Barbican Centre, 2011 Season | reviews, news & interviews
Barbican Centre, 2011 Season
Barbican Centre, 2011 Season
Full listings for music, theatre and dance at the Barbican Arts Centre, London
In 2011 the Barbican offers eminent theatre directors Robert LePage and Peter Brook along with the diversions of London International Mime Festival. Music includes composer focuses on Unsuk Chin, Brian Ferneyhough and Peter Eötvös, and high-profile visits by great conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis and Barbican resident guest Valery Gergiev.
Theatre & Dance
Black Watch, National Theatre of Scotland 27 Nov 10-22 Jan / 19:45, 14:00 / Barbican Theatre
Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl, Geoff Sobelle and Charlotte Ford (London International Mime Festival) 19-29 Jan / 19:45 / The Pit
Du Goudron et des Plumes, Compagnie MPTA / Mathurin Bolze (London International Mime Festival) 26-29 Jan / 19:45 / Barbican Theatre
Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Antonioni Project 1-5 Feb / 19:00, 19:45 / Barbican Theatre
Sir James Barrie's Dear Brutus 3-7 Feb / 19:30, 14:00 / Silk Street Theatre, Guildhall School
David Hare's The Blue Room 14-17 Feb / 19:30, 14:00 / Bridewell Theatre
The Blue Dragon, Robert Lepage / Ex Machina 17-26 Feb / 19:45, 14:00 / Barbican Theatre
Cinderella, Shona Reppe 24-28 Feb / :00, 14:00, 16:30 / The Pit
The Sapphires, Belvoir & Black Swan State Theatre Company 2-12 Mar / 19:45, 14:00, 17:00 / Barbican Theatre
Olga Volt The Electric Fairy, Shona Reppe 4-6 Mar / :00, 14:00, 16:30 / The Pit
Red Hot East End Comedy, C & R Presentations featuring Shazia Mirza, Paul Chowdhry, Isma Almas, Imran Yusuf, Anil Desai and Ahir Shah 18 Mar / 20:00 / Barbican Theatre
New Act of the Year 20 Finals, C & R Presentations, hosted by Arthur Smith 19 Mar / 20:00 / Barbican Theatre
Mozart's A Magic Flute, C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord 23-27 Mar / 19:45, 17:00 / Barbican Theatre
The Tempest, Cheek by Jowl 7-16 Apr / 19:15, 14:00 / Silk Street Theatre
SPILL Tarot Exhibition 18-23 Apr / 13:00 / Barbican Public Spaces
Helen Cole-We See Fireworks 18-23 Apr / 13:00 / Barbican Public Spaces
Ryoji Ikeda-datamatics [ver.2.0], 18 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Do What Thou Wilt, Harminder Judge 18-20 Apr / 21:00, 19:45 / The Pit
Glorious, Rajni Shah 19-21 Apr / 19:30, 13:00 / Silk Street Theatre
The Minister’s Black Veil, Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio / Romeo Castellucci 21-23 Apr / 19:45 / Barbican Theatre
SPILL Feast 22 Apr / 13:00 / Barbican Theatre
SCHREI 27, A film by Davide Pepe and Diamanda Galás 22-23 Apr / 13:00, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 18:30, 19:00, 19:30, 20:00, 20:30, 21:00 / Silk Street Theatre
In Eldersfield + I guess if the stage exploded…, Kings of England + Sylvia Rimat 22-23 Apr / 15:00 / The Pit
And The Horse You Rode In On, Told by an Idiot 27 Apr -14 May / 19:45, 15:00 / The Pit
Serious Follies, Told by an Idiot 6 May / 00:00 / The Pit
Bite Weekend Workout, Told by an Idiot 7-8 May / 10:30 / Barbican Centre
The School for Scandal, Deborah Warner 11 May-18 Jun / 19:15, 19:00, 14:15 / Barbican Theatre
Total Football, Ridiculusmus 18 May-18 Jun / 19:45 / The Pit (picture left)
Donizetti: Rita / Tchaikovsky: Iolanta 9-15 Jun / 19:00 / Silk Street Theatre, Guildhall School
Bite Weekend Workout: The School for Scandal 11-12 Jun / 10:30 / Barbican Centre
Duckie, Lullaby 24 Jun -24 Jul / 22:30 / The Pit
From Here to There, Royal New Zealand Ballet 14-16 Jul / 19:45 / Barbican Theatre (picture right)
Wunderkammer, Circa 19-24 Jul / 19:45, 17:00 / Barbican Theatre
BBE: Touch, Boy Blue Entertainment 28-30 Jul / 20:00 / The Pit
- All theatre and dance events information and booking through the Barbican site
Music
LSO Discovery Day: Vaughan Williams 16 Jan / 10:00 / LSO Discovery Event
The Passions of Vaughan Williams (PG*) 16 Jan / 16:00 / LSO St Luke’s
London Symphony Orchestra / André Previn Strauss / Vaughan Williams 16 Jan / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev, Sergey Khachatryan (violin) Shostakovich / Tchaikovsky 18 & 23 Jan / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Ian Clarke, Sarah Newbold, Philippa Davies (picture left) flutes 19 Jan / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
Anton and Erin, Puttin' on the Ritz 22 Jan / 15:00 19:30/ Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev 23 Jan / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (see 18 Jan)
Philippa Davies, Joy Farrall, Graham Sheen 26 Jan / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Dudamel Bernstein 27 Jan / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Dudamel Mahler 28 Jan / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
LATES: Disruption - A Fashion Performance 29 Jan / 18:00 / Fountain Room
The Irrepressibles + Gabby Young & Other Animals 29 Jan / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder Elgar's The Kingdom 30 Jan / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Bělohlávek, Lars Vogt (piano) Mozart / Mahler 6 2 Feb / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
The Waterboys - An Appointment with Mr Yeats 3-4 Feb / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
Reggae Britannia 5 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Joan As Police Woman + special guests 6 Feb / 20:00 / Barbican Hall (picture above)
Barnardo's Choir Competition Concert 7 Feb / 18:30 / Barbican Hall
Belcea Quartet performs Beethoven and Turnage 7 Feb / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
The Creole Choir of Cuba 8 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Penguin Cafe + Portico Quartet 9 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Christian Blackshaw 10 Feb / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
London Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Harding, Hélène Grimaud (piano) Strauss / Ravel / Strauss 10 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Drive-By Truckers: The Secret To A Happy Ending 10 Feb / 20:30 / Cinema 1
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Robertson, Stephen Bryant (violin) Sibelius / Detlev Glanert / Sibelius 11 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Trumpet Warriors: Henry Armburg Jennings vs Quentin Collins with the Leon Greening Trio 11 Feb / 20:00 / LSO St Luke’s
Adams' Nixon in China, Met Opera Live 2010-11 12 Feb / 18:00 / Cinema 1
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and Chorus 12 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Evgeny Kissin in Recital 13 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Valentine's Day Classics 14 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Vinicio Capossela 15 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Teddy Thompson and special guest David Ford 16 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien 17 Feb / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
London Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Harding, Janine Jansen (violin) Brahms / Wagner, Strauss 17 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sinaisky Tchaikovsky / Schnittke 18 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
LSO Discovery Family Concert: In The Woods 19 Feb / 14:30 / Barbican Hall
Berliner Philharmoniker/ Rattle Schubert / Schoenberg / Mahler / Schoenberg 20 Feb / 19:30 / NB venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre
Berliner Philharmoniker/ Rattle Stravinsky / Mahler 4 21 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Berliner Philharmoniker/ Rattle Haydn / Hosokawa / Schubert 22 Feb / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Berliner Philharmoniker/ Rattle, Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto) Wolf / Brahms / Mahler 3 23 Feb / 19:30 / NB venue: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Skampa Quartet 24 Feb / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
Solstice String Quartet with Richard Harwood 25 Feb / 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
Total Immersion: Brian Ferneyhough with BBC Symphony Orchestra
26 Feb / 11:00 / Mozart Room, Level 4
26 Feb / 13:00 / Barbican Hall
26 Feb / 15:30 / Mozart Room, Level 4
26 Feb / 18:00 / FreeStage 26 Feb / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Met Opera Live 2010-11 26 Feb / 18:00 / Cinema 1
Weinberg and Schubert Chamber Works 28 Feb / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev, Mario Brunello (cello) Shostakovich CC2 / Mahler 9 2 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Daniel Hope and Sebastian Knauer 3 Mar / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
Lunchtime Concert: Daniel Hope and Sebastian Knauer 300th Anniversary Gala Concert 3 Mar / 19:00 / St Paul's Cathedral
Ravel and Schumann Chamber Works 3 Mar / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev Mahler 9 3 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Trumpet Warriors: Jeremy Pelt Quintet Men of Honour 3 Mar / 20:00 / LSO St Luke’sl
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Yamada 4 Mar / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle Messiaen / Bruckner 7 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Youssou N'Dour 9 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (picture right)
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Elias Quartet & Michael Collins 10 Mar / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
EC4 Music in aid of The Prince's Trust 11 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance with Alastair McGowan 12 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis Beethoven 13 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Kurt Elling with special guest Richard Galliano 14 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts: Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Mihaela Ursuleasa 17 Mar / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
Beethoven Plus 17 Mar / 20:00 / LSO St Luke’s
Liebestod, Amsterdam Sinfonietta Wagner / Berg / Michel van der Aa 18 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
The BBC Symphony Orchestra at 80 19 Mar / 14:30 / Cinema 3
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor Met Opera Live 2010-11 19 Mar / 17:00 / Cinema 1
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Bychkov Rachmaninov / Walton 1 19 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis (picture left) Stravinsky / Strauss / Beethoven 20 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Belcea Quartet performs Beethoven & Janacek 21 Mar / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
Guildhall Jazz Alumni Ensemble 21 Mar / 19:30 / The Pit
The 65th and Final Met Police Annual Concert 21 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Guildhall Chamber Music Showcase 22 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev, Leonidas Kavakos Shchedrin / Shostakovich / Tchaikovsky 23 & 24 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Vienna Piano Trio 24 Mar / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
Concert: Vienna Piano Trio 24 Mar / 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev 24 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (see 23 Mar)
Aurora Orchestra: Jealous Guy 25 Mar / 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Bychkov Schubert 2/ Brahms-Glanert / Rachmaninov 25 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Vivaldi Orlando Furioso 26 Mar / 18:30 / Barbican Hall
Guildhall Jazz Band, Martin Hathaway 26 Mar / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
Camden Youth Music 27 Mar / 13:00, 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
Van der Graaf Generator + guests 27 Mar / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
'Talking to Hardy' Iain Burnside, director 28 Mar / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
Verdi Requiem 29 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Murray Perahia in Recital 30 Mar / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Janine Jansen (picture right) and Itamar Golan 31 Mar / 13:00 / LSO St Luke’s
London Symphony Orchestra / Xian Zhang, Leila Josefowicz (violin) Prokofiev VC1 & Ivan the Terrible 3 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
LSO St Luke's Community Choir: Into A Distant Land 4 Apr / 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
Choir: Into A Distant Land, Asa & Tiken Jah Fakoly 4 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
City of London Choir 5 Apr / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
Yasmin Levy + Melingo, 6 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Kristjan Järvi 7 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Esperanza Spalding 8 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Total Immersion: Unsuk Chin (picture left), BBC Symphony Orchestra
9 Apr / 11:00 / Mozart Room, Level 4
9 Apr / 12:30 / FreeStage
9 Apr / 13:00 / Barbican Hall
9 Apr / 15:00 / Mozart Room, Level 4
9 Apr / 18:00 / Mozart Room, Level 4
9 Apr / 19:15 / FreeStage
9 Apr / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, Met Opera Live 2010-11, 9 Apr / 18:00 / Cinema 1
Balinese Gamelan Concert 9 Apr / 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
Astillero 10 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
José González performing with The Gothenburg String Theory 11 Apr / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
Piotr Anderszewski & Frank Peter Zimmermann Beethoven, Szymanowsky, Schumann 14 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Ojos de Brujo with special guests + Depedro 15 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Crouch End Festival Chorus 16 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Kristjan Järvi, Vadim Gluzman (violin) Falla / Michael Daugherty / Stravinsky 17 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Ryoji Ikeda - datamatics [ver.2.0] 18 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (picture below)
Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande concert performance with Nathalie Dessay and Simon Keenlyside 19 Apr / 18:30 / Barbican Hall
Huddersfield Choral Society The Messiah 22 Apr / 18:00 / Barbican Hall
Strauss’s Capriccio, Met Opera Live 2010-11 23 Apr / 18:00 / Cinema 1
London Schools Symphony Orchestra 27 Apr / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Volkov Britten, Beethoven 29 Apr / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Met Opera Live 2010-11 30 Apr / 18:00 / Cinema 1
Ron Sexsmith + special guests 30 Apr / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / François-Xavier Roth Gershwin, Copland, new Tim Garland 5 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Reverberations: The influence of Steve Reich, 7-8 May
7 May / 11:00 14:00 / LSO St Luke’s
7 May / 18:00 / Barbican Hall
7-8 May / 00:00 / Barbican Hall
8 May / 11:00 14:00 / LSO St Luke’s
8 May / 18:00 / Barbican Hall
The Gold Medal Guildhall School's top singing prize 10 May / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
Ein Deutsches Requiem 11 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev, Yefim Bronfman (piano) Shostakovich /Tchaikovsky 12 & 15 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Group Doueh + Hayvanlar Alemi with Sublime Frequencies DJs 13 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Total Immersion: Peter Eötvös, BBC Symphony Orchestra 2010-2011
14 May / 11:00 15:00 18:00 / Mozart Room, Level 4
14 May / 13:00 20:00/ Barbican Hall
14 May / 19:15 / FreeStage
Wagner’s Die Walküre, Met Opera Live 2010-11 14 May / 17:00 / Cinema 1
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev 15 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (see 12 May)
Faure & Brahms Piano Quartets 16 May / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Bělohlávek Smetana's The Bartered Bride 20 May / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
Charlie Haden The jazz bassist celebrated in a two-day programme 21-22 May / 20:00 / Barbican Hall
Ladysmith Black Mambazo 23 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Marianne Faithfull 24 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (picture left)
Handel Ariodante 25 May / 18:30 / Barbican Hall
Noriko Ogawa 26 May / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis, Mitsuko Uchida Haydn 99, Beethoven PC2, Nielsen 6 26 May / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
LSO Discovery Family Concert: Sound Detectives 28 May / 14:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis, Uchida Haydn 99, Beethoven PC1, Nielsen 6 2 Jun / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Järvi Bernstein's Candide 5 Jun / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
Mozart Idomeneo 11 Jun / 19:00 / Barbican Hall
Belcea Quartet, Alexandra Dariescu, piano 14 Jun / 19:30 / GSMD Music Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink, Murray Perahia (piano) Schumann / Bruckner 4 14 & 16 June / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink 16 Jun / 19:30 / Barbican Hall (see 14 June)
The Infernal Comedy starring John Malkovich / Wiener Akademie / Haselböck 17-18 Jun / Barbican Hall
London Oriana Choir 22 Jun / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink Ravel / Mendelssohn 23 Jun / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Mozart La Finta Giardiniera 24 Jun / 18:30 / Barbican Hall
Mozart Mass in C Minor 28 Jun / 19:30 / Barbican Hall
Barbican Young Orchestra 3 Jul / 00:00 / Barbican Hall
Aurora Orchestra: When Doves Cry 10 Jul / 19:30 / LSO St Luke’s
In the 2011-12 season opening in September LSO and BBC SO regulars are joined by residencies from three world orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. The range of work includes five world premieres, one European premiere and 23 UK premieres.
Conductors include Valery Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis (LSO), Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Neeme Järvi highlighting Finnish music (BBC SO), Riccardo Chailly (Leipzig Gewandhaus), Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Concertgebouw), and Alan Gilbert (NYPhil). Pierre Boulez, Simon Rattle and Antonio Pappano are among other conductors appearing. Landmarks in the repertoire offered include complete Beethoven piano sonatas and symphonies series, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky series, cycles of Nielson and Sibelius symphonies, UK premieres by Jonathan Harvey, Philip Glass and Thomas Adès, and focuses on contemporary composers Brett Dean, Arvo Pärt and Sofia Gubaidulina.
Soloists include pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Lang Lang and Marta Argerich, and violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Joshua Bell and Daniel Hope. Singers include Joyce DiDonato, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Karita Mattila, and operas in concert include Parsifal, Der Freischütz, La clemenza di Tito and Dvorák’s The Jacobin. Public booking opens 31 January.
- All contemporary music events information and booking through the Barbican site
All classical music events information and booking through the Barbican site
Visual Arts
Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion Mondays only till 6 Feb / Barbican Art Gallery
Damián Ortega: The Independent, New commission for The Curve till 16 Jan / The Curve
Cory Arcangel: Beat the Champ Video media artist 10 Feb-22 May / The Curve (picture above)
Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown, Gordon Matta-Clark, Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s 3 Mar-22 May / Barbican Art Gallery
- All art events information and booking through the Barbican website
- Find reviews and coverage of Barbican events on theartsdesk
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