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

OPERA

L’ELISIR d’AMORE

Bucharest National Opera

March 8, 19.00

Bergamo-born Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) composed more than seventy operas before his career was cut short by illness in the early 1840s. L’Elisir d’Amore, one of his most beloved works, was composed in relative haste — Donizetti completed the operain the six-week period between the opening of his Ugo, Conte di Parigi on March 13, 1832, and the start of Elisir rehearsals in early May. The Elisir premiere, at Milan’s Teatro della Canobbiana on May 12, 1832, was a huge success; by the end of the decade, Elisir had been given productions in Naples, Milan, Berlin, Vienna, London, New York and Paris. The performance will be under the wand of Tiberiu Soare, starring Cristina Marta Sandu, as Adina, Lucian Corchis, as Nemorino, Daniel Pop, as Belcore, Vicentiu Taranu as Dulcamara, and Cristina Eremia as Gianetta.

Nabucco

Bucharest National Opera

March 9, 19.00

As part of the celebration of 200 years since the birth of composers Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi (1813), the Bucharest National Opera stages “Nabucco”, with Adrian Morar as a conductor and the distribution of Nabucco – Eugen Secobeanu, Ismael – Hector Lopez, Zaccaria – Sorin Draniceanu, Abigaille – Silvia Sorina Munteanu, Fenena – Sorana Negrea, Abdallo – Serban Cristache and Anna – Dorina Chesei.

JAZZ CONCERTO

The Radio Hall

March 8, 19.00

The Radio Hall presents on Women’s Day the Jazz Concerto, an event which will delight the audience with a unique combination of sounds of jazz. The specific instrument of the night will be the harp, while composers such as Ravel (La Valse) and Shostakovich (Suite II jazz) will entertain the atmosphere, as well as a jazz concerto for harp and orchestra – creation signed by E. Terényi. The National Radio Orchestra and the harpist, Elena Gantolea, will enjoy the presence of the German conductor Gerd Schaller, already acclaimed in several successful concerts on Radio Hall stage.

UNPLUGGED CONCERT

Andreea Carstea unplugged (in picture)

Doncafe Brasserie Pipera

March 9, 20.30

Doncafe Brasserie organizes a night of unplugged music featuring Andreea Carstea. She will be accompanied by Andreea Zerstorer, guitarist, and Marilena Milcu, cello.

Address: Pipera, 41 Erou Iancu Nicolae, bis1.

FILM

Gopo Awards

Union Cinema

Ticket price: RON 10

March 7

16.00 – Thinker Tailor Soldier Spy (d. Tomas Alfredson, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

18:30 / Turn off the lights (d. Ivana Mladenovic, nominated at Best Documentary Award)

20:00 / Chasing Rainbows (d. Dan Chisu, 7 nominalizations: Best Script, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role)

March 8

16.00 – Holly Motors (d. Leos Carax, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

18:00 – Le gamin au vélo (d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

20.00 – Thinker Tailor Soldier Spy (d. Tomas Alfredson, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

March 9

12.30 – Le gamin au vélo (d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

14.30 – Gone Wild (d. Dan Curean, nominated at Best Documentary Award)

16.30 – March 8th (d. Alexandru Belc, nominated at Best Documentary Award)

18.00 – Le Havre (d. Aki Kaurismaki, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

20.00 – A Month in Thailand (d. Paul Negoescu, nominated at Best Entrance Award)

March 10

13.30 – Le Havre (d. Aki Kaurismaki, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

15.30 – Thinker Tailor Soldier Spy (d. Tomas Alfredson, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

18.00 – Le gamin au vélo (d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

20.00 – Holly Motors (d. Leos Carax, nominated at Best European Movie Award)

EXHIBITION

The rest is tomorrow

Galateca Gallery

Until March 31

The fashion exhibition The Rest Is Tomorrow was initiated by ICR London, at the invitation of British Council and British Fashion Council to participate in the International Fashion Showcase section, part of the London Fashion Week manifestation.

Six outstanding Romanian designers were selected by the Romanian Cultural Institute to represent Romania in a competition involving 27 countries. Andreea Badal (Murmur), Lucian Broscatean, Irina Schrotter, Dinu Bodiciu, Doina Levintza and Carla Szabo, along with Kim Attila, the designer of the exhibition were highly appreciated by the jury made up of famous international professional critics : Sarah Mower (Vogue U.S.), Julian Roberts (BBC Blast online editor, fashion designer and professor at the Royal College of Art), Anna Orsini (expert British Fashion Council), Tamsin Blanchard (Telegraph fashion critic) and Oriole Cullen (Victoria and Albert Museum) .

Thus, Romania was on the short list for “Emerging Talent Award 2013″ with such countries as Argentina, Austria, Estonia, Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) and Switzerland. This prize was awarded by the British Council and the British Fashion Council. After long debates, in which Romania was considered for the 1st place, The Rest is Tomorrow exhibition was awarded the 2nd place and the full specialized media and jury attention. The jury was impressed by the Romanian concepts and designs. The prize award ceremony took place on February 17th at the prestigious Somerset House, the headquarters of London Fashion Week.

Lights and shadows

Instituto Cervantes

Until March 31

The Spanish painter Ima Montoya will present at Instituto Cervantes her latest exhibition, “Lights and shadows”. Montoya was born and raised on the banks of the Nervion, famous for fishing fleets, ship building and steel production, a place of industry. Like most people from the Nervion she has inherited from this backdrop of hard work and industry she brings to her work the attributes of strength, energy and a sense of purpose. Also like many of her people before her she has traveled across the sea in search of new possibilities.

The artist has lived and worked in Bilbao, Madrid, London, Tokyo, Moscow and now the journey continues in Budapest. A nomadic life has not been a handicap for her but a platform to explore and assimilate influences from diverse cultures. The result is clearly displayed in her work, full of energy, rhythm and movement, never remaining still and where the only constant is change. Influences, techniques, forms, concepts and even language are put into her melting pot. Spanish, Japanese, Euskera, English, Russian and Hungarian, interlaced and overlapping form part of the cultural cocktail that characterizes her work which is vibrant and in which we feel alive.

Testimonials. The Frescoes from the Arges Monastery

National Museum of Art of Romania

Until May 26

The Arges Monastery, a flagship example of Romanian culture, was restored between 1875 and 1882 under the supervision of architect André Lecomte du Noüy, a practitioner of French conservationist principles. The original mural painting had to make room for an entirely new one: only 35 fragments were considered worth preserving. Some 31 of them were restored between 1990 and 2012 and are now on show together for the first time.

DISCOVER BUCHAREST

Mantuleasa quarter, Bucharest – walking tour

March 9, 11.30-14.00

Reservations: v.mandache@gmail.com / 0040 (0)728.323.272

Tour available in Romanian and English, RON 30

The guide offers a thematic architectural tour in this fabled part of the old city, much talked about in the novels of Mircea Eliade, one of the brightest writers and historians ever produced by Romania, who spent there his childhood and early formative years. The quarter used to be one of the most ethnically mixed areas of Bucharest, endowed with a very diverse and exuberant period architecture ranging from beautiful Brancovan style churches dating from the late c17th, picturesque French c19th historicist and Art Nouveau architecture to flamboyant inter-war Neo-Romanian and slender Art Deco and International Modernist style dwellings, all within the space of less than one square kilometre.

Cotroceni historic quarter, Bucharest– walking tour

March 10, 11.30-14.00

Reservations: v.mandache@gmail.com / 0040 (0)728.323.272

Tour available in Romanian and English, RON 30

The tour offers a guide through one of the best quality historic architecture areas of Romania’s capital, constituted mainly from Neo-Romanian and Art Deco designs. These edifices were developed for the professional classes, especially well known medics, who built their residences in the environs of Bucharest’s Medical University, the most prestigious higher education institution in that field from these parts of Europe, located at he heart of Cotroceni quarter. The area also boasts Romania’s Presidential Palace, a former official residence of country’s royal family, which inspired a great deal the architectural styles of this city quarter.

GOING OUT

Restaurants with an exquisite design

When both chefs and architects can help transform a meal into a full sensorial experience, it definitely heralds a new stage in the evolution of the Romanian gastronomy scene. BR feasted its eyes on the igloo guide to the best Restaurants from Romania and discovered how local diners have developed a taste for unconventional venues. Details here: http://www.business-review.ro/featured/fusing-restaurants-with-interior-design/

DMCA

PROTECTED

What to do this weekend