Online Art & Culture Channel

Welcome to our luxury online arts and culture channel! Art & Culture in Europe has never been more important – sod Brexit, we say! Art and cultural exchanges know no borders, but should be inspiring us to want to learn more about each other, our origins and celebrate our different edges! So, have fun exploring our definitive guide to theatre, dance, opera, exhibitions in the performing arts and film, as well as classic and contemporary music festivals, cultural and folklore festivals, social happenings and charity events throughout the whole of Europe. Enjoy browsing through our catalogue of art and culture trips that we have curated especially for you!

Frieze Sculpture London from 14 Sept – 31 Oct 2021

London – Royal Opera House Covent Garden: Season 2021/22 starts 13 September

The ROH is back…with a bang to also celebrate the Royal Ballet’s 90th anniversary! After many months of empty seats, opera fans will be able to return to fill the glorious auditorium – hurrah, so you can look forward to sumptuous productions of favourites like Rigoletto, The Magic Flute and La Traviata, amongst others. The season will boast now less than five world premieres, including three for the Royal Ballet: ‘The Dante Project’ by Wayne McGregor, ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ by Christopher Wheeldon and new work by Kyle Abraham, the American choreographer! Exiting times…(roh.org.uk)

Musikverein Wien – Season 2021/22

This introduction by the director Dr. Stephan Pauly is in German, however, it gives a great impression of this almighty musical club of Vienna! Steeped in history, the world’s best artists and orchestras get invited to perform, quite apart from their own exquisite orchestra, the globally famous Wiener Philharmonie/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Visit them online to plan your next visit this season, which opens on the 25/26 September (musikverein.at)

Munich – Bayrische Staatsoper: Opera Festival 2021

The production of Idomeneo was once again an international affair with a super impressive result! The 2021/22 season starts on 24 October: expect to see an exciting programme of huge variety with majestic masterpieces by Dmitri Schostalowitsch, Franz Léhar, Leos Janáček, Benjamin Britten, Joseph Haydn, Hector Berlioz and many more (staatsoper.de)

Paris – Opéra de Paris opens its house again and presents its 2021/22 season

The Paris Opera has started its own health pass system, as so many other great houses, which is the way forward in the future, and it is indeed great news, that performances will start again from 30 June onwards. Their website explains clearly what is required to attend. And so they’ve pulled out all the stops, putting all key contributors in front of camera for their promotional video, so here’s your chance to brush up on your French and then start planning (operadeparis.fr)

Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2022 from 21 May – 28 August

The 2021 season at Glyndebourne was once again hugely enjoyable! We loved having a picnic on their garden lawn in the Sussex countryside (alternatively, you can eat at one of their restaurants) and their programme was just gorgeous! Become a member and you’ll get early access to tickets through priority bookings (glyndebourne.com)

Salzburger Festspiele 2022 from 17 July – 31 August

This famous summer festival, hosted at Mozart’s birthplace, is utterly unique and like no other – a festival for music AND drama, it was founded in 1920, and takes place every year in the famous city of Salzburg/Austria. Apart from the biggest names in classical music and theatre performing at a variety of venues, including the highly anticipated annual performance of Hugo von Hoffmannsthal’s famous play ‘Jedermann’ at the Domplatz (the Cathedral Square), the festival also hosts a long list of parties, guided tours and cinema performances, amongst many other events #mustgo (salzburgerfestspiele.at)

Curtain Call: ‘Message in a Bottle’ dance show, London’s Peacock Theatre

Performers sizzle in the spotlight at one of the last shows before theatres closed in 2020

Dutch National Ballet Season 2021

The Dutch National Ballet will be performing again from the beginning of 2021, so watch this video to find out what to look forward to (operaballet.nl)

Royal Shakespeare Company: Comedy Of Errors from 13 July – 31 Dec’21

Touring until the end of the year, their first play in these strange times is, very aptly, the ‘Comedy of Errors’, where confusion and uncertainty rules. Classic Shakespeare then (roc.org.uk)

Hamburg – Elbphilharmonie und Laeiszhalle Hamburg

Home to some of the greatest musical performances already, since its fabulous new building on the Grasbrook peninsula

Italy: Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2022 from 17 June – 4 Sept

Celebrating 99yrs in 2022, this will be an exciting year for the opera festival, with all sort of live gigs firing up the season from April onwards (arena.it) (ticketsarenaverona.com)

UK – Cirque du Soleil will be back in London: LUZIA 2022

The Royal Albert Hall will be hosting CdS with this stunning show from the 12Jan-12Feb next year! Tix are available now (cirquedusoleil.com)

Germany – Ehrlich Brothers 2021: Dream & Fly

Touring Germany for 2021, they’ll touch down in Vienna in April’22, London in Aug’22, Helsinki and Paris in Sept’22 – go online now to get your tix (ehrlich-brothers.com)

Austria – Bregenzer Festspiele from 20 July – 21 August 2022

The Bregenz Festival boasts the only stage built into water in the world for a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Advanced ticket sales start on 4 October (bregenzerfestspiele.com)

News Flash

London – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Summer Season 2021: 15 May – 18 Sept

It’s one of London’s best kept secrets in theatre land, and a wonderful outdoor experience too. This summer season takes out all the stops by showing a brand new musical, a Shakespeare classic, some Roger & Hammerstein music in Carousel and an interactive show with large puppets for the whole family to enjoy…al fresco! We just love it… (openairtheatre.com)

WATCH IT NOW!

ART EXHIBITIONS & FAIRS

London – Tate Modern: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms until 27 March 2022

She’s famous for her red bob, but this incredible exhibition of her famous mirror installations is very much awaited too #nowopen (tate.org.uk)

Bilbao – Guggenheim Museum: The Line of Wit from 11 June’21 – 6 Feb’22

Drop in to view this fun exhibition, focusing on anything humorous, clever, experimental & inquisitive that nature has to offer, bringing together artists from different genres and generations (guggenheim-bilbao.eus)

Paris – Centre Pompidou: Sounds Like Kandinsky until Dec’21

Going Kandinsky-mad, this online collab with Google Art&Culture is an unprecedented, all-digital project about Kandinsky, who could actually SEE sound (centrepompidou.fr)

Venice Biennale – 17th Int’l Architecture Exhibition from 22 May – 21 Nov 2021

This world famous exhibition has been moved to 2021 altogether! Curated by Hashim Sarkis, should prove to be another blockbuster show (labiennale.org)

Culture-Tripping: Venice Biennale 2020 round-up

It’s been a difficult year for all exhibitors, but the Venice Biennale has put on a resourceful and impressive show, incl. its famous film festival

Frankfurt – Lee Krasner ‘Living Colour’ at the Schirn Kunsthalle

This is her first exhibition in Europe for 50 years! Curated by London’s Barbican Centre, this show bears witness to an extraordinary woman & artist

Frieze Sculpture London from 14 Sept – 31 Oct 2021

Take a walk-about with Claudia Peifer to view the latest Frieze Sculpture London outdoor exhibition (frieze.com)

Meet Javier Melus – Spain’s leading pop artist

Javier Melus creates utterly unique & vibrant pieces – one of Spain’s finest in contemporary pop art

American contemporary artist Richard Jackson showing at Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle

The American contemporary artist Richard Jackson knows how to push things to the limit #mustsee

Frankfurt – Schirn Kunsthalle: Gilbert & George until 5 September 2021

The eccentric duo’s show is moving to the Schirn with a huge retrospective from 1971 – 2019 (schirn.de)

Banksy – ‘The Art of Protest’ exhibition at La Térmica in Málaga/ Costa del Sol

Known around the world for his acid humour, street artist Banksy was honoured with yet another ‘unofficial’ exhibition

The Hague – Escher In Het Paleis, permanent exhibition

This extraordinary exhibition is dedicated to one of the most extraordinary artists of our time: MC Escher! Another must-see: Hans van Bantem’s crazy chandeliers (escherinhetpaleis.nl)

Fashion Photography Exhibition: Tim Walker’s ‘Wonderful Things’ at the V&A

Join Claudia Peifer on a walkabout of this exceptional show by this world famous photographer

Affordable Art Fair Brussels: 22 – 26 Sept’21

Brussels is next in Europe, so make your way to this great city to buy exciting art to suit your budget, throwing in a cheeky weekend on top (affordableartfair.com)

Rafa Abdon – Glass Sculptor Valencia/ Spain

His glass sculptures of skulls are Rock-star famous – watch to see how it’s done.

Art Review: Robert Rauschenberg Tate Modern by Charlie Porter

Fashion & Art critic Charlie Porter gives us his take on the massively successful Rauschenberg retrospective at Tate Modern.

EVENTS - EUROPE

European Beer Festivals 2021

Europe is awash with beer festivals throughout the year, click on the title to find out what’s happening where

Amsterdam Light Festival: 2 Dec – 23 Jan’22

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Amsterdam will be set alight over 7 weeks with some great light art installations splattered all over town (amsterdamlightfestival.com)

78th Venice Int’l Film Festival from 1-11 Sept’21

European film festivals are eclectic, so click on the title link above to find out about the many gems in the film buffs diary for Europe

Klagenfurt/Austria – World Body painting Festival 2022 from 21 – 23 July

Fascinating stuff, this as every body painted is pure art! Part of the huge party are DJ acts, live bands, workshops & art installations (bodypainting-festival.com)

Jamie Cullum – European Tour Dates 2021 & 2022

He’s a gem live and he was on fire at Starlite Marbella, so check his tour dates by clicking on the title link

Tom Jones at Starlite Festival – Tour Dates 2021 & 2022

When Tom Jones comes to Starlite Marbella, the whole Costa del Sol turns up! Click the title for his tour dates

Il Divo Tour Dates Europe 2021 & 2022

The boys are touring again to full houses everywhere, so get your tix pronto for one of the biggest crossover musical acts in the world

Starlite Festival Marbella from 18 June – 4 Sept’21

This boutique festival also boasts classical performances by great superstars, including Placido Domingo, Il Divo & many more (starlitemarbella.com)

56th Montreux Jazz Festival from 1 – 16 July 2022

Another victim of CV-19, this world-renowned music festival has been postponed until next year! See you in 2022…(montreuxjazzfestival.com)

4th Int’l Gibraltar Jazz Festival featuring José Feliciano & Friends – Jazz band malFUNKtion

The location for this jazz fest is Gibraltar’s famous St. Michael’s Cave, and what a night it was!

Global Gift Gala Paris on 30 Oct’21: Four Seasons GeorgeV

Eva Longoria-Baston & Maria Bravo know how to throw a classy bash and raise millions for charity at the same time. (globalgiftgala.com)

Sotogrande Charity Gala at Santa Maria Polo Club

The Arturo Darch Foundation has pulled out all the stops to raise money in support of the José Carreras Int’l Leukaemia Foundation, fighting cancer in adults&kids

Anne Sophie Mutter European Tour dates 2021

She is world famous and plays in the world’s best houses! Check her tour dates to see where she plays near you

Lang Lang Tour dates Europe 2021

He is an incredible guy to watch live! To give you a flavour of how crazy and how incredibly talented he is! Click on the title for tour dates

Venice Carnival 2022 from 12 Feb – 1 March

Must go to Venice to enjoy the spectacle and life itself with boat parades, operas, best masked costume awards & more (visit-venice-italy.com)