What to do this weekend

At a loose end? BR brings you the best of Bucharest’s cultural highlights for the weekend ahead.

OUTDOOR

MUSIC

Bucharest Music Film Festival

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George Enescu Square

Until June 30, from 19.00

For ten days, the charming strains of classical music will ring out through George Enescu Square, in the heart of Bucharest. Specially arranged as a meeting place for music and art lovers, the ample space near the Romanian Athenaeum will be turned into an unusual “musical garden”, thanks to ArCuB.

First to provide some cool entertainment during the long, hot days of summer is the Bucharest Music Film Festival, a classical music incursion involving the National Radio Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Bucharest, Craiova Philharmonic Orchestra, Spirit of Vienna, Royal Camerata, Orchestra Silvestri, Ensemble Raro & Friends and Vocal Group Acapella, under the wands of Tiberiu Soare, Benoit Fromanger, Jin Wang, Sebastian Gurtler and Costin Grigore.

The festival will also feature operatic recitals and film screenings (documentaries, opera and choreography), and is keeping the beautiful tradition that sees the public invited every night to dance to the rhythms of the waltz, polka or minuet.

BALLET

Swan Lake (in picture)

Bucharest National Opera

June 21, 23, from 19.00

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet SwanLake is brought to life on the Bucharest National Opera stage with the graceful choreography of Gheorghe Iancu, after a break of five years.

A principal dancer of the Bucharest National Opera, Iancu left Romania in 1986, and gained international recognition as a classical ballet dancer in Italy, where he met the famous ballerina Carla Fracci. His international career includes performances at Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Covent Garden in London, Bolshoi Theatre in Moskow, Berlin Opera, Arena di Verona, Rio de Janeiro Opera, Gran Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Tokio and Osaka Opera Houses. More details about the event, here.

EXHIBITION

Visual Power: 21st Century Native American Artists/ Intellectuals

America 24/7

The National Library

The American Bucharest Corner was inaugurated on June 20 at the National Library and two exhibitions take place: “Visual Power: 21st Century Native American Artists/ Intellectuals.” which shows Native American contributions as scholars, professors, museum curators, and writers as well as makers of traditional fine arts, video and photography to document their cultural heritage and their struggle for sovereignty and a second poster exhibit, “America 24/7”, accompanied by a book, the result of a project by American author and publisher, David Elliot Cohen, and American photographer, Rick Smolan.  More than 25,000 digital photographers across the U.S. – including 36 Pulitzer Prize winners – responded to the invitation to take pictures of their towns, families, neighbors and friends for 24 hours a day for seven days.  The best photos capturing the diverse authentic America were included in the exhibit. More details, here.

Q.E.D. by Mircea Cantor

The National Museum of Contemporary Art

Until April 2014

More than 1,200 people have attended the opening of the first local solo exhibition of one of the most important young artists to emerge on the international scene over the last decade: Mircea Cantor, winner of the Prix Marcel Duchamp Award 2011. The QED exhibition, the largest survey of the artist’s works to date, comprises 30 pieces. More details here.

The Human Body

Antipa Museum

Until June 30

One of the most realistic exhibitions in the world, The Human Body, will stop for the first time in Bucharest, at AntipaMuseum, from March 22 to June 30. The exhibition includes more than 200 pieces – human bodies which through dissection of organs and tissue offer a three dimensional perspective of the miracle of the human body. More about this exhibition, here. 

“Live tropical butterflies”

Antipa Museum

Until July 31

Starting on May 1, the Antipa Museum will host the “Live tropical butterflies”, a temporary exhibition organized in collaboration with the “House of Butterflies” and the Vulticulus Geography Society. Visitors will have the possibility of seeing over 30 species of exotic butterflies flying freely in the special greenhouse set up within the “Antipa” Museum’s garden, but they can also witness the “birth” of butterflies. The exhibition can be visited from May 1 to July 31. Tickets cost RON 10 per child/student and RON 12 per adult/pensioner.

Treasures of China

The National Museum of History

Until July 30

Local culture enthusiasts are now able to enjoy a traveling exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors: thousands of life-size terracotta figures from an army prepared for battle. Found by coincidence in 1974, they are now considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of modern times. The exhibition features 101 rare objects – including the Terracotta Warriors – from one of the largest burial sites ever built, the Terracotta Army of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Four is the maximum number of these figures permitted outside China in a single exhibition. More details about the exhibition, here.

Oana Vasiliu