimm's
operatic programme includes local hero Mozart's Don
Giovanni (conducted by Bertrand de Billy) and Die Zauberflötte
(conducted by Riccardo Muti),
Verdi's Otello (also Muti)
and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle (conducted by Peter Eötvös), all played by the Vienna Philharmonic. The
visiting Cleveland Orchestra, under music director Frans
Welser-Möst, performs Dvorák's
Rusalka, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Mozarteum
Orchestra Salzburg in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.
The drama programme includes productions of
Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and, Perner-Insel
in Hallein, both the
three-part Sad Face / Happy Face by Jan Lauwers &
Needcompany and a version of Schiller's The Robbers.
There are two plays with a connection to
The crowded music programme includes the usual repeat
concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic, this year led by Boulez, Nott, Muti, Jansons and Salonen; Rattle and his Berliner Philharmoniker;
Welser-Möst and his Cleveland Orchestra; and a week's
project by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of
Venezuela under charisimatic Gustavo Dudamel, let alone the Camerata
Salzburg's own series of concerts.
There is a focus on Italian contemporary composer Salvatore Sciarrino
and, in his farewell to
Lido
The Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica, better known internationally as the
Venice Film Festival, is by far the oldest film festival still in existence
today. Screenings take place at various cinemas, but the centre of the action
is the
The festival was established in 1932, and
even in the prevailing cinematic climate of fascist propaganda films and
imitations of
After the Second World War, the event reflected the new climate of freedom of
expression. Cinema makers of the Neo-realist school such as Rossellini and De Sica discovered more direct takes on reality which gave the
lie to the glossy artificiality of much
In 1952, the characteristic Golden Lion prize was introduced. To this day it remains,
along with the Cannes Palme d'Or, one of the few trophies in the film world
that comes anywhere near Hollywood's little golden man, the Oscar. Although the
festival has traditionally sponsored non-Hollywood cinema, there has recently
been a rapprochement, making this one of the most glamorous end-of-summer
events in the world.
The festival, directed by Marco Müller in 2008,
features four main sections: In Competition, Out of Competition, Horizons,
offering feature-length documentaries, and Corto Cortissimo (short films).