Brighton Festival 2010 Brochure by Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival

Brighton Dome & Festival Supporters

National Media Partner

Regional Media Partner

Associate Sponsors

Theatre & Performance

Family Theatre

Books & Debates

Community Music

Children's Parade

Corporate Members

Generous Support Provided by Jon & Julia Aisbitt | June Crown | Have a Heart | The Kobler Trust | The Roddick Foundation

Introduction I’ve been an artist for my whole working life. In that time I’ve watched the ebb and flow of my ‘own’ ideas, and those of the culture around me, watched things develop from iconoclasm to cliche and back again, and seen ideas that were dismissed as ephemeral and inconsequential stay the course and outlast many that were at the time seen as important and substantial. I’ve also seen things recycle and re-recycle, returning with new vigour as a new generation discovers them. I conclude from this that it’s nearly impossible to make a reliable assessment of the value of anything during its first flush of existence. Art history was always hard, but now it’s become almost impossible – attempts to distinguish between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art, and between ‘art’ and ‘craft’ are increasingly irrelevant. My feeling is that culture is an ecology of ideas – and just as we wouldn’t imagine a biological ecology where horses were seen as ‘important’ and goats as ‘trivial’, nor should we do the same thing with art. I remember reading an interview with a Chicago police detective who had been very successful at tracing criminals. He was asked his secret. He said, ‘If I find myself doing a double take, I do a triple take.’ I reformulated this as ‘Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to.’ This is a principle I’ve tried to follow – whether my attention is engaged by the most ‘profound’ fine art or the most ‘trivial’ pop, I want to acknowledge and take seriously the engagement. This Festival’s reputation rests on its commitment to presenting new and original talent in unexpected combinations – crossing the boundaries with ease and lightness. I’m excited about working in Brighton: I love the city, and I have great respect for the Festival, which has consistently placed itself at the cutting edge of the creative arts in Britain. I hope this edition of it will exercise the benefits of keeping the mind open and awake and clear of boundaries and snobberies.

At a glance Brian Eno

77 Million Paintings Apollo: This is for all Mankind This is Reggie Watts This is Acappella! This is Pure Scenius! This is The Books with Anna Calvi and more This is Afrobeat! This is Reasons for Optimism This is Tales of the Afterlives Brian Eno: This is an illustrated talk!

Music

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra – The Selfish Giant Apollo: This is for all Mankind London Philharmonic Orchestra – Beethoven & Tchaikovsky Kevin Johansen/Liniers Paul Curreri/Don’t Move! Anouar Brahem/Portico Quartet Steve Dugardin This is Reggie Watts Rokia Traoré/Sweet Billy Pilgrim This is Acappella! Richard Goode – Glyndebourne Recital This is Pure Scenius! This is The Books with Anna Calvi and more Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra – Bach: Mass in B minor Philip Glass Ensemble – Music in 12 Parts Philip Glass Ensemble – Koyaanisqatsi Brighton Festival Chorus – Rachmaninov Vespers This is Afrobeat! Prince Consort – Brahms Liebeslieder Britten Sinfonia – Eight Seasons Leafcutter John/Talvin Singh Mark Padmore and Kristian Bezuidenhout Ian King/Alasdair Roberts Navarra Quartet/Heath Quartet Roy Haynes Lali Puna/Jon Hopkins Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio

p.7 p.11 p.12 p.13 p.14 p.15 p.17 p.18 p.19 p.21 p.24 p.25 p.26 p.27 p.30 p.31 p.33 p.34 p.35 p.37 p.38 p.39 p.39 p.41 p.42 p.46 p.46

Theatre/Performance

Compagnia Rodisio – Story of a Family dreamthinkspeak – Before I Sleep Seeing Things (A one-on-one Experience) Spoon Tree Production – LaLaLuna Seven Studies in Salesmanship – Brighton Festival Platform Tim Crouch – I, Malvolio The Two Wrongies – World of Wrong Kim Noble Must Die Lone Twin Theatre – The Festival Cheek by Jowl – Macbeth The Diva in Me – Brighton Festival Platform Flying Eye – Cutting the Cord How do You Like My Landscape All That I Was/All That I Am – Brighton Festival Platform Animalink – Marine Parade Daniel Veronese – Uncle Vanya Rimini Protokoll – Best Before The Opera Group – The Lion’s Face Daniel Veronese – Women Dreamt Horses The Moment I Saw You I Knew I Could Love You The Girl I Left Behind Me This is Tales of the Afterlives

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Dance

L’A – Rachid Ouramdane – Loin/Far DanceXchange and Two’s Company – Funny Bones Movement 12 – Something – Brighton Festival Platform Hofesh Shechter Company – Political Mother Ted Stoffer – Recontres des Imbeciles

p.17 p.35 p.36 p.47 p.52

p.4 & 5 p.11 p.18 p.21 p.25 p.26 p.34 p.38 p.53 p.55

At a glance Outdoor Events

Children’s Parade Flickers: Off the Path Willi Dorner – Bodies in Urban Spaces Fuel – Electric Hotel NoFit State – Workshops/Open Rehearsals Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour – A Midsummer Night’s Dream Urban Playground/Big Splash NoFit State – Parklife

p.6 p.6 p.32 p.33 p.41 p.49 p.54 p.54

Books & Debate

Jacqueline Wilson Christopher Andrew/Christopher Meyer Compassion Today City Reads: From Russia with Love Berlin Horse Judging a Book: What Makes Good Writing Nicholas Stern/Charles Emmerson – Climate Change: The Big Picture David Mitchell Dan Cruickshank Classic Travel Writing Festival Debate: Local or Global? Martin Amis Natasha Walter/Katherine Rake Nick Kent – Apathy for the Devil Antonia Fraser – My Life with Harold Pinter This is Reasons for Optimism David Kynaston/Amanda Vickery – Whose History is it Anyway? Scott Turow Faber New Poets Roddy Doyle/Alan Warner Antony Beevor – D Day: The Battle for Normandy Mass Observation Brian Eno: This is an illustrated talk!

p.8 p.10 p.12 p.13 p.13 p.14 p.14 p.18 p.20 p.22 p.23 p.29 p.29 p.36 p.36 p.38 p.46 p.50 p.50 p.51 p.51 p.53 p.55

26 Letters

Allan Ahlberg Emily Gravett Philip Ardagh Cressida Cowell – How to Train Your Dragon Robert Muchamore – CHERUB Campus Uncovered Taffy Thomas – Tales from the Tale Coat Nick Sharratt A Bucketful of Ian Whybrow Stories Michelle Paver – Chronicles of Darkness Mr Toad’s Children’s Book Quiz Liz Kessler – Writing Workshop Jacob Sam-La Rose – Yes We Can (Write Poetry)! Liz Kessler – Want to Write for Children? We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Storyplaytime F.E. Higgins

p.60 p.60 p.60 p.60 p.61 p.61 p.61 p.61 p.62 p.62 p.62 p.62 p.63 p.63 p.63

Lunchtime Concerts

Anna Grevelius/Roger Vignoles Counterpoise Daniil Trifonov Fidelio Piano Trio Roberto Prosseda Heath Quartet Alexander Karpeyev Elias String Quartet Camarilla Ensemble Finzi Quartet Daniela Lehner/José Luis Gayo Allegri Quartet Thomas Carroll/Llyr Williams

p.56 p.56 p.56 p.57 p.57 p.57 p.58 p.58 p.58 p.58 p.59 p.59 p.59

Photo: Lumen London

Throughout the Festival, 12noon – 8pm Fabrica Free

Brian Eno

77 Million Paintings Brian Eno began his career as a visual artist and has always been interested in the synthesis of sound and image. 77 Million Paintings is an ever-evolving audio-visual installation that continues this creative exploration. The artwork was originally conceived in 2006 as the next evolutionary stage in Eno’s fascination with the aesthetic possibilities of ‘generative’ software. It offered infinite, non-linear ‘visual music’ for the idle screen. Since then Eno’s vision has been transformed into a major gallery experience, shown across the world from the Venice Biennale and Milan Triennale to Tokyo and San Francisco. Eno’s hand-drawn images are cut up, rearranged and realigned to produce limitless variations. Completely random, entirely original, and constantly mutating, the results come to life on luminous screens in a brilliant display of colour, shape and form. To complete the experience, layers of ambient sound interweave to create a similarly morphing soundscape.

‘Layers of gorgeous, intensely coloured abstract images appear, morph and dissolve into one another, then fade away into something entirely new.’ Time Magazine 7

Sat 1 May 10.30am Procession: Sydney Street to Madeira Drive Free

Children’s Parade

The ‘Youth Voice’ programme is supported by V match Fund

10,000 onlookers and a beachfront musical finale create the biggest and brightest community event of its type in the country.

The ‘DetermiNation’ puppet is part of the ‘Imagination our Nation’ programme

produced by Same Sky The annual Children’s Parade enters its 25th year in 2010 with the theme The Planet. Journey through the polar, temperate, tropical and desert regions with 4,000 participants from 70 schools and community groups parading through the city’s streets. Look out for the ‘Youth Voice’ team of roving reporters and the ‘DetermiNation’ puppet that inspires young people to voice their opinions about the environmental issues facing our planet.

Rachel Henson and Neil Manuell

Photo: The Atgus

1 May

Sat 1 – Sun 9 May Entry slots every 20 mins between 12noon and 6pm Stanmer Park £5

Flickers: Off the Path Rachel Henson UK premiere Commissioned by Brighton Festival Flickers: Off the Path is a physical journey through a psychic landscape; a hyperreal exploration of countryside at the edge of the city. You set off from Stanmer Park: alone or with friends. Your expedition kit contains a series of flick books, which act as navigation tools to guide your way. As you flick the pages, animated images of the real environment reveal the path ahead. Conceived from those moments of heightened awareness that come about when walking alone, Flickers: Off the Path brings our focus to the very edge of our senses. Come prepared for a 1 – 1½ hour walk in the countryside. Wear appropriate shoes and clothing and bring food/drink. Starts at Stanmer Tea Rooms in Stanmer Village. Each journey is for a solo walker, two friends or a small family.

Supported by Arts Council England

Illustration: Laura Barrett

1 May

Sat 1 May, 2pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £5, £10, £15 Children under 16 half price on top two ticket prices.

The Selfish Giant by Howard Goodall based on the story by Oscar Wilde Commissioned by Brighton Festival World premiere Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra Brighton Festival Youth Choir Howard Goodall conductor

When the selfish giant builds a high wall around his lovely garden to keep the children out, the winter freeze sets in and spring becomes but a memory. Until one fine day… Oscar Wilde

Howard Goodall Psalm 23 (Theme from The Vicar of Dibley) John Williams arr Hal Leonard Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Howard Goodall The Selfish Giant From Peter and the Wolf to Carnival of the Animals classical music has inspired children’s imagination. Now in a world premiere performance, BAFTA- and EMMY®-winning composer Howard Goodall unveils The Selfish Giant, a fullscale orchestral work based on Oscar Wilde’s classic fairy tale. The Giant’s story – reimagined in Goodall’s specially commissioned score – is brought to life by a suitably towering ensemble, featuring full orchestra, chorus, guest narrator and Brighton Dome’s very own concert organ as the eponymous ogre. Howard Goodall has composed for concert hall, stage, film and TV. His works include the themes to Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Mr Bean and The Vicar of Dibley, which he performs here as part of a lively programme that also includes the theme from Harry Potter. Goodall’s The Selfish Giant is a timeless and touching musical tale to melt even the most selfish of hearts… 9

1 May Sat 1 May 4pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £5 Family event (age 7+) Signed performance

Please Note: limited book signing – the first 150 children will receive a wristband, entitling them to get up to two books each signed.

Jacqueline Wilson Jacqueline Wilson is a one-woman publishing phenomenon. A staggering 25 million copies of her books have now been sold worldwide in 34 languages. She has been awarded an OBE and DBE for services to children’s literature and was Children’s Laureate from 2005-07. Her books include The Story of Tracy Beaker, Girls in Love and Dustbin Baby, all adapted as major TV series. Find out first hand what makes Jacqueline Wilson one of the world’s most celebrated children’s authors in this unmissable Festival visit. Jacqueline Wilson is a part of 26 Letters: for more family friendly books events see pages 60-63.

Compagnia Rodisio

Story of a Family English premiere Every family is different. Yet some things are the same wherever you live… There once was a man and a woman. They kissed and got married. And soon – to crown their dream love – a little girl arrived. Now they were a family… Story of a Family takes a darkly comic peek at normal folk going about their normal business. In the home, in the kitchen, at the dinner table. It is here that they act out their ‘happy family’ in a helter-skelter of chores, rituals and ever spiralling repetitions. But beneath the house-proud heroics and motivational mantras cracks are beginning to show… Sat 1 May, 4.30pm & 6.30pm Sun 2 May, 11am & 2pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome Adults £9, Children £6, Family ticket £25 (2 adults and 2 children) Age 7+

‘…a high-energy comedy (with a bitter twist) that does a splendid job of entertaining all ages.’ Hi-Arts

Devised by Italian theatre makers Rodisio, Story of a Family is the perfect introduction to European theatre for young people, tackling serious issues with a light, knockabout touch. Funny, heartbreaking and oh, so familiar, it is a touching reminder of our everyday imperfections…

1 May dreamthinkspeak

Before I Sleep inspired by The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov World premiere Commissioned by Brighton Festival A site-responsive promenade production inspired by The Cherry Orchard, specially designed for the former Co-operative department store on London Road. The characters in Chekhov’s greatest plays inhabit a world on the verge of collapse. They look out to the future and wonder what life will be like in years to come, unaware that, for them, it is about to change dramatically and irreversibly. Their future is now our present. The starting point is Firs. Left alone at the end of The Cherry Orchard, the elderly manservant unwittingly traverses an entire century on an odyssey to retrieve his past. As we journey alongside him, we experience a richly inventive and ever-changing landscape of performance, film and installation created and inhabited by performers, architects, model makers and art designers. Brighton Dome & Festival associate company dreamthinkspeak has an international reputation for producing multilayered, site-specific theatre experiences in innovative locations. Previous Brighton Festival commissions include Who Goes There? (2001) at the former Gardner Arts Centre, Don’t Look Back (2003) at Stanmer House and Underground (2005) for the corridors and backrooms of Theatre Royal Brighton. Part of caravan 2010 (9 -11 May)

Sat 1 – Sun 23 May, (No performance on Mondays) The Old Co-op building Timed entry slots every 5 minutes between 6.30pm and 9.30pm Tickets must be booked in advance £15 Those with mobility issues or who would like to attend an audio-described performance should call 01273 260836.

Photo: Paulo Brandao

Talk with Tristan Sharps, Artistic Director of dreamthinkspeak Sun 16 May, 6pm, Founders Room, Brighton Dome Free to ticket holders but must be booked in advance at the ticket office.

‘dreamthinkspeak is an extraordinary company.’ The Guardian Supported by Arts Council England

1 May Sat 1 – Wed 5 May Timed appointments every 15 minutes from 12noon – 8pm 15 tickets available per day The Basement £18

Seeing Things (A One-on-one Experience) Co-produced with The Basement One showcase. Four performances. One audience member only at a time. These intense, beautiful and claustrophobic one-on-one encounters are the perfect match for The Basement’s haunting, subterranean ambience. When We Meet Again – Clara Garcia-Fraile and Sam Pearson (Basement supported Artists) An immersive, ‘wearable’ film and live performance featuring you, your invisible friend, some forgotten dance hits and a semi-naked very hairy man! Queer Courtesan – Qasim Riza Shaheen An intimate and voyeuristic exploration of dance and seduction played out through music and two-way mirrors. Rotating in a Room of Images – Lundhal and Seiti ‘You stand in total darkness, guided by whispered instructions and the hands which lead you suddenly into bright diorama reminiscent of a Vermeer group portrait.’ Timeout, London Foot-Washing For the Sole – Adrian Howells Ditch your footwear and take a load off in this soothing and contemplative experience. Part massage, part nourishing conversational exchange. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to appointment; latecomers will not be admitted.

Sat 1 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

‘A neutral figure – an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department.’ Ian Fleming on James Bond

In association with City Reads

City Reads: Secrets and Sensitivities

Christopher Andrew and Christopher Meyer From espionage to diplomacy, covert actions that never reach the public domain are regularly carried out in our name. How much do we know? And how much should we know? In the first of two City Reads events inspired by Ian Fleming’s From Russia with Love, Christopher Andrew and Christopher Meyer lift the lid on secrets and sensitivities, British style. Christopher Andrew is the best-selling author of Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5 and an all-new introduction to Fleming’s novel. Christopher Meyer was British Ambassador to Washington at the time of 9/11 and the Iraq war. He’s the author of the explosive new history: Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue.

1 May Apollo:

for all Mankind performed by Icebreaker and BJ Cole with introductory talk by Brian Eno Brighton Festival Exclusive Last year, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Sound and Music premiered a new live arrangement of Brian Eno’s Apollo at London’s Science Museum. Now an expanded Icebreaker ensemble and British pedal steel player BJ Cole bring this seminal album to the live arena for two exclusive nights at Brighton Festival. Widely regarded as one of his most influential albums, Apollo was created by Eno, his brother Roger and Canadian guitarist-producer Daniel Lanois. It was conceived with filmmaker Al Reinert, who later used it as the soundtrack to his lunar documentary For All Mankind (1989). Music from the album has also appeared in the films 28 Days Later, Traffic and Trainspotting. This show returns the music to its original conception – a non-narrative counterpart to NASA footage from the Apollo programme. Performed live to Reinert’s film, this unique multimedia experience is the final frontier for Eno’s ambient music milestone. British new music innovators Icebreaker have performed the works of some of the best-known and most influential names in contemporary music including Louis Andriessen, Philip Glass and Michael Gordon, who commissioned their 2004 collaboration with Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance. Pedal steel guitar innovator BJ Cole has collaborated with everyone from Björk and Beck to Groove Armada and John Cale. Sat 1 May & Sun 2 May, 9pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £18.50 Festival standby £10

‘Apollo’s moonstruck ambience has aged gracefully, and … [the] spare, fiercely intelligent orchestration gave it the bloom of youth.’ The Guardian

2 May

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Sun 2 May 3pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £20, £25, £30 Festival standby £10

London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Jurowski conductor Yossif Ivanov violin Wagner Faust Overture Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

Photo: Philippe Buissin

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 was written under the darkest of clouds. The composer’s illjudged and short-lived marriage to the troubled Antonia Milyikova (who had initially threatened suicide if he refused her) had recently imploded, leaving Tchaikovsky himself in nihilistic frame. Leaving Russia to seek solace in travel and work, he completed his Fourth Symphony, a work that expressed a self-confessed ‘escape from reality’. From the sombre Fate motif that colours its first movement, to its ebullient folk-dance finale, it echoes the emotional fall-out and cathartic release from the greyest of winters. Beethoven – himself no stranger to turbulence and torment – premiered his Violin Concerto in 1806. It was performed by Franz Clement – principal violinist and conductor at the Theater an der Wien – with a few ‘embellishments’ of his own between movements including a showman-like one-string sonata played with the violin upside down! Here it is performed with less overt theatrics but ‘impressive authority and presence’ (The Strad) by multi-prizewinning Belgian prodigy Yossif Ivanov.

‘… [he] performed with élan and a positively alarming virtuosity that had a few jaws dropping in the orchestra, never mind the audience. I suspect we will all be hearing a lot more of Ivanov.’ The Strad

Sun 2 May 3pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Compassion Today Richard Holloway, Phyllida Law and Julia Neuberger What role does compassion play in the modern world? How do we reach out in hard times – to the elderly, the dying, to those struggling to make ends meet? In short: how does compassion define our sense of community? Examining the issues are three distinguished speakers. Broadcaster, writer and former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway has tackled complex issues from faith in the post-Christian age to morality in economic crisis. In Notes to My Mother-in-Law, actress-turnedauthor Phyllida Law has created a touching tale of family love and generational duty. Author, rabbi and broadcaster Julia Neuberger is a high profile social reformer and active member of the House of Lords.

2–3 May Sun 2 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

‘My favourite of the Bond books.’ Charlie Higson

In association with City Reads

Sun 2 May 9pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £12.50

City Reads:

From Russia with Love Andrew Lycett, Simon Winder and Rowan Pelling For the last three months Brighton has been reading and celebrating Ian Fleming’s From Russia with Love for the city’s annual collective big read – City Reads. It wasn’t until President JFK selected From Russia with Love in his Top 10 favourite books list for Life Magazine in 1961 that Bond became a bona fide modern icon. Now, in an enlightening discussion, Andrew Lycett – Fleming’s official biographer; Simon Winder – author of The Man Who Saved Britain: a Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond; and Rowan Pelling – broadcaster, journalist and former editor of the Erotic Review revisit this counter espionage classic and appraise Fleming’s legacy.

Kevin Johansen with Liniers After recent support slots for Seu Jorge and Lila Downs, Argentine singer-songwriter Kevin Johansen teams up with quick-draw Buenos Aires newspaper cartoonist Liniers for a unique live collaboration. Kevin Johansen was born in Alaska, but raised in Argentina. A New York resident for a decade, he was a regular at CBGBs, where his literate and worldly brand of Latin-American songcraft was a cult draw. It was in the Big Apple that he recorded his triple Grammy-nominated breakthrough Sur o No Sur. Liniers created the distinctive artwork for Johansen’s recent albums. But it’s onstage that Kevin’s witty, bilingual wordplay finds the perfect frame in Liniers’ giant cartoon counterpoints.

In Conversation Sun 2 May 2.30pm £5 (includes preview of Berlin Horse) Lighthouse Exhibition Tue 4 – Sun 30 May (closed on Mondays) 11am – 6pm Free Lighthouse

Berlin Horse Malcolm Le Grice’s experimental 1970 film Berlin Horse features an original Brian Eno soundtrack. Based on two sequences – one 8mm original, re-shot, re-coloured and subject to multiple superimposition; the other, a piece of found early newsreel – the focus of Le Grice’s short film is horses. The result is a poetic drama of combined images, sound and integrated narrative. Berlin Horse (duration 9 mins) is exhibited in the Lighthouse gallery space on a continuous loop. To launch Lighthouse’s Festival-long installation Berlin Horse, filmmaker, theorist and author Malcolm Le Grice presents previous films and discusses his work with curator and lecturer Maxa Zoller.

3–4 May Mon 3 May 4pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £8

Judging a Book: What Makes Good Writing?

Tue 4 May 8pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £10

Paul Curreri

‘My favourite living musician. If I weren’t me, I’d want to be him.’ Kelly Joe Phelps

Tue 4 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Five representatives of the creative writing and publishing world discuss what makes good writing: Author Sue Eckstein, convener of creative writing courses at West Dean Greg Mosse; literary agent Hannah Westland; editor of Waterstone’s Books Quarterly Ed Wood; and Myriad Editions’ fiction editor Vicky Blunden. Together, they announce the winner of the West Dean Writer’s Retreat Competition and talk through the challenges and opportunities new writers face in 2010, offering insights and tips to fledgling authors.

with support from Don’t Move! Charlottesville-based singer-songwriter Paul Curreri caught his first break alongside blues slideman Kelly Joe Phelps in 2001. His debut relase Long Gones to Hawksmoth and the Phelps-produced follow-up Songs for Devon Sproule (a love letter to his future wife) captured Curreri’s dizzying musicality and poetic sensibility. Yet it wasn’t until the darkeredged Velvet Rut (2007) – lavished with five-star reviews – and exuberant California (2009) that the world finally caught up and proclaimed Curreri’s ‘quiet genius’ (Independent). With support from Tin Angel label mates Don’t Move! whose debut album The New Pop Sound – ‘Middle-Eastern riffs by way of 60s UK rock’ – was recently produced by Curreri.

Climate Change: The Big Picture

Nicholas Stern and Charles Emmerson

Photo: © Leo Tomlin

What are the hard facts and true costs of global warming – human, environmental and economic? Two world authorities offer some coolheaded thinking on the hot topic of our age…

Nicholas Stern is former Chief Economist of the World Bank and author of the Stern Review. In A Blueprint for a Safer Planet, he sets out the steps we must take – not only for our survival, but for our future prosperity. In The Future History of the Arctic Charles Emmerson – Associate Director of the World Economic Forum – puts the continent centre stage in the climate change and geopolitics agenda.

4 May Anouar Brahem with support from Portico Quartet Brighton Festival Exclusive

Photo: © CF Wesenberg/ECM Records

Tunisian oud master and ECM star Anouar Brahem makes a very rare UK visit alongside Britain’s Mercury-nominated Portico Quartet in this evocative encounter. For the last two decades, Anouar Brahem has revolutionised the role of the oud – the ancient North African/Middle Eastern lute. Since joining ECM – Europe’s iconic jazz label – in 1991, Brahem has explored extraordinarily varied and nuanced territory: from traditional Mediterranean and Middle Eastern idioms to the rich repertory of jazz. Crossing genres and cultural barriers, his music is at once delicate and introspective, romantic and meditative, yet with a virtuosic improvisational prowess. For his latest project, The Astounding Eyes of Rita, he has assembled an international quartet. Together they create a ‘richly varied and often thrilling piece of world-jazz’ (The Guardian). Portico Quartet’s Mercury-nominated debut Knee Deep in the North Sea was a stealth hit. Its percussive jazz hooks and contemporary classical textures – think Cinematic Orchestra meets Philip Glass – announced the latest trailblazing ensemble to grace the burgeoning Brit-jazz roster. The band’s second album Isla – released by Real World last autumn – adds a dark, brooding ambience to their hypnotic ‘hang’ grooves. Tue 4 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £18.50 Festival standby £10

‘Gloriously lush … shows a confidence and clarity of purpose that sets Anouar Brahem apart from all others … beautiful.’ *****

Photo: Toby Summerskill

Songlines on Anouar Brahem

5 May

Wed 5 & Fri 7 May, 7pm Thu 6 May, 2.30pm & 7pm Sat 8 May, 2.30pm & 6pm Theatre Royal Brighton £8, £12.50, £18 Children half price on top two prices Suitable age 4+

‘Luminously inventive and magically silly … will have you howling with laughter at the dark circle in the sky.’ The Age (Melbourne, Australia)

Spoon Tree Productions

LaLaLuna What if one evening the light in the moon went out … and you were responsible for finding a replacement bulb? Just imagine such a night, a night called LaLaLuna… Combining clowning, mime, music and film with fantastical imagery and surreal storytelling, LaLaLuna is a whimsical tale of one man and his mission to relight the darkened moon. ‘Endearingly humorous and bizarrely ingenious’ (Daily Telegraph, Australia), it blasts off into theatre orbit care of oneman master of ceremonies Wolfe Bowart. Pocket a moonbeam and take the journey to a place where gravity isn’t always on its best behaviour … an interstellar adventure for adults and children alike.

5 May Loin/Far L’A – Rachid Ouramdane In what way does the violence of armed conflict make us foreign? ‘An exhilarating, sublime and probing’ (Boston Globe) piece of multimedia dance theatre, Rachid Ouramdane’s one-man show explores the consequences of confronting our past in relation to war. Partly based on his father’s journals – which reflect and document his experiences in French occupied Algeria and in Indochina – Loin/Far asks, How do people deal with the aftermath of violence? From Algeria to Cambodia, it retraces a journey made over 50 years ago, exploring the ever-changing nature of identity – those we inherit, create, project and abandon. Loin/Far is more multi-media performance than pure choreography – dance sequences meditate, flail and undulate, integrating with video footage, a pedal-controlled sound score and rushes of Ouramdane’s Beat-inspired poetry.

Wed 5 May, 8pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £12.50, £15 Festival standby £10

Rachid Ouramdane has been choreographing since 1996. He created the company L’A in 2007 as a vehicle for the ‘artistic exploration of contemporary identities’.

‘Political, sociological and psychological – Far is an engrossing work of art.’ New York Times

Wed 5 May 8pm St George’s Church £15

Steve Dugardin

Back to Baroque Brighton Festival Exclusive Belgian countertenor Steve Dugardin is no stranger to Brighton Festival. In the last three years he has collaborated with choreographer Koen Augustijnen and Les Ballets C de la B on two Festival commissions. Here the singer takes centre stage with an accompanying trio – cello, lute and harpsichord – for a personal take on the music of the Baroque, performing signature works of the period including Purcell, Vivaldi, Gabrieli and French singing master/composer Michel Lambert. From the sacred to the secular; from the passionate to the profane, Dugardin opens a window on the Baroque for a new generation.

5–6 May

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Wed 5 May & Thu 6 May 10pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £10

‘This guy has to be seen to be believed. Truly awesome!’ Time Out, London

Thu 6 May 7pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £4

Reggie Watts Brighton Festival Exclusive ‘Is he a comedian? A singer? A performance artist? Whatever, he ain’t like nobody else’ (Brian Eno). Here Eno cuts straight to the heart of Reggie Watts’ ingenious ambiguity. Hilarious, brilliant, unpredictable, the Seattle-based performer is certainly one-of-akind. His improvised musical sets – think songs meet skits meet off-kilter stand-up – are created on-thespot using only his formidable voice and a looping machine. No two songs are ever the same. An avowed ‘disinformationist’, Reggie loves to disorientate in the most entertaining way. You may not know what Reggie is going to do, but that’s okay – he doesn’t either!

Brighton Festival Platform

Seven Studies in Salesmanship Once again, Brighton Festival’s Platform series showcases four works in progress by artists from the South East.

‘Very, very funny.’ The Times

Thu 6 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

‘David Mitchell is just about the best writer operating in Britain today…’ Arena

You’re an individual. You walk your own path and make your own rules. Isn’t it time you signed up for ‘Seven Studies in Salesmanship’? These short plays – presented here as part of Platform – have been handtooled from the finest materials by award-winning playwrights Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon, Brighton’s leading purveyors of high quality, blue chip, user-friendly theatre. So ramp up and get on message. Go on, incentivize yourself: it’s a win-win situation!

David Mitchell Nagasaki. Japan. 1799. For one young Dutch clerk, a strange adventure of duplicity, love, guilt, faith and murder is about to begin. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is the eagerly awaited sixth novel from Booker-shortlisted author David Mitchell. Mitchell made his name with a series of dizzying, multilayered narratives. Ghostwritten won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize; Number9dream was shortlisted for the Booker; as was Cloud Atlas, the author’s most bravura feat of storytelling yet. The Costa-shortlisted Black Swan Green was less elliptical but equally luminous. Now, in a rare UK visit – the author’s only event outside of London this summer – Mitchell unveils the latest addition to his distinctive oeuvre.

Photo (far right): Richard Dumas

6 May

Thu 6 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £18.50 Festival standby £10

‘Arguably the most exciting, most thrilling live African music show around.’ The Guardian on Rokia Traoré

‘The trio’s brooding folk pop … pitches and rolls like a ship on the waves. A dark rum pleasure.’ The Independent on Sweet Billy Pilgrim

Rokia Traoré support from Sweet Billy Pilgrim Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré has always walked her own line. Her iconoclastic spirit was already evident on her self-produced second album Wanita (2000) and its follow-up, Bowmboï; both delivered an intoxicating blend of acoustic Malian roots with a compelling contemporary edge. Since then she has toured the US celebrating the life of Billie Holliday and written an African response to Mozart for maverick director Peter Sellars. She’s also snapped up every accolade going for her ubiquitously praised Tchamantché, a New York Times Top 10 album of 2009. With a subtle yet heady mix of tradition and innovation, Mali’s ‘most ambitious, experimental singer’ (Financial Times) has fashioned a whole new sound and attitude from West Africa. Sharing Rokia’s outré sensibility are British folktronica trio Sweet Billy Pilgrim. Named after Kurt Vonnegut’s hapless antihero, the band recorded both its albums in a garden shed! The results – an artful fusion of folk, pop, post-rock and electronica – have secured the band wide acclaim, culminating in a Mercury Music Prize nomination for 2009’s Twice Born Men. Part of an MBM Tour 21

7 May Fri 7 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Dan Cruickshank History has never been more now! Our passion for antiquities, treasures and artefacts is reflected in a whole series of popular history platforms from Time Team to the BBC’s year-long A History of the World in 100 Objects. Dan Cruickshank – one of our most intrepid and innovative broadcasters/writers – has played a key role in inspiring this collective curiosity. He’s been ‘Around the World in 80 Treasures’ and he’s adventured in architecture across centuries and continents. In that time he’s shown us how our buildings reveal our aspirations and told us the story of civilisation through our greatest achievements. Now, with trademark effusive style, he regales Brighton Festival with personal tales from his historical and architectural forays.

Fri 7 May, 6pm Sat 8 May, 6pm & 10pm Sun 9 May, 10pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £10, under 16s £6 Age 11+ 6pm perfs Age 18+ 10pm perfs Schools shows available, call 01273 260836

‘One of the smartest artists making theatre in Britain now.’ Kulturflash on Tim Crouch

I, Malvolio written and performed by Tim Crouch designed by Graeme Gilmour Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival Following the huge success of I, Caliban, I, Peaseblossom and I, Banquo, award-winning theatre maker Tim Crouch re-imagines Twelfth Night from the point of view of Shakespeare’s pent-up steward. Designed by Olivier Award-winning Graeme Gilmour, and written and performed by Tim Crouch (An Oak Tree; The Author), I, Malvolio is a hilarious and often unsettling rant from a man ‘notoriously wronged’. A story of lost dignity, prudery, practical jokes and bullying, this one-man act of storytelling alchemy draws us deep into the madness of Shakespeare’s classic comedy. ‘Look at you. Sitting there with your bellies full of pop and pickled herring. Laughing at me. Go on. Laugh at the funny man. Laugh. Make the funny man cry.’ For adults only, there are I, Malvolio ‘uncut’ shows at 10pm on Sat and Sun. I, Malvolio is part of caravan 2010 (09–11 May) – a three-day showcase for international promotors and programmers of site- specific, interactive and incidental performance. This curated programme features 15 of the south-east’s most exciting artists from established international names to the brightest new talent. caravan is delivered by Brighton Festival and Farnham Maltings. www.caravanshowcase.org.uk

A co-commission with Singapore Arts Festival, supported by BAC

7 May Acappella! Naturally 7 The Persuasions Reggie Watts Compered by Reggie Watts Brighton Festival Exclusive ‘I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends…’ For Brian Eno, singing could well be a panacea for our age! Here Brighton Festival’s Guest Artistic Director prescribes a healthy dose of acappella in a one-off celebration of the unaccompanied voice. The Persuasions have kept the acappella art form alive for over four decades. They cut their teeth singing on street corners and subway stations in early 1960s Brooklyn. Since then they’ve opened for Frank Zappa and Ray Charles, performed with Stevie Wonder and Van Morrison and released over 20 albums. The Persuasions might have carried the torch but New York sextet Naturally 7 reignited the flame in the late 1990s with their original take on the acappella inventory – ‘vocal play’. If the former is singing without instruments, then the latter is singing as instruments – seven voices replicating the full band arsenal armed only with their vocal cords and natural harmonies. When it comes to acappella, Reggie Watts – Seattlebased singer-cum-stand-up-cum-self-confessed’disinformationist’ – has ripped up the song sheet and set his own agenda. His songs are created on the hoof and in the moment with only his formidable voice, ‘side-splitting wit’ and a looping machine for company. Fri 7 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £18.50 Festival standby £10 Signed performance

7–8 May Fri 7 & Sat 8 May 7.30pm The Basement £8 Over 18s only

‘…not the ideal way to put the punters at ease’. The Scotsman

The Two Wrongies

World of Wrong Co-directed by Kim Noble and Stuart Silver Dance direction by Charlotte Vincent Co-produced with The Basement Beneath the glistening spotlight there’s a murky underbelly. Welcome to The Two Wrongies. Onstage it’s showtime – glitz and glamour; dance and comedy. Offstage it’s all talk: fast, furious, honest, and at times, very rude. In a brave and candid exposé of the female psyche, The Two Wrongies (supported artists of The Basement) celebrate, subvert and reinterpret the classic double act. Their onstage relationship, playful rivalry and absurdist humour is not for the faint-hearted! Please note, this performance features material of an explicit nature.

Fri 7 & Sat 8 May 9pm The Basement £10 Over 18s only

‘Shocking, beautiful and profound. It will blow your mind.’ ****** Time Out

Sat 8 May 3pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Kim Noble

Kim Noble Must Die Co-directed by Gary Reich and Flick Fernando Co-produced with The Basement Life is tough. Kim Noble will help you get through it whilst laying bare his plans for departing this world. Forced to assess his meagre legacy as his contemporaries become more successful, what Kim bequeaths to the world has become of utmost importance to him. In a series of benevolent acts, audience members are written into Kim’s Last Will and Testament, and, perhaps most touching of all, containers of Kim’s sperm are made available to female audience members in a bid to populate the world with genius once he’s dead. Please note, this performance features material of an explicit nature.

Classic Travel Writing Sara Wheeler, Victoria Glendinning and Toby Litt What constitutes great travel writing? To mark the launch of a series of iconic travel titles from the Vintage Travel Classics range, three contemporary writers nominate their candidates. Sara Wheeler – explorer, journalist and author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica – selects Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s undisputed masterpiece of polar literature, The Worst Journey in the World. Staking a claim for warmer climes, award-winning biographer Victoria Glendinning champions Elizabeth Bowen’s A Time in Rome. Finally Toby Litt – author of Corpsing, Journey into Space and, most recently, King Death – reveals his love of Robert Byron’s delightfully eccentric The Road to Oxiana.

8–9 May Festival Debate: Local or Global? In the current economic crisis a government should concentrate on its responsibility to its own citizens David Aaronovitch, Dominic Sandbrook, Linda Polman and Alan Beattie. Chaired by Polly Toynbee In economic crisis is our instinct to look after our own? Or is that impossible in the current world market? Is there such a thing as a nationalistic response or does everything we do as a country now have global implications? Examining the issues and debating the ethics are four compelling speakers. For the motion: award-winning writer and broadcaster David Aaronovitch (Voodoo Histories); and British historian/writer Dominic Sandbrook (Never Had it so Good; White Heat). Against: Dutch journalist/author Linda Polman (We Did Nothing; War Games) and Alan Beattie – World Trade editor at the Financial Times and author of False Economy.

Photo (top right): Chris Haigh Photography

Sat 8 May, 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Sun 9 May 7.30pm St Bartholomew’s Church £8, £10

‘In the British operatic firmament no star currently shines so brightly as that of Sir John Tomlinson’ The Guardian

Brighton Youth Orchestra with John Tomlinson Andrew Sherwood conductor Sir John Tomlinson bass Steve Heath didgeridoo Bernstein Overture from Candide Peter Copley Midnight Skaters (world premiere) Peter Sculthorpe Earth Cry Mussorgsky excerpts from Boris Godunov Brighton Youth Orchestra is in fine and eclectic company this evening. Sir John Tomlinson sings the world premiere of Peter Copley’s Midnight Skaters and excerpts from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, whilst didgeridoo maestro Steve Heath evokes the wild, untamed outback in Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s powerful and poignant Earth Cry. 25

9 May

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Richard Goode piano Glyndebourne Recital Byrd Pavan in E major and Galliard in A minor from My Ladye Nevells Booke Bach Partita No. 6 Chopin Four Mazurkas Chopin Scherzo in E major Schubert Sonata in B flat, D.960 Schubert’s Sonata in B Flat Major – one of a trio of ‘last sonatas’ – was written in the final months of the composer’s life in the autumn of 1828. Published posthumously, these works were largely forgotten during the 19th century, but have since been recognised as an apotheosis of the composer’s mature style. Overshadowed by the imminence of death, this culminating masterpiece is a meditative and valedictory lament. Described by The Times as ‘the pianist’s pianist – a superb artist who attacks the classical repertoire with the full force of his heart and mind’, New York’s Grammy-winning Richard Goode has a formidable international reputation. ‘Among the most persuasive Beethoven interpreters of his time’ (San Francisco Chronicle), he was the first American-born pianist to record the composer’s complete sonatas. He has made over two dozen recordings and performed with many of the world’s premier orchestras. He is currently Co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music School and Festival with Mitsuko Uchida. Sun 9 May, 3pm Glyndebourne £10, £18, £25, £30 Festival standby £10 Glyndebourne grounds open from 12pm, for picnicking. Lunch available from Leith’s. Reservations must be made in advance leithsnw@compass-group.co.uk

‘One of the finest pianists in the world.’ Washington Post

9 May Pure Scenius! Brighton Festival Exclusive Genius is individual, scenius is communal. Here seven individuals come together to imagine new forms of music, realised over three consecutive performances. This experiment had its only other outing last year as part of Luminous at the Sydney Opera House. In This is Pure Scenius!, Brian Eno will be joined on stage by Karl Hyde, guitarist Leo Abrahams, synthesist Jon Hopkins as well as Tony Buck, Lloyd Swanton and Chris Abrahams who comprise Australian improvisation masters, The Necks. Each concert picks up where the preceding one left off. Starting from a predetermined sequence of events, each performance allows the development of ideas across three concerts – sometimes quite similar, sometimes worlds apart. Like a laboratory conducting an undisclosed experiment, This is Pure Scenius! is a combustible, must-see mix of intellect, ideas and musical innovation. Karl Hyde is the poet voice of Underworld who assimilated techno into the art-rock tradition with frantic cut-up lyrics, eccentric humour and waves of improvisation. Jon Hopkins is a musical shapeshifter, composer, pianist and self-taught studio wizard who co-produced Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. Leo Abrahams was discovered by Eno and has since worked with Nick Cave and Grace Jones specialising in generating ambient sounds. Tony Buck, Lloyd Swanton and Chris Abrahams – collectively known as The Necks – are recognised as being among the world’s most consistently great exponents of improvised music.

‘The theatre of the music-making process was as enthralling as the music itself.’ Sydney Morning Herald

Sun 9 May Performance 1, 4pm Performance 2, 6.30pm Performance 3, 9pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome Each performance £18, £22 See all three performances £55 (Limited availability) Festival standby £10 per performance, £30 for all three There is a one hour break between each performance.

10–11 May Mon 10 May 8pm Komedia Standing £15

The Books with Anna Calvi and more Brighton Festival Exclusive After a three-year hiatus, The Books hit Brighton Festival for a one-off show. The US duo’s debut release Thought for Food (2002) defined their sound: an organic blend of Americana-influenced electronic folk that incorporates found sound, spoken word and electronic samples into a post-everything cut-andpaste mix. Following a Wire album of the year accolade for 2005’s Lost and Safe and a recent collaboration with José González, The Books return to the live arena with a special show including extraordinary visuals that layer extra meaning on their unusual music. Anna Calvi cites unlikely bedfellows as musical influences: Django Reinhardt, Messeian, Velvet Underground and Roy Orbison! Yet this eclecticism is the bedrock of the singer’s Indie pop romanticism. Her brooding, cinematic atmospherics are perfectly framed by masterful electric guitar work, vintage harmonium and layered Buckley-esque vocals. The blogosphere buzz surrounding her forthcoming debut release predicts big things for this singular talent.

Tue 11 May 8pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £15 Festival standby £10

‘A wonderful body of work.’ The Guardian

Lone Twin Theatre

The Festival A chain of events discretely alters a private world to devastating effect when two lives cross at a festival of music and song. Told against a backdrop of the here and now The Festival is a simple story of love and expectation, of family and companionship, of the mundane and the extraordinary. The Festival is the third installment in Lone Twin Theatre’s acclaimed The Catastrophe Trilogy, three touching, comic and resolutely hopeful acts of biographical storytelling. Alice Bell (2006), Daniel Hit by a Train (2008) and now The Festival each ask the simple question: What are the key events in a life and how do we show them, on stage, in front of other people? Answering that question enacts a sort of madness – the mad and magnificent catastrophe of living. The Festival speaks of a moment in a quiet life when suddenly all is changed, when a silent world begins to sing.

Part of caravan 2010 (9–11 May)

11 May

Tue 11 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £20, £25, £30 Festival standby £10

‘If there was a Nobel Prize for choirs, the Monteverdi Choir should be its laureate.’ Le Monde

Mass in B Minor Johann Sebastian Bach Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Bach’s Mass in B Minor is one of the crowning achievements of the choral repertoire. Yet its genesis was rather less auspicious. A composite work compiled over two decades, its earliest incarnation – the 1733 Missa – was a failed attempt by Bach to gain patronage from the Catholic Elector of Saxony. Though eventually expanded to a full-blown setting, it was arguably never intended for a single performance and was not heard in its entirety until a century after the composer’s death. If its evolution is enigmatic then its legacy is manifest – an iconic work of monumental majesty and solemnity. The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra was formed 45 years ago by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Its original aim was to explore a wide repertoire fanning out from the Baroque. It has since become synonymous with passionate, committed singing, and the ability to switch composer, language and idiom with stylistic conviction.

Photo: Johan Persson

11 May

Tue 11 – Fri 14 May, 7.30pm Sat 15 May, 2.30pm & 7.30pm Theatre Royal Brighton £12.50, £18.50, £22.50 Under 26s £12.50 Festival standby £10 Suitable for age 16+ Signed performance on Sat 15 May, 7.30pm

‘Dazzling … every performance is intelligent and subtle.’ Le Figaro

‘Whatever Cheek by Jowl does next constitutes a major happening.’ The Guardian

Cheek by Jowl

Macbeth by William Shakespeare Directed by Declan Donnellan Designed by Nick Omerod Macbeth is the great tragedy of the imagination. A man and a woman, bound together in ambition, are destroyed in a welter of blood. Cheek by Jowl’s startling new production conjures Shakespeare’s world of witchcraft, ghosts and apparitions in an hallucinatory experience of sound and shadow. Cheek by Jowl have established an international reputation for bringing ‘fresh life to the classics using intense, vivid performances like a laser of light to set the text ablaze’ (The Guardian). Founded by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, the company has toured to over 300 cities in 40 countries and is an Associate Company at The Barbican, London. Produced by Cheek by Jowl in a co-production with barbicanbite10; Les Gémeaux/Sceaux/Scène Nationale; Koninklijke Schouwburg, The Hague; Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg; Théâtre du Nord, Lille and Théâtre de Namur/ Centre Dramatique.

12 May Wed 12 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

‘The finest English fiction writer of his generation.’ Independent on Sunday

Martin Amis Italy. 1970. A long hot summer. The girls are acting like boys and Keith Nearing is struggling to twist feminism and the sexual revolution towards his own ends… The Pregnant Widow is the long-awaited 10th novel from Martin Amis, arguably ‘the most original prose stylist of his generation’ (David Lodge). If The Rachel Papers (1973) made Amis an overnight cult, then his coruscating urban triptych – Success, Money and London Fields – distilled an era and defined a genre. His later work – more overtly political – presented a new Amis, with big themes in his sights. No stranger to controversy, his recent fiction and prolific output as essayist, critic and cultural commentator has tackled some of the most divisive issues of our age – from environmental apocalypse and religious fundamentalism to counter-terrorism.

Photo: Tom Craig at Bill Charles agency

A new Amis novel remains a genuine publishing event. Don’t miss it!

Wed 12 May 7.30pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £8

Natasha Walter and Katherine Rake What message does our hypersexualised culture and its airbrushed version of femininity send out to women and young girls whose ambitions often stop at fame, glamour and endorsement by men? To what degree are we limiting their futures, and what actions can we, as a society, take to counter the slide? In Living Dolls – written more than a decade after her seminal The New Feminism – broadcaster and writer Natasha Walter asks how its watchwords – ‘choice’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘liberation’ – have become so distorted, and at what cost? Katherine Rake is former director of the Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading campaigning organisation for women’s rights. One of the country’s most prominent feminist voices, she currently heads up the governmentfunded Family and Parenting Institute. Join Natasha and Katherine for a pressing debate on the return of sexism.

12 May

Wed 12 May, 6.30pm Duration: 4hrs 20mins including three short intervals Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £22.50, £25, £30 Festival standby £10

‘Music in 12 parts is some of the most soulful music Glass ever wrote.’ New York Times

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Philip Glass Ensemble

Music in 12 Parts Brighton Festival Exclusive This year Brighton Festival presents two special nights celebrating the work of American composer Philip Glass. The first is Music in 12 Parts. Music in 12 Parts is arguably the defining moment in the minimalist movement. Part ‘theoretical exercise’ and part ‘deeply engrossing work of art’ (Tim Page, New York Times), it crystallised all Glass’s previous ideas and achievements. And though in essence it closed a chapter, it also contained many of the structural and harmonic conceptions that would characterise the composer’s subsequent oeuvre. It received its world premiere in 1974, but wasn’t recorded in its entirety until 1989. It remains the longest and most ambitious work the composer has written for his own ensemble. Philip Glass holds a prominent place in late 20th- and early 21st-century modern music. His breakthrough – Music in 12 Parts – was followed by the landmark opera Einstein on the Beach, created with Robert Wilson in 1976. Since then he has expanded his repertoire to include music for dance, theatre, chamber ensemble, orchestra and film. He has received three Academy Award nominations – for Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, Stephen Daldry’s The Hours and, most recently, Richard Eyre’s Notes on a Scandal. Here Philip Glass leads his own ensemble as a rare live performance of his fourhour epic.

13 May

Thu 13 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £22.50, £25, £30 Festival standby £10

‘Prepare yourself for kaleidoscopic beauty.’ Wired

‘The range of instrumental colours is astonishing.’ New York Times

Philip Glass Ensemble

Koyaanisqatsi Philip Glass’s original score performed live to Godfrey Reggio’s film Brighton Festival Exclusive The 1982 world premiere of Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass’s groundbreaking collaboration Koyaanisqatsi was a milestone in movie-making history. Now, exclusively for Brighton Festival, Philip Glass leads his own ensemble as they perform the composer’s original score live to this cult film classic. ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ – the only textual reference in Reggio’s non-narrative, non-linear audiovisual tone poem – means ‘life out of balance’ in the Hopi Indian dialect. Harmony and discord – both environmental and mechanistic – are the film’s underlying themes, played out in a pulsing stream of timelapse and slow motion photography. From the desert landscape of Monument Valley to abandoned tenements in the South Bronx; from the natural world to rampant technology, the images are framed and reframed in striking juxtapositions. Philip Glass’s reiterative, hypnotic score is the perfect match for Reggio’s moving meditation, his signature ‘minimalist’ themes cast here in epic orchestral soundscapes. As the accelerating pace of modernity puts ever-greater strain on the natural world and leads us towards an environmental tipping point, Koyaanisqatsi’s brave new vision seems more prescient and contemporary than ever.

14 May

Fri 14 May, 10am, 2pm & 11pm Sat 15 May, 11am, 4pm & 8.30pm New England Quarter Free but must be booked in advance

Willi Dorner

Bodies in Urban Spaces Think you know your city? Think again… Bodies in Urban Spaces – a trail of human geometry across Brighton’s streetscape – puts a whole new perspective on the built environment.

‘A wonder of organisation and stamina … a model of public art: free, fun and transformative.’ Philadelphia Inquirer

You meet at a secret location and join the crowd. Led across Brighton’s hidden spaces by 20 ‘movement artists’ – dancers, climbers, athletes – your street-eye view is reframed and refreshed. In nooks and crannies, doorways and alcoves bodies form and re-form into fleeting architectural interventions. As the performers disengage, move on and reassemble – in, on, around and under the urban landscape – the route and the city’s architecture reveal themselves anew. Conceived and created by Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner, this living chain of physical sculptures creates a unique dialogue with our neighbourhoods, leaving no trace but an eyewitness imprint on our collective memory.

In association with South East Dance

14 May Fri 14 May 6pm Sat 15 May 10pm St Bartholomew’s Church £15

Rachmaninov Vespers Brighton Festival Chorus James Morgan conductor Juliette Pochin mezzo soprano Christopher Lemmings tenor A virtuoso pianist and a brooding Romantic cast in the Tchaikovsky mould, Rachmaninov was also a masterful composer of choral works. Written in 1913, his stirring Vespers was the culmination of a great Russian tradition, a masterwork of choral virtuosity that outstripped all its predecessors in its haunting serenity. In the atmospheric setting of St Bartholomew’s Church, the 150-strong Brighton Festival Chorus recreates the majesty of Moscow’s Kremlin cathedrals, building an epic symphony of sound that is at once celebratory and reflective, lyrical and deeply affecting.

Fri 14 & Sat 15 May 10pm The Level Free Tickets must be booked in advance

Electric Hotel Fuel Electric Hotel is a bizarre and beautiful outdoor spectacle; a uniquely designed, fly-by-night residence brought to life through dance and sound. Sitting on the outside looking in, you snatch glimpses of the do-not-disturb lives unfolding behind the floor-to-ceiling windows. Wearing headphones to eavesdrop on the internal spaces of the building, you witness the residents in their private rooms: their natural habits, unnatural fantasies and housekeeping of wildly varied quality. Electric Hotel is conceived and delivered by an ensemble team: director and co-founder of Shunt David Rosenberg; choreographer Frauke Requardt (Pictures from an Exhibition at Sadler’s Wells/Young Vic); and designer Börkur Jónsson (Woyzeck at Barbican; Metamorphosis at Lyric Hammersmith). The privilege and thrill for the voyeur is seeing the bigger picture… Commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and Without Walls. Funded by Arts Council England and a Wellcome Trust Arts Award.

Photo (far right): Hugo Glendinning

14 May

Fri 14 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £20 stalls standing/seated £20, £22.50 circle Festival standby £10

‘The greatest living drummer in the world today.’ Brian Eno on Tony Allen

‘He evokes the presence of his father … the spirit of the man, the wildness, defiance and physical abandon.’ The Independent on Seun Kuti

Afrobeat! Tony Allen/Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 Brighton Festival Exclusive Two iconic African artists come together for one essential Afro-beat encounter. Tony Allen was the drummer and unofficial musical director of Fela Kuti’s seminal band, Africa 70, from 1968 until 1979. Together they pioneered the Afro-beat revolution, melding Nigerian highlife, jazz and James Brown-style funk grooves into a potent musical force. Three decades on, Allen remains a restless innovator, incorporating dub, funk and hip-hop into his modern African mix. After well-documented collaborations with Damon Albarn, last year Allen returned to his roots with a full-throttle Afro-beat release Secret Agent, featuring an all-singing, all-dancing international ensemble. If Allen is the progenitor, then Seun Kuti – youngest son of Fela – is the natural successor to the Afro-beat crown. Leading his father’s band Egypt 80 for the last decade, Seun has kept the Afro-beat agenda well and truly alive, perpetuating its pulsing rhythms and outspoken politics. Fronting one of the most formidable Afro-beat ensembles of all time – with many original alumni – might seem a daunting task. Yet the young Kuti leads the 20-piece Egypt 80 with all the frenetic energy and bold defiance of Fela in his prime. Plus live DJ sets from Miles Cleret (Soundway Records).

Part of The Great Escape

15 May Sat 15 & Sun 16 May 11am & 2pm Hove Town Hall Adults £9 Children £6 Family ticket £25 (2 adults and 2 children) Age 5+ Duration: 50 mins

DanceXchange & Two’s Company

Funny Bones Costumes made of spoons, buckets filled with water … this endlessly inventive double bill dreams up a whole new world of dance and movement for young children and their families. First DanSense stirs the five senses in a witty and playful encounter complete costumes adorned with spoons and buckets filled with water that soak the dancers (and audience!). Then the performers limber up for a series of energetic sporting challenges, in an imaginative piece of dance-theatre. The audience is called to support and take sides, but who will be the winner?

Photo: Edward Moss

Funny Bones is performed up close and personal (with the audience on all sides) by a company of outstanding dancers. It is devised by internationally renowned choreographers Enrique Cabrera (Aracaladanza) and Luca Silvestrini (Protein).

Sat 15 May 8pm Music Room, Royal Pavilion £30 Ticket includes a free glass of wine in the interval in the Banqueting Hall

‘Stylistically and tonally, the blend was sensational … a vivid, compelling performance.’ Independent on Sunday

The Prince Consort Alisdair Hogarth director/piano Roger Vignoles piano Anna Leese soprano Jennifer Johnston mezzo soprano Andrew Staples tenor Stephan Loges baritone Brahms Liebeslieder Op. 52 Schumann Spanisches Liebeslieder Op. 138 Brahms 8 Deutsche Volkslieder Brahms Neue Liebeslieder Op. 65 Think of lieder, and it is Schubert – not Brahms – who immediately springs to mind. Yet Brahms’ song repertoire is both rich and varied. Though they inevitably owe a debt to Schubert – the spark of human drama between singer and accompanist; the ardent romanticism; the poetic narrative (inspired by the German lyric poets and native folk tradition) – these works are infused with a sensuous Brahmsian vitality. The Prince Consort was founded by British pianist Alisdair Hogarth to showcase different combinations of voice and piano, from solo to small groups. The six founder members – each an accomplished soloist in their own right – met at the Royal College of Music. 37

15–16 May

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Sat 15 May 4pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £10

‘I could tell you stories about Nick Kent that would uncurl the hair on your Afro.’ Morrisey

Nick Kent

Apathy for the Devil Pitched somewhere between Almost Famous and Withnail and I, Nick Kent’s new memoir Apathy for the Devil revisits the era that made his name – the 1970s. As a young novice writer, Nick’s first four interviews were with MC5, Captain Beefheart, The Grateful Dead and Lou Reed. As apprentice to Lester Bangs, boyfriend of Chrissie Hynde, confidant of Iggy Pop and trusted scribe of the Rolling Stones, he was witness to both the beautiful and the damned. Get the inside track on rock’s most turbulent decade with its most brilliant and provocative chronicler.

Part of The Great Escape

Photo: © Sue Greenhill

Sun 16 May 4pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Sun 16 May 8pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £4

Antonia Fraser

My Life with Harold Pinter in conversation with Lucasta Miller Antonia Fraser and Harold Pinter were the ultimate literary couple. He was the most acclaimed playwright of our age; she, a beautiful and celebrated biographer and historical writer. Now Antonia Fraser relives her life with Pinter in a candid memoir of over 30 years together. Must You Go? is based partly on Fraser’s own diaries and personal recollections, and partly on those of friends and acquaintances. The diaries pay special attention to the green shoots of Pinter’s own creativity – no doubt a consequence of the close proximity of biographer to creative artist. Catch the prize-winning author of Marie Antoinette and Warrior Queens in conversation with biographer and literary critic Lucasta Miller. Brighton Festival Platform

Something Movement 12 An evening of excerpts and inserts, works in progress and off-the-cuff experiments. This is your opportunity to sample live performance, installation and film works from some of the most intriguing dance makers around including Probe, Becky Edmunds, Charles Linehan, Augusto Corrieri, Miriam King, Charlie Morrissey, CiCi Blumstein, Lila Dance, Virginia Farman, B.Group and Marisa Zanotti. Movement 12 are a Brighton-based artist-led group curating a diverse international programme of professional development opportunities for dance artists. They are an Associate Artist group with Brighton Dome and Festival. You can find out about them and their programme at www.movement12.org

16 May

Sun 16 May, 8pm St George’s Church £5 (balcony listening only), £12.50 (restricted view), £17.50

‘Infused with irresistible energy, cogent and compelling.’ The Times on Britten Sinfonia

‘Pekka Kuusisto may be the best thing to happen to classical music in years.’ The Guardian

Eight Seasons Britten Sinfonia Pekka Kuusisto violin/director Rautavaara The Fiddlers Sibelius Rakastava Vivaldi The Four Seasons Piazolla Cuatro estaciones portenas The ever popular Four Seasons is cast in a new light alongside Astor Piazzolla’s bold reflection on Vivaldi’s Baroque masterpiece. Contemporary composers have often referenced Vivaldi’s most famous work. Piazzolla joined their ranks with his tango-inflected homage Cuatro estaciones porteñas. Originally conceived for traditional folk/chamber ensemble and later arranged for full orchestra and solo violin by Leonid Desyatnikov, Piazzolla’s own Four Seasons takes the vigour and virtuosity of the Italian Baroque and infuses it with jazz textures and Latin pulse. Performed side-by-side in a thrilling juxtaposition, all eight ‘Seasons’ are here revealed anew. Britten Sinfonia is one of Europe’s most celebrated and innovative chamber orchestras. Unusually it does not have a principal conductor or director but chooses to collaborate with a range of guest artists from across the musical spectrum. For this concert it is the turn of Pekka Kuusisto to direct the Orchestra, the latest in a series of prestigious international engagements for the virtuoso Finnish violinist.

16 May Leafcutter John and Talvin Singh Brighton Festival Exclusive Electronica pioneers Leafcutter John and Talvin Singh pool creative resources specially for Brighton Festival in the Regency opulence of the Royal Pavilion’s Music Room.

Yann Coatsaliou

Leafcutter John has redefined the possibilities of electronic music – melding found and processed sounds with acoustic instrumentals into a seamless and haunting mix. Forever pushing boundaries, his site-specific sound installations have graced venues from galleries to the bottom of swimming pools! A Mercury Prize winner for his 1999 album OK, Talvin Singh is ‘the father of modern Asian electronica’. He is also an accomplished tabla player, producer and DJ. Here Talvin will be playing a range of percussion instruments to Leafcutter’s unique soundscapes in a vibrant live collaboration. Sun 16 May, 9pm Music Room, Royal Pavilion £15

Reasons for Optimism We hear a lot about the huge threats facing mankind. But there’s another side to this story: if we succeed in grappling with them, we’ll effectively have reinvented human civilisation. Brian Eno joins forces with other positive thinkers in a series of presentations celebrating some possible futures.

‘All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’ Dr Pangloss, Voltaire’s Candide

Photo: © Rex Features

Sun 16 May, 8pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £10

17 May Mon 17 May 8pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £15, £20 Festival standby £10

Mark Padmore tenor Kristian Bezuidenhout fortepiano

‘The finest, most musical British tenor around today.’ The Guardian

Schumann’s inner ‘Romanticism’ found its most profound expression in his lieder, most resonantly in his famous song cycle Dichterliebe – ‘The Poet’s Love’.

Schumann Liederkreis, Op. 24 Lachner Heine Lieder; Im Mai; Die Meerfrau; Das Fischermädchen; Ein Traumbild; Die Einsame Thräne Schumann Dichterliebe, Op. 48

Set to 16 poems by Heinrich Heine, Dichterliebe is one of the cornerstones of the lieder repertoire, its sublime marriage of poetic image and musical figure capturing perfectly the bittersweet longing and inherent ambivalence of Heine’s original vision. Last heard by Brighton Festival audiences in 2008 singing Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Mark Padmore has established a flourishing career in opera, concert and recital. His performances in Bach’s Passion have gained international notice. In the opera house he has worked with directors Peter Brook, Mark Morris and Deborah Warner, and recently took the leading role in Harrison Birtwistle’s new opera The Corridor.

Mon 17 May 8pm Komedia, Cabaret Seating £12.50

Ian King Alasdair Roberts Two key figures from the UK’s folk renaissance reimagine British traditional music for the 21st century. Such is the buzz about Ian King that fRoots magazine made him cover story some eight months before his first album was even released. Panic Grass and Fever Few – recorded with Adrian Sherwood and the legendary On-U Sound crew – more than matched the anticipation, bringing an exciting new edge to the songs of old England. Since going solo, Scottish singer/guitarist Alasdair Roberts (ex-Appendix Out) has immersed himself in the traditional song and balladry of the British Isles. His 2005 album No Earthly Man was produced by label mate/musical collaborator Will Oldham; his most recent, Spoils (2009), is a dark-hued collection of self-penned new folk tales.

17 May Mon 17 May 8pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £4

Brighton Festival Platform

The Diva in Me by Charlotte Jones Philippa has the X factor. But she was born in the wrong place – Coventry, at the wrong time – about forty years too late for the golden era of musicals. She grew up. Fell in love. Got married. Had a baby. All the ordinary things. Normal on the outside – but inside, a diva. Until her husband leaves her, her best friend dies and her X factor becomes a hideous eX factor… A funny and moving work in progress antidote to celebrity meltdown, by Charlotte Jones – starring Philippa Stanton (and Björk, Amy Winehouse, Eartha Kitt, Judy Garland…)

Mon 17 May, 9pm Tue 18 & Wed 19 May, 7pm & 9pm The Basement £10 Limited capacity Produced by Margarita Productions, Brussels

How Do You Like My Landscape Manah Depauw and Bernard van Eeghem Co-produced with The Basement ‘And God felt great and powerful and He thought some animation would be cute and He ordered little animals.’ (Genesis) In How do you like my landscape? Manah Depauw and Bernard van Eeghem use sharp imagination, miniature topography and fake plastic animals to redefine the role of the human body within the history of the earth. This four-episode spectacle plays out across a time and terrain where apparent tranquility only serves to camouflage the terrible beast of desire within.

Mon 17 May, 8pm Tue 18 & Wed 19 May, 6pm & 8pm The Basement £8 Limited capacity

‘This magical 45-minute piece made us feel like the lucky few to catch a glimpse of a mini masterpiece…’ OneTaste

Flying Eye

Cutting the Cord Co-produced with The Basement Where do you come from? Where are you going? And when you are miles away from the place of your birth, can you ever feel truly at home? Confused, fatalistic, loyal, Sachi is a young Japanese woman on a personal mission to find a ‘home’. Inspired by true life stories, Cutting the Cord explores Sachi’s comedic yet sincere need to belong. Humorous, touching and delightfully understated, this intimate solo show is performed up close, personal and partly promenade. With magical theatricality, Flying Eye (supported artists of The Basement) invites us all – whatever our background – to celebrate this universal human aspiration.

18 May Tue 18 – Sun 23 May Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, 6pm - 7pm See daily chalkboard or www.nofitstate.org for details Final performance Sun 23 May, 9pm Free (see p.54)

A Co-commissioned with Without Walls and Norfolk and Norwich Festival

NoFit State Park Life Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival NoFit State’s mission is to become the circus everyone wants to join. Now with Park Life you can! Taking up a week-long residency on Brighton’s Level, NoFit State circus company ditches the big top, rips up the rulebook and invites you to get involved. With a spectacular aerial circus playground and open house programme of taster sessions, rehearsals and workshops, NoFit State will be working with local artists and community groups to develop new acts and routines. From live music jams to bicycle ballets and displays of extreme sports – everything will be on show and up for grabs. Then, as the week draws to a close, all the elements come together in one largescale open-air circus performance (see p.54).

Navarra Quartet/ Heath Quartet

Photo: Sussie Ahlberg

Haydn String Quartet in G minor, Op. 20, No. 3 Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht Mendelssohn String Octet in E flat, Op. 20 Two prize-winning quartets in one recital. First the Navarra plays Haydn’s 1772 Opus 20 ‘Sun Quartet’ in G Minor. Then members of both ensembles come together for Schoenberg’s 1899 string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) – inspired by the work of symbolist poet Richard Dehmel. Finally, both Quartets join forces for Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E flat, Opus 20. Scored for double string quartet, the work builds to its famous scherzo (inspired by Goethe’s Faust) with bravura energy. The Navarra and Heath Quartets were both formed at the RNCM under the late Dr Christopher Rowland. Both have won major prizes and performed across the world at international concert halls and festivals.

Photo: Hanya Chlala

Tue 18 May, 8pm Music Room, Royal Pavilion £30 Ticket includes a free glass of wine in the interval in the Banqueting Hall

18 May

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Roy Haynes The Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band Eighty-five-year-old US drum legend Roy Haynes has provided the back beat to international jazz for seven decades! In that time he has worked with pretty much anyone who’s ever been anyone. He swung with Lester Young and Sarah Vaughan; be-bopped with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis; played it cool with Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan; and has whipped it up post-bop with everyone from Pat Metheny to Chick Corea. With his distinctive and highly expressive style, he has helped redefine the role of the jazz drummer, and made his mark on some of the seminal recordings in the genre. For this concert, he heads up The Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band featuring Jaleel Shaw (saxophones), Martin Bejerano (piano) and David Wong (bass). Tue 18 May, 8pm Komedia £18.50

Tue 18 May 8pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £4

Supported by Arts Council England

Brighton Festival Platform

All That I Was/All That I Am Welcome legendary star of stage and cruise ship: Mr Sid Lester! Back on the boards for one last curtain call… With his ‘eccentric tap routines, music hall patter and modern touch’ (Evening Standard 1953), Sid Lester was part of what made Variety great. Now, in his 70s, coping with the loss of his beloved wife and dance partner Florrie, this is the last go-around for Sid. Written and performed by Sue MacLaine (with choreography by Janine Fletcher), this budding ‘one-woman one-man show’ is presented as part of Brighton Festival’s Platform series. A funny and poignant reflection on what was and what is…

18 May

Tue 18 & Wed 19 May, 8pm Thu 20 & Fri 21 May, 6pm & 9pm Sat 22 & Sun 23 May, 3pm, 6pm & 9pm The Old Market £12.50 Festival standby £10

‘Simon Stephens has emerged in this millennium as an outstanding playwright.’ Financial Times

Animalink

Marine Parade World premiere In a bed and breakfast on the Brighton sea front at the end of summer nine people’s lives dance around the possibility and impossibility of love. Claire needs more money than she’s ever owned. Christopher needs to see her one more time. Michael needs to tell Alison a truth he couldn’t dare utter. Alison needs to never hear it. Gary and Ellie need one night alone. Archie needs to save some poor sod’s life. Sally needs to get out of town, and Steve, who owns the whole desperate place to begin with, needs to tell her he loves her. Over the course of 24 hours at the edge of England at the start of its final century all of their lives are changed forever. A musical about addiction, sex, betrayal and hope, Marine Parade brings together one of England’s most exciting new theatre companies Animalink with Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens and American Music Club’s Mark Eitzel - ‘America’s greatest living lyricist’ (The Guardian).

Supported by Arts Council England, ETT and Yes/No Productions

18 May

Tue 18 – Thu 20 May, 8pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £15 Sun 23 May, 7pm Double bill with Women Dreamt Horses (see p49) £22.50 Festival standby £10

‘The actors go direct to the nerve, to the living flesh. There are no silences, no pauses, no rests: it is all culminating points, clashes, conflicts.’ El País

Daniel Veronese

Uncle Vanya UK premiere, Brighton Festival Exclusive Daniel Veronese’s contemporary reworking of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya unfolds amid the ruined scenery of his imagined prequel Women Dreamt Horses (see page 49). Here Chekhov’s ‘lost generation’ are Veronese’s predecessors – émigrés who came to Argentina a century ago disillusioned with Europe and dreaming of a better future. Languishing in the New World, four men and three women are hopelessly weighed down by their unimpressive lives: broken dreams, frustrated loves and wasted opportunities… For Veronese the classics deal with fundamental themes in human survival. In this light the works of Chekhov are strikingly contemporary. With the same minimalist stage aesthetic and taut emotional intensity that has defined much of his work, Veronese cuts straight to the heart of these universal Chekovian truths. Playwright, director, actor and author, Daniel Veronese founded the acclaimed Argentine theatre group El Periférico de Objectos in 1989. His shows and artistic interventions have been performed around the world, and between 1999 and 2005 he was curator of the Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires. See Women Dreamt Horses and Veronese’s Uncle Vanya back-to-back for the first time ever on 23 May.

19 May

Wed 19 – Fri 21 May, 8pm Sat 22 May, 2pm & 8pm Sun 23 May, 8pm Sallis Benney Theatre £15

Rimini Protokoll (Helgard Haug/Stefan Kaegi)

‘Rimini Protokoll brings real life to the stage in a way that no other theatre form has been able to.’

Best Before pulls the multi-player video game out of the virtual realm and plugs it into an intimate theatre setting. A simulated city evolves on a giant screen as each of 200 spectators adds their personal touch, game controller in hand. At first you are an anonymous avatar but then you take on human dimensions as audience members clash, collaborate and negotiate the forces that define reality in the third millennium.

Frankfurter Rundschau

Best Before UK premiere Last year Rimini Protokoll made its UK debut at Brighton Festival with the premiere of Breaking News. Now, the groundbreaking German collective presents its latest slice of ‘reality theatre’.

A gamer’s dream, this thrillingly inventive production asks you to help shape the future … before it’s too late! Rimini Protokoll has blurred the line between reality and fiction in over 20 immersive theatre experiences, putting ‘experts in daily life’ at the heart of its bold new vision. Commissioned by PuSh International Performing Arts Festival Co-Produced by Goethe-Institut, Brighton Festival, Hebbel – Theater Berlin GmbH, Luminato – Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Rimini Apparat, The Cultch, La Bâtie-Festival de Genève. Supported by Arts Partners in Creative Development and the Federal Republic of Germany

19–20 May Wed 19 May 7.30pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £8

Whose history is it anyway?

David Kynaston and Amanda Vickery Where kings and queens once held court in the telling of history, ordinary lives have become the fabric of our collective past.

Photo: Christian Steiner

‘Professor Kynaston is the most entertaining historian alive.’ The Spectator

Family Britain, the latest instalment of David Kynaston’s groundbreaking trilogy Tales of the New Jerusalem weaves a deeply textured tapestry of 50s Britain – from Butlins to Suez. From The Gentleman’s Daughter to Behind Closed Doors, awardwinning author/broadcaster Amanda Vickery has ‘spent an entire career chiselling personal secrets out of neglected archives’. Join them as they unlock the intimate secrets of everyday Britain.

Thu 20 May, 8pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £12.50 Festival standby £10 (standing)

Lali Puna Jon Hopkins

Thu 20 May 8pm Music Room, Royal Pavilion £30 Ticket includes a free glass of wine in the interval in the Banqueting Hall

Kalichstein-LaredoRobinson Trio

‘One of the best blended, most sensitive and intelligent piano trios in the world today.’ New York Times

In their only UK date this year, cult German quartet Lali Puna join forces with fellow electronica artist and producer Jon Hopkins. Lali Puna have helped map out the musical landscape for modern, experimentally minded electro pop. Originally conceived as a solo project by Valerie Trebeljahr, the Weilheim outfit have produced four beautifully crafted albums of vibrant electro riffs and jubilant pop hooks. Jon Hopkins is a musical shapeshifter. His soundworlds – bold, euphoric and often unsettling – have seduced the likes of Brian Eno, Herbie Hancock and David Holmes. Here he presents a live audiovisual encounter with VJ Myogenic.

Music Room Recital Haydn Piano Trio in E minor, XV12 Schubert Piano Trio in B flat major, D. 898 Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66 The KLR trio made its debut in January 1977 at the White House for President Carter’s inauguration. Since then it has achieved international fame: Musical America named it 2002 Ensemble of the Year, and since 2003 it has been chamber ensemble in residence at the Kennedy Centre, Washington. In the intimate setting of the Royal Pavilion Music Room it performs three well known piano trios.

Photo: Ben Rudick

20 May

Thu 20 & Fri 21 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £7.50, £12.50, £15, £18.50 Under 26s £12.50 Festival standby £10

Hofesh Shechter Company

‘The work is choreographed with such verve that its effect is almost ecstatic.’

Last year’s Festival premiered The Art of Not Looking Back – an all-female counterpoint to Uprising/In your rooms – the high-octane double-header that made Shechter’s name. Political Mother is the company’s first full-length work since that explosive entrance onto the international dance stage.

The Guardian on In your rooms

Political Mother is a Chinese puzzle of emotional complexity and gritty energy, played out in an ever more surreal chain of images and events. Each encounter reframes our perceptions and challenges our values. Performed by ten dancers to Shechter’s own cinematic score (played live by an ensemble of eight musicians), it resounds with trademark physicality, percussive grooves and dramatic unisons.

Political Mother World premiere Commissioned by Brighton Festival Hofesh Shechter Company’s three-year residency with Brighton Dome and Festival continues with the eagerly anticipated world premiere of Political Mother, the latest project from the internationally acclaimed choreographer.

A commission with Sadler’s Wells and Movimentos – Festwochen der Autostadt in Wolfsburg. Co-commissioned by Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, Théâtre de la Ville, Romaeuropa and Mercat de les Flors. In collaboration with Theatre Royal, Plymouth and with support from DanceXchange, Birmingham. Score created in collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and barbicanbite09.

20 May

Thu 20 & Fri 21 May, 8pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10, £15, £20 Under 26s £12.50 Festival standby £10 Post-show discussion Thu 20 May Free to ticket holders

‘The Opera Group is a dynamic young company that brings great theatrical verve to the staid old world of opera.’ The Times

Co-produced with Watford Palace Theatre

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

The Opera Group

The Lion’s Face Music by Elena Langer Lyrics by Glyn Maxwell World premiere Co-produced with Brighton Dome & Festival When a man suddenly forgets his own birthday at first it seems a trivial thing, but given time it signals an irreversible return to childhood… Told through theatre and music, The Lion’s Face is a dramatic and richly textured take on ageing that explores the unbridgeable divide between young and old, between the blissful ignorance of youth and the steady march of time… Poet Glyn Maxwell and composer Elena Langer first collaborated on the ‘hauntingly beautiful’ (Evening Standard) The Girl of Sand for the Almeida Theatre. Now, in conjunction with The Opera Group – winners of the 2008 Evening Standard Best Musical award for Street Scene – they present a compassionate and witty musical tale of love, loss and family. This event forms part of our Learning Access and Participation focus on Dementia including Music for Life projects and a symposium with the Brighton Science Festival.

21 May Fri 21 & Sat 22 May 8pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £15 Sun 23 May 7pm £22.50 Double bill with Uncle Vanya (p44)

‘This disturbing … realtime family/relationship drama is electrifying. Actors smack each other, break into wrestling matches, vomit water, leap over tables. It has to be seen to be believed.’ Time Out New York

Daniel Veronese

Women Dreamt Horses directed by Jay Scheib UK premiere, Brighton Festival Exclusive Three women and the three brothers to whom they are married play a zero-sum game in which all will be losers. A family business closes, and there is a meeting to talk about it. Dinner is served, but it will never be eaten. There is a new kind of violence in the air… Family dynamics fracture at the edges in Daniel Veronese’s Women Dreamt Horses, a loosely inspired contemporary prelude to Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. There are no frills: a chair, a table, a carpet. No sound. No video. No artifice. Just three couples killing each other terribly, wishing they could still be in love. It’s gloves off time, and make no mistake… This exclusive premiere marks the first UK visit by Argentine director/author Daniel Veronese, co-founder of the acclaimed theater group El Periférico de Objetos. See Women Dreamt Horses and Veronese’s Uncle Vanya back-to-back for the first time ever on 23 May.

Fri 21 May 6pm Sat 22 May 1pm & 6pm Sun 23 May 3pm St Nicholas Rest Garden Adults £14 Under 18 £8.50 Family ticket £40 (2 adults and 2 children)

Photo: Fiona Moorhead

‘Summer is all the sweeter for a Shakespeare road trip.’ Daily Telegraph

Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour

A Midsummer Night’s Dream First they brought you Romeo & Juliet. Then they breathed new life into The Comedy of Errors. Now, the world’s most famous theatre company – Shakespeare’s Globe – hits the road again with its open-air A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia loves Lysander. Helena is head over heels for Demetrius – but he is betrothed to Hermia. When the Duke of Athens tries to enforce the marriage, the lovers take refuge in the woods beyond the city. But they are not alone… A dream-bound tale of dazed lovers, bumbling players and supernatural forces, Shakespeare’s classic comedy casts a magical spell… Performed by the Globe’s travelling players among the catacombs of Dyke Road’s Victorian Rest Garden, this full scale production brings Shakespeare’s complete text to life, recreating the Tudor touring experience with inventive staging and sublime storytelling. Bring a picnic and cushions for an outdoor Shakespearean treat. 51

21–22 May Fri 21 – Sun 23 May 5pm, 6.10pm, 7.20pm, 8.30pm The Basement £10

‘There are a thousand beautiful moments’ Total Theatre

Photo: Jeremy Lawson Photography

Fri 21 May 7.30pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £8

‘No one writes better mystery suspense novels than Scott Turow.’ LA Times

Sat 22 May 5pm Founders Room £6

Curious

The Moment I Saw You I Knew I Could Love You Co-produced with The Basement The moment I saw you I knew I could love you is about gut feelings: fight, flight and freeze reactions; impulse, love and undefended moments. Designed for life-raft-sized audiences, the show is set in the belly of a whale. This new performance by Leslie Hill and Helen Paris is made in collaboration with filmmaker Andrew Kötting, composer and sound designer Graeme Miller and performers Claudia Barton and Joseph Young.

Scott Turow A man is sitting on a bed. He is my father. The body of a woman is beneath the covers. She was my mother. This is not really where the story starts. Or how it ends. But it is the moment my mind returns to, the way I always see them… In a rare and exclusive UK visit, master of the US legal thriller Scott Turow takes the stand for a literary cross-examination. Turow – campaigning lawyer and best-selling international author – burst onto the scene in 1987 with Presumed Innocent, the story of Kindle County prosecutor Rusty Sabich. The book was adapted for the big screen three years later in the Harrison Ford blockbuster. Six novels, 25 million copies and 23 years later, Turow brings Chief Justice Sabich back for an explosive new case in the long-awaited sequel Innocent.

Faber New Poets Joe Dunthorne, Tom Warner, Sam Riviere Annie Katchinska Assembling a first poetry collection – or shaping up a match-fit manuscript – can be a daunting challenge to any young poet/writer. How do you know when it’s ready? How long should it be? Whose opinion should you solicit? Faber New Poets is an exciting new initiative that seeks out and supports the poetry stars of tomorrow. The scheme helps four poets a year kick-start their careers including publication in Faber pamphlet collections. Join Faber New Poets Joe Dunthorne, Tom Warner, Sam Riviere and Annie Katchinska – alongside commissioning editor and Whitbread-shortlisted poet Matthew Hollis – for live readings and lively discussion.

22 May

Photo: © Mark Nixon

Sat 22 May 7.30pm Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome £8

Roddy Doyle and Alan Warner Roddy Doyle and Alan Warner both made their names by creating vivid true-to-life characters replete with pitch-perfect vernacular and pin-sharp dialogue. It is not surprising therefore that they should explore some of those characters across more than one book. But what are the attractions, challenges, complexities and rewards of sustaining fictional figures across text and time? In The Dead Republic, Booker-winner Roddy Doyle completes his ‘Henry Smart’ trilogy, returning his hero – one of the great figures of modern fiction – to Ireland. Blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, Smart is accompanied by real-life Hollywood icons John Ford and John Wayne, about to start filming The Quiet Man. If Morvern Callar announced his arrival, then The Sopranos cemented Alan Warner’s reputation as one of Britain’s most exciting young novelists. Now, over a decade after Kay, Kylah, Manda, Rachel and Finn first went on the rampage, his delinquent quintet are back: out of school and out in the world in the longawaited sequel: The Stars in the Bright Sky.

Sat 22 May 7.30pm Theatre Royal Brighton £7.50, £10

‘Beevor can be credited with single-handedly transforming the reputation of military history.’ The Guardian

Antony Beevor

D-Day: The Battle for Normandy No other writer captures the raw experience of war like Antony Beevor. In Stalingrad he compelled us to look into the face of battle itself, combining ‘a soldier’s understanding of war’s realities with the narrative techniques of a novelist’ (Sunday Telegraph). In Berlin he made us ‘feel the chaos and the fear as if every drop of blood was our own’ (Spectator). Now, in D-Day: The Battle for Normandy – the third instalment in his awardwinning trilogy of Second World War classics – he once again translates ‘the dry stuff of military history into a human drama of the most vivid and moving kind’ (Sunday Times). Join the best-selling author of Stalingrad, Berlin and D-Day: The Battle for Normandy as he explores the courage, cruelty and compassion that defined these world-changing events.

22 May Sat 22 & Sun 23 May 9pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £12.50 Festival standby £10

‘Stoffer is a great performer who bares both his body and his soul … a deeply personal experience that will connect you with your own humanity.’ The Stage

Rencontres des Imbeciles Ted Stoffer and Sayaka Kaiwa ‘Identity is such a concept – operating “under erasure” in the interval between reversal and emergence.’ Stuart Hall, cultural theorist What is identity? How do we define ourselves? How do we define the parameters to which we measure our social, political, cultural, personal and digital identities? Do we possess power/fear/love or are we possessed by them? Choreographer and former Rambert dancer Ted Stoffer asks some fundamental questions in his probing new dance work Rencontres des Imbeciles (under erasure), created together with Sayaka Kaiwa. Stoffer made his Brighton Festival debut as guest choreographer for Les Ballets C de la B’s Aphasiadisiac in 2009. This marked Stoffer’s third collaboration with the Belgian company. He formed his own Aphasia Dance Company in 1998 as a framework to ‘investigate the language of the human body’.

Commissioned by South East Dance

Sat 22 May 10pm Theatre Royal Brighton £5, £10, £15 Festival standby £10

The Girl I Left Behind Me devised by Neil Bartlett and Jessica Walker performed by Jessica Walker directed by Neil Bartlett The Girl I Left Behind Me is a wonderfully well-sung and coolly contemporary look at one of the most intriguing questions of musical theatre – just what is it that makes a woman in trousers so appealing? With just a piano, a microphone and a few wellchosen items of male attire, mezzo-soprano Jessica Walker and theatre director Neil Bartlett conjure up an entire world – from the swaggering cross-dressers of the Victorian Music Hall to the ambiguous boy-heroes of Mozart and Strauss. Each song is illuminated by the stripped-down musical settings, Walker’s very personal singing style and Bartlett’s characteristically deft and witty staging. A provocative, flirtatious and deliciously personal one-woman guide to a forgotten chapter of female performance.

Commissioned and produced by Opera North Projects

22–23 May Tales Of The Afterlives Brighton Festival Exclusive After a hard life on Earth, don’t we deserve something more? Last year, Sydney’s Luminous Festival brought David Eagleman’s cult book Sum: 40 Tales from the Afterlives to the stage in a world premiere collaboration between the author and Brian Eno. Now, in only its second ever outing, Eagleman and Eno reprise this pioneering multi-media production exclusively for Brighton Festival. What happens after we die? Is heaven a bureaucracy? Are we recreated based on our credit card records? Does the afterlife contain only those people you remember? Or is it little more than our accumulated acts on replay? For a small book, David Eagleman’s Sum asks some big questions! Here Eagleman’s short, sharp vignettes are ‘reincarnated’ for a live stage encounter by a diverse cast of ‘readers’, including the author with visual images from Wordsalad’s Nick Robertson and music by Brian Eno. Sat 22 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome £10, £15, £20, £25

‘Sum: 40 Tales from the Afterlives is terrific. It’s such a good idea that I was grinding my teeth all the way through, wishing I’d thought of it first.’

Funny, provocative and profound, This is Tales Of The Afterlives considers the fate that may await us and refracts new light on our here and now.

Philip Pullman

Sun 23 May 3pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £8

Mass Observation Margaret Drabble, Philippe Sands and Oona King Mass Observation – a unique survey of everyday life in Britain – was set in motion on May 12, 1937. Much of the material took the form of daily personal diaries. Now, 73 years to the day, Brighton Festival has invited three contemporary figures to keep track of their own 24 hours in May. Multi award-winning novelist, biographer and critic Margaret Drabble. Author and practising barrister Philippe Sands QC (Lawless World; Torture Team). And former Labour MP turned Channel 4’s Head of Diversity Oona King. Join them as they share their observations and engage in a wider discussion on how the individual voice has helped shape our collective history.

23 May

See diary on pages 64 – 69 for more Festival events on every day Tickets 01273 709709/www.brightonfestival.org

Sun 23 May, 12noon – dusk Brighton Marina Free

Big Splash With Urban Playground Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival

Photo: Matthew Andrews

Head down to Brighton Marina for a free day of alfresco fun for all the family. This year’s Big Splash includes surprises around every corner from an array of weird and wacky street entertainers alongside hands-on activities like make-and-take workshops for kids. As part of the fun, the award-winning Urban Playground and Gravity Style teams present The Next Level, a jaw-dropping display of parkour: the art of moving through space, making new forms and finding new pathways, defying expectation and bending the rules of physics. The day draws to a close with a firework finale on a grand scale which lights up the skies over the Marina in a spectacular farewell to another Brighton Festival.

A co-commission with Without Walls and Juice – Newcastle Gateshead’s festival for children and young people.

Sun 23 May 8.45pm (pre-show), 9.15pm (performance) The Level Free

‘This large chunk of orchestrated chaos is peopled by exhibitionists infused with a mad bacchanalian courage.’ The Times on NoFit State’s Tabu

NoFit State

Park Life – The Finale Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival For the last week NoFit State – Britain’s leading contemporary circus company and creators of the groundbreaking show Tabu – have taken up residence on Brighton’s ‘Level’, inviting you to join in a joyful exploration of the secret lives of public parks. Now, as the week draws to a close, all the elements – the conversations, the ideas, the explorations – are drawn together to create a large-scale open-air circus finale. Part playground, part bandstand, this collaborative live showcase features NoFit State’s own circus artists alongside members of the community. Together they present an evening of aerial acrobatics and spectacle side-by-side with traditional and contemporary dance, music and urban arts.

A co-commission with Without Walls and Norfolk and Norwich Festival

So if you’ve seen it all unfold, got in on the act or simply wondered why everyone’s been making a spectacle of themselves, then don’t miss the endgame – catch NoFit State’s Park Life spectacular – uniquely of, and for, your city.

23 May

Sun 23 May, 8pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome ÂŁ12.50

Brian Eno:

Signed performance

an illustrated talk! What is the purpose of Art? Do we need it or do we just like it? Are they different? Brian Eno discusses haircuts, surrender, complexity theory, painting, generative art, cybernetics, screwdrivers, autopoiesis, and music, and tries to show how theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re connected.

Lunchtimes Mon 3 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome £8

‘Destined for far horizons’ Financial Times on Anna Grevelius

In Memory of Sidney Crown

Anna Grevelius mezzo soprano Roger Vignoles piano Robert Franz Im Mai, Im Herbst, Die Lotusblume, Dies und das Schumann Liederkreis, Op. 39 Mendelssohn Glosse, Faunenklage, So schlaf in Ruh, Andres Maienlied Anna Grevelius made her Brighton Festival debut last year performing Rossini’s cantata Giovanna d’Arco alongside Anish Kapoor’s installation Dismemberment of Joan of Arc in Brighton’s disused municipal market. Now the international opera star returns to more orthodox surrounds for a song recital with distinguished accompanist and leading authority on the song repertoire Roger Vignoles.

Tue 4 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8 Followed by a workshop in association with University of Sussex

Counterpoise

Wed 5 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

Daniil Trifonov piano

David Matthews Actaeon (world premiere) John Casken Deadly Pleasures Martin Butler Suzanne’s River Song Counterpoise specializes in cross-genre programmes combining music, poetry and narration. Their unconventional lineup of violin, trumpet, piano and saxophone enables composers to create innovative sound worlds. Today’s recital includes the world premiere of David Matthews’ Actaeon from Ted Hughes’ translation of the Ovid classic. Plus John Casken’s Deadly Pleasures, D.M. Thomas’s imaginative completion of Pushkin’s Cleopatra story.

Beethoven Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 No. 23 Appassionata Chopin Nocturne in B minor, Op. 62, No.1 Chopin Rondo a la mazurka, Op. 5 Chopin Polonaise-Fantasie Nineteen-year-old Russian prodigy Daniil Trifonov began studying music at the age of five. A graduate of the Moscow Gnesins Music School, he is currently studying under Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute in Ohio. At 17, he won the third International Piano Competition of San Marino Republic (performing the music of Chick Corea) and was a finalist in the International Scriabin Competition (Moscow). He made his Carnegie Hall debut in May last year.

Lunchtimes

Photo: Sophie Dennehy

Thu 6 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

‘The Fidelio Trio’s performances have the ring of authority.’ Irish Times

Fri 7 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

‘Prosseda shapes the music in long, elegant phrases that soar and compel utterly.’ Classic FM Magazine

Photo: Angela Moore for Aldeburhg Music

Mon 10 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

‘One of the most interesting young quartets I have heard in recent years.’ The Strad Magazine

Fidelio Piano Trio Henze Adagio, adagio Hellawell Etruscan Games Schumann Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 63 No.1 Ireland’s ‘virtuosic Fidelio Trio’ (Sunday Times) perform diverse and exploratory repertoire internationally. Their recording catalogue spans Icelandic composer Halfidi Hallgrimson to contemporary Irish and Scottish piano trios; forthcoming recordings include pieces by Korngold, Zemlinsky and Schoenberg. They have worked with leading composers including Michael Nyman and Howard Skempton and premiered works by the likes of Salvatore Sciarrino and Toru Takemitsu.

Roberto Prosseda piano Mendelssohn Lieder Ohne Worte Liszt Album Leaf S163d & 164b Schumann Remembrance, Arabesque Clara Schumann Romances Op. 11, No. 1 & 3 Ignaz Moscheles Nocturne Op. 71 Roberto Prosseda’s sensational discovery of new Mendelssohn works in 2005 made headlines across Europe and led to three acclaimed Decca releases. For this recital the Italian pianist places Mendelssohn at the centre of ‘Leipzig 1840’, invoking the German city’s 19th-century musical pre-eminence with a programme of short piano works by those who defined a cultural moment in time.

Heath Quartet Haydn String Quartet in B minor, Op. 64 No. 2 Beethoven Quartet in E flat, Op. 127 No. 12 The Heath Quartet was formed in 2002 at the RNCM under Dr Christopher Rowland. Selected by YCAT in 2008, they won first prize and the Audience Prize at the Tromp International Competition in Eindhoven and second prize at the Haydn International Competition in Vienna. This year they undertake a two-week residency at the Banff Centre in Canada.

In association with Young Concert Artists Trust

Lunchtimes Tue 11 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

In association with the Kirckman Concert Society

Wed 12 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

Brahms Six Pieces Op. 118 Medtner Two Novellas from Op. 17 Prokofiev Sonata in B flat major, Op. 83 No. 7 After graduating with honours from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2005, Russian pianist Alexander Karpeyev won a scholarship to London’s Guildhall. A major international prizewinner, he was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal in 2008.

Elias String Quartet Britten 3 Divertimenti Schubert String Quartet in D minor D.810 Death and the Maiden

Photo: Mark Crapper and Richard Stott

Formed in 1998 at RNCM, Elias String Quartet spent a year at the Hochschule in Cologne studying with the Alban Berg Quartet. Over the last year they have given a three concert Schubert series at Wigmore Hall, undertaken a successful five-week tour of Australia for Musica Viva and been selected for BBC Radio 3’s prestigious New Generation Artists’ Scheme. Mon 17 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

In association with the Royal Overseas League

Tue 18 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

In association with the Tillett Trust

Alexander Karpeyev piano

Camarilla Ensemble Barber Summer Music Butler Down Hollow Winds David Maslanka Quintet No. 3 Winners of the 2008 ROSL Music Competition, Camarilla held a Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellowship at the RAM before taking up residency at the Purcell School. They have played all the UK’s major venues, recorded for an awardwinning Channel 4 animation and helped found the Symphony Orchestra of India.

Finzi Quartet Mozart String Quartet in G major K387 Debussy String Quartet in G minor Op. 10 The Finzi Quartet were formed under the guidance of the late Christopher Rowland at RNCM, and recently mentored by Günter Pilcher of the Alban Berg Quartet in Siena and Madrid. Highlights for 2009/10 include debuts at both the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Rooms. The Quartet are also Bulldog Junior Fellows at Trinity College of Music for 2009/10.

Lunchtimes Wed 19 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

‘Daniela Lehner, an exceptional Austrian mezzo, is a star of the future.’ Opera Now

Daniela Lehner mezzo soprano José Luis Gayo piano Schumann Songs from Liederalbum für die Jugend Op. 79 Songs by Kienzl; Nin-Culmell; Villa-Lobos; Braga and Ginastera Austrian mezzo soprano Daniela Lehner studied in Vienna, Salzburg and the Guildhall in London. She made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut in 2008. Since 2005 she has worked closely with Spanish pianist José Luis Gayo. As well as conventional repertoire, the duo is renowned for exploring lesser-known German, Spanish and Latin American works.

In association with the Kirckman Concert Society

Thu 20 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

‘…the shimmer and grace and intelligence of this ensemble is riveting.’ Independent on Sunday

Fri 21 May 1pm Pavilion Theatre £8

‘The cellist’s sumptuous, long-breathed melodies … would have reduced howling wolves to silence.’ The Times

Allegri Quartet Matthew Taylor String Quartet No. 6, Op. 36 Ravel String Quartet in F major One of Britain’s longest running chamber ensembles, the Allegri Quartet was founded back in 1953. Through several incarnations it has earned a global reputation for both classic and contemporary repertoire. Its ongoing commitment to the latter is reflected in over 60 premieres of new works, including pieces by Alexander Goehr, Jonathan Harvey and Michael Stimpson.

Thomas Carroll cello Llyr Williams piano Schumann Five Folk Pieces Butler Siward’s River Song Lutoslawski Grave Brahms Sonata for cello and piano in F major, Op. 99 No. 2 A graduate of the Yehudi Menuhin School and protégé of Heinrich Schiff, cellist Thomas Carroll has carved out an international career as concert soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. This special recital – with fellow Welshman and eminent pianist Llyr Williams – comes hot on the heels of the duo’s debut Orchid Classics release.

26 Letters Fri 7 May 7.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre £7.50

Allan Ahlberg Mainly for grown-ups Each Peach Pear Plum, Burglar Bill, The Jolly Postman. Allan Ahlberg writes children’s books. He’s been doing it for 40 years. Before that he was a teacher, plumber’s mate, grave-digger. Writing books, he says, is the best job he’s had so far. He proposes to stick at it. Join him for an evening of stories and poems. He will read to you for sure, sing to you in all likelihood, and answer all your questions. Even the grave-digging ones.

Sat 8 May 10am Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 4 – 7

Emily Gravett

Sat 8 May 12noon Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 7+

Philip Ardagh

Sat 8 May 2pm Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 7 – 9

Cressida Cowell

Emily Gravett has been making mischief for young readers since her stunning debut Wolves became an overnight howling success in 2005. Meet Brighton’s two-time Greenaway Medal winner for a whistlestop tour of her best-selling books, from Orange Pear Apple Bear to The Rabbit Problem. Swing along as she reads Monkey and Me, help her to make up a brand new story and delight as she brings all your bestloved characters to life.

Winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009, Philip Ardagh is the hirsute and hilarious author of the Eddie Dickens adventures, Unlikely Exploits and all-new Grubtown Tales. For this special Grubtown gathering, Philip’s alter ego Beardy Ardagh – resident town chronicler – spills the beans on some of his more eccentric neighbours. Find out all about Grubtown mayor Flabby Gomez, duck gatherer Lilly Cheeter and chief of police Grabby Hanson. Riotous and suitably beardy fun guaranteed!

How to Train Your Dragon Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is an awesome sword fighter, a dragon whisperer and the greatest Viking hero who ever lived. But it wasn’t always like that… Join the author of the brilliant How to Train Your Dragon series for swashbuckling adventures, madcap humour and of course lots of deadly dragons. Hear all about the thrilling new 3D animated film of How to Train Your Dragon, out this March from DreamWorks, creators of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda.

26 Letters Sat 8 May 4pm Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 10+

CHERUB Campus Uncovered with Robert Muchamore Ever wondered how CHERUB was created? Robert Muchamore, author of the number one bestselling CHERUB series will be talking about how he left the teenage hooligans behind, quit the desk job and came up with CHERUB and Henderson’s Boys. Brigands MC is the eleventh title in the series and will be published in paperback in May. James and Lauren join Dante Scott on a mission to infiltrate Brigands Motorcycle Club: the biker gang who murdered Dante’s family. Will he have his revenge?

In association with City Reads

Photo: Steve Barker

Sat 8 May 6.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre £5 For the young and young at heart

‘A great ambassador for storytelling’ Brian Patten

Taffy Thomas – Tales from the Tale Coat Where would we be without stories? They provide windows on our past and make sense of the world around us… Taffy Thomas is the UK’s first Storytelling Laureate, and he’s got a whole coat full of stories to tell. Tall stories, short stories, folk stories, ghost stories. Every possible kind of story, and then some… And what’s more, you get to decide the story you want to hear. Just point at a picture on Taffy’s coat – a kind of storytelling jukebox – and he’ll bring your chosen tale magically to life.

Sun 9 May 10am Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 4+

Nick Sharratt

Sun 9 May 12noon Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 6 – 10

A Bucketful of Ian Whybrow Stories

What do gerbils, orchestras, boys aged about 16 and people winking have in common? They’re all things Nick Sharratt – the multi-awardwinning author/illustrator – finds very tricky to draw. Luckily for us he’s pretty good at just about everything else, particularly washing machines and cactus plants! Join Jacqueline Wilson’s partner in crime and the creator of Pants, Ketchup on Your Cornflakes and A Cheese and Tomato Spider for fun, games and plenty of pictorial pizzazz.

Ian Whybrow was first published as a children’s writer in 1989. Over a hundred books later, he’s still at it – and he’s among the top ten most borrowed writers in British libraries. Last year, to mark the tenth anniversary of Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs, and to encourage more parents and children to read together, almost a million ‘Harry’ books were given free to school-starters across the UK. Discover exciting new projects and revisit old favourites from Little Wolf’s Book of Badness to The Sniff Stories.

26 Letters Sun 9 May 2pm Sallis Benney Theatre £5 Age 9+

‘The finale is a climax as intense as Tolkein’s fall of Mordor’ The Independent

Michelle Paver Chronicles of Darkness Join Michelle Paver to discover how she created the ancient world at the heart of her bestselling Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, as she presents the final chronicle, Ghost Hunter. As Soul’s night approaches the fates of Torak, Wolf and Renn are uncertain … how will this epic story end?

Sun 9 May 4pm Sallis Benney Theatre £6, family ticket £18 (2 adults & 2 children) Age 7+

Mr Toad’s Children’s Book Quiz

Sat 22 May 10.30am Jubilee Library £5 Ages 9 – 11

Writing Workshop

Sat 22 May 12noon Jubilee Library £5 Ages 11 – 14

Yes We Can (Write Poetry)!

There’s boatloads of fun and games down by the riverbank as Mr Toad invites all the family to take part in the 26 Letters Wind in the Willows quiz. Hurtling high-speed from Toad Hall to the Sallis Benney, your amphibious master of ceremonies will be on hand to oversee the bookbased questions and keep the Wild Wood weasels at bay. With tea, sandwiches, cake and plenty of prizes for all.

with Liz Kessler Do you love writing? Do you wish you had more ideas? Or have you got hundreds already but don’t know where to begin? Perhaps you’ve started a story and stalled halfway through? Sound familiar? Then make haste to Liz Kessler’s special writing workshop for some fun ways to fire up your imagination and get your creative juices flowing. Liz Kessler is the New York Times best-selling author of the Emily Windsnap and Philippa Fisher books for children.

Poetry Writing Workshop with Jacob Sam-La Rose Words are like you and me. Without regular exercise they tend to get flabby around the middle. Give your vocab a workout and flex your imagination as Jacob Sam-La Rose helps you unleash your own inner poet. Once limbered up, words can do wonders. The power of poetry has taken Jacob around the world, from Kuala Lumpur to Chicago, from the National Theatre to Finland’s first youth poetry slam. Make words work for you in this fighting fit performance poetry workshop.

26 Letters Sat 22 May 2.30pm Jubilee Library £15 Adults

Want to Write for Children?

Sun 23 May 10.30am & 12noon Jubilee Library £6 (admits 1 adult & 1 child) Age 2 – 5

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Storyplaytime

Sun 23 May 2pm Jubilee Library £5 Age 9+

F E Higgins

Writing Workshop with Liz Kessler Always wanted to write for children, but not known where to begin? Perhaps your current work could do with a few fresh ideas? Or maybe you’re halfway through that bestseller but you’ve ground to halt? Kick-start your creative energy, chat to other writers and get inspired at Liz Kessler’s writing workshop for adults. Liz Kessler is the New York Times best-selling author of the Emily Windsnap and Philippa Fisher books for children. She has worked as a teacher and journalist and has an MA in creative writing.

Based on the Walker Book by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury Since it was first published in 1993, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt has become a modern children’s classic. Michael Rosen’s lyrical text found the perfect partner in Helen Oxenbury’s delightful illustrations, and a picture book phenomenon was born. To celebrate its enduring success, storyteller Justine de Mierre invites you along to a very special storyplaytime party. With games, songs and play all themed around the book plus an interactive telling of the story.

From the Black Book of Secrets to The Eyeball Collector, FE Higgins has spun some devilishly dark tales. Now’s your chance to get up close and personal with her gruesome world of dastardly villains and secret confessions. With your help and an array of fabulous costumes, wigs and props, Higgins casts a magical spell of drama, mystery and spinetingling fun. A gloriously gothic interactive encounter!

Adopt an Author Brighton Festival’s Adopt an Author scheme links school classes with children’s authors to promote literacy, encourage writing and make the most of ICT. In this, the project’s seventh year, classes from four local schools have teamed up with four well-known authors: Hove Park School with Joe Craig (Jimmy Coates); Woodingdean Primary with author/illustrator David Lucas; Mile Oak Primary with first-time novelist Sara Starbuck; and Moulsecoomb Primary with Tommy Donbavand (Scream Street). Each project culminates in a special Festival event/party produced exclusively for the participating school and adoptee. If your school would like to take part in next year’s Adopt an Author scheme please contact hilary.cooke@brightonfestival.org

Diary Throughout the Festival

7 7 Million Paintings 12noon – 8pm, Fabrica, p.4 & 5 Berlin Horse 4 – 30 May (closed Mondays), 11am – 6pm, Lighthouse, p.15 Before I Sleep – dreamthinkspeak entry from 6.30pm – 9.30pm, The Old Co-op Building, p.11 (no performance on Mondays)

Sat 1 May

A pollo: This is for all Mankind 9pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.11

Mon 3 May lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 eeing Things (A one-on-one Experience) S appointments from 12noon – 8pm, The Basement, p.10

Parade Children’s 10.30am, from Sydney Street, p.6

Anna Grevelius with Roger Vignoles 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.56

eeing Things (A one-on-one Experience) S appointments from 12noon – 8pm, The Basement, p.10

J udging a Book: What Makes Good Writing? 4pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.14

lickers: Off the Path F from 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6

Tue 4 May

The Selfish Giant – Howard Goodall 2pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.7

lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6

J acqueline Wilson 4pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.8

eeing Things (A one-on-one Experience) S appointments from 12noon – 8pm, The Basement, p.10

he Story of a Family – Compagnia Rodisio T 4.30pm & 6.30pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.8

Counterpoise 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.56

City Reads: Secrets and Sensitivities Christopher Andrew & Christopher Meyer 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.10

limate Change: The Big Picture C 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.14

Apollo: This is for all Mankind 9pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.11

Sun 2 May The Story of a Family – Compagnia Rodisio 11am & 2pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.8 Seeing Things (A one-on-one Experience) appointments from 12noon – 8pm, The Basement, p.10 lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 erlin Horse B 2.30pm, Lighthouse, p.15 ondon Philharmonic Orchestra L 3pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.12 ompassion Today C 3pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.12 ity Reads: From Russia with Love C 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.13

K evin Johansen with Liniers 9pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.13

A nouar Brahem with support from Portico Quartet 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.15 P aul Curreri with Don’t Move! 8pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.14

Wed 5 May lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 eeing Things (A one-on-one Experience) S appointments from 12noon – 8pm, The Basement, p.10 Daniil Trifonov 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.56 aLaLuna – Spoon Tree Productions L 7pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.16 S teve Dugardin – Back to Baroque 8pm, St George’s Church, p.17 Loin/Far – L’A – Rachid Ouramdane 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.17 T his is Reggie Watts 10pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.18

Diary Thu 6 May Fidelio Trio 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.57 lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 aLaLuna – Spoon Tree Productions L 2.30pm & 7pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.16 even Studies in Salesmanship S 7pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.18 avid Mitchell D 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.18 R okia Traoré with support from Sweet Billy Pilgrim 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.19 This is Reggie Watts 10pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.18

Fri 7 May R oberto Prosseda 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.57 lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 I , Malvolio – Tim Crouch 6pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.20 aLaLuna – Spoon Tree Productions L 7pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.16 an Cruickshank D 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.20 A llan Ahlberg 7.30pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.60 orld of Wrong – The Two Wrongies W 7.30pm, The Basement, p.22

L aLaLuna – Spoon Tree Productions 2.30pm & 6pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.16 lassic Travel Writing C 3pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.22 R obert Muchamore 4pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.61 I, Malvolio – Tim Crouch 6pm & 10pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.20 Taffy Thomas – Tales from the Tale Coat 6.30pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.61 Festival Debate: Local or Global? 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.23 World of Wrong – The Two Wrongies 7.30pm, The Basement, p.22 Kim Noble Must Die 9pm, The Basement, p.22

Sun 9 May N ick Sharratt 10am, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.61 I an Whybrow 12noon, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.61 Flickers: Off the Path 12noon – 6.30pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 Michelle Paver 2pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.62 Richard Goode – Glyndebourne Recital 3pm, Glyndebourne, p.24 M r Toad’s Children’s Book Quiz 4pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.62

his is Acappella! T 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.21

This is Pure Scenius! 4pm, 6.30pm, 9pm Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.25

im Noble Must Die K 9pm, The Basement, p.22

Brighton Youth Orchestra 7.30pm, St Bartholomew’s Church, p.23

Sat 8 May

I , Malvolio – Tim Crouch 10pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.20

Emily Gravett 10am, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.60 lickers: Off the Path F 12noon – 6.30 pm, Stanmer Park, p.6 Philip Ardargh 12noon, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.60 H ow to Train Your Dragon – Cressida Cowell 2pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.60 67

Diary Mon 10 May

Fri 14 May

Heath Quartet 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.57

B odies in Urban Spaces – Willi Dorner 10am, 2pm, 11pm, New England Quarter, p.32

This is The Books with Anna Calvi and more 8pm, Komedia, p.26

Rachmaninov Vespers – Brighton Festival Chorus 6pm, St Bartholomew’s Church, p.33

Tue 11 May

M acbeth – Cheek by Jowl 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.28

Alexander Karpeyev 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.58

This is Afrobeat! 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.34

M acbeth – Cheek by Jowl 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.28

Electric Hotel 10pm, The Level, p.33

Bach Mass in B minor – Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.27 The Festival – Lone Twin Theatre 8pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.26

Wed 12 May Elias Quartet 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.58 Music in 12 Parts – Philip Glass Ensemble 6.30pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.30 Martin Amis 7.30pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.29 Natasha Walter and Katherine Rake 7.30pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.29 Macbeth – Cheek by Jowl 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.28

Thu 13 May Macbeth – Cheek by Jowl 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.28 Koyaanisqatsi – Philip Glass Ensemble 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.31

Sat 15 May Bodies in Urban Spaces – Willi Dorner 11am, 4pm, 8.30pm, New England Quarter, p.32 F unny Bones – DanceXchange and Two’s Company 11am & 2pm, Hove Town Hall, p.35 Macbeth – Cheek by Jowl 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.28 Nick Kent – Apathy for the Devil 4pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.36 B rahms Liebeslieder – Prince Consort 8pm, Music Room, Royal Pavilion, p.35 Rachmaninov Vespers – Brighton Festival Chorus 10pm, St Bartholomews Church, p.33 Electric Hotel 10pm, The Level, p.33

Sun 16 May F unny Bones – DanceXchange and Two’s Company 11am & 2pm, Hove Town Hall, p.35 Antonia Fraser – My Life with Harold Pinter 4pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.36 Something – Movement 12 8pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.36 This is Reasons for Optimism 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.38 E ight Seasons – Britten Sinfonia & Pekka Kuusisto 8pm, St George’s Church, p.37 Leafcutter John and Talvin Singh 9pm, Music Room, Royal Pavilion, p.38

Diary Mon 17 May

Wed 19 May

Camarilla Ensemble 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.58

Daniela Lehner with José Luis Gayo 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.61

Cutting the Cord 6pm & 8pm, The Basement, p.40

NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, The Level, p.41

Mark Padmore and Kristian Bezuidenhout 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome p.39

NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 6pm – 7pm, The Level, p.41

The Diva in Me 8pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.40

Cutting the Cord 6pm & 8pm, The Basement, p.40

I an King and Alasdair Roberts 8pm, Komedia, p.39

How Do You Like My Landscape 7pm & 9pm, The Basement, p.40

H ow Do You Like My Landscape 9pm, The Basement, p.40

W hose History is it Anyway? David Kynaston and Amanda Vickery 7.30pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.46

Tue 18 May Finzi Quartet 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.60 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, The Level, p.41 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 6pm – 7pm, The Level, p.41 Cutting the Cord – Flying Eye 6pm & 8pm, The Basement, p.40 How Do You Like My Landscape 7pm & 9pm, The Basement, p.41 Navarra Quartet & Heath Quartet 8pm, Music Room, Royal Pavilion, p.41 Roy Haynes 8pm, Komedia, p.42 Uncle Vanya – Daniel Veronese 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.44 Marine Parade – Animalink 8pm, The Old Market, p.43 All That I Was/All That I Am 8pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.42

Uncle Vanya – Daniel Veronese 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.44 Best Before – Rimini Protokoll 8pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.45 Marine Parade – Animalink 8pm, The Old Market, p.43

Thu 20 May Allegri Quartet 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.59 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, The Level, p.41 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 6pm – 7pm, The Level, p.41 Marine Parade – Animalink 6pm & 9pm, The Old Market, p.43 Political Mother – Hofesh Shechter Company 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.47 Best Before – Rimini Protokoll 8pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.45 K alichstein – Laredo – Robinson Trio 8pm, Music Room, Royal Pavilion, p.46 The Lion’s Face – The Opera Group 8pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.48 Uncle Vanya – Daniel Veronese 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.44 Lali Puna and Jon Hopkins 8pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.46

Diary Fri 21 May

Sat 22 May

Thomas Carroll with Llyr Williams 1pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.59

L iz Kessler – Writing Workshop 10.30am, Jubilee Library, p.62

NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, The Level, p.41

Y es we can (Write Poetry)! Jacob Sam-La Rose 12noon, Jubilee Library, p.62

The Moment I Saw You I Knew I Could Love You 5pm, 6.10 pm, 7.20pm, 8.30pm, The Basement, p.50

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour 1pm & 6pm, Dyke Rd Rest Garden, p.49

NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 6pm – 7pm, The Level, p.41 A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour 6pm, Dyke Rd Rest Garden, p.49

Best Before – Rimini Protokoll 2pm & 8pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.45 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, The Level, p.41

Marine Parade – Animalink 6pm & 9pm, The Old Market, p.43

Liz Kessler – Want to Write for Children? 2.30pm, Jubilee Library, p.63

Scott Turow 7.30pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.50

Roddy Doyle and Alan Warner 3pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.51

W omen Dreamt Horses – Daniel Veronese 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.49

Marine Parade – Animalink 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, The Old Market, p.43

P olitical Mother – Hofesh Shechter Company 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.47

F aber New Poets 5pm, Founders Room, Brighton Dome, p.50

B est Before – Rimini Protokoll 8pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.45

The Moment I Saw You I Knew I Could Love You 5pm, 6.10pm, 7.20pm, 8.30pm, The Basement, p.50

The Lion’s Face – The Opera Group 8pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.48

NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 6pm – 7pm, The Level, p.41 Antony Beevor 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.51 T his is Tales of the Afterlives 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.53 Women Dreamt Horses – Daniel Veronese 8pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.49 Recontres des Imbeciles – Ted Stoffer 9pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.52 The Girl I Left Behind Me 10pm, Theatre Royal Brighton, p.52

Sun 23 May We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Storyplaytime 10.30am & 12noon, Jubilee Library, p.63 Big Splash (Urban Playground) 12noon – dusk, Brighton Marina, p.54 F.E. Higgins 2pm, Jubilee Library, p.63 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 2.30pm – 5pm, The Level, p.41 A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour 3pm, Dyke Rd Rest Garden, p.49 Marine Parade – Animalink 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, The Old Market, p.43

Brighton Festival Radio Don’t miss out, listen in Brighton Festival Radio is your 24/7 guide to what’s on in this year’s Festival. We’ll have all the latest listings, daily hot picks, and reviews of the shows, gigs and performances, plus the chance to win tickets and get up close and personal with the stars. The station goes live on Mon 26 April to get you geared up and ready for Festival kick off on Sat 1 May, and coverage will run right through until the big finish on Sun 23 May. Featured performances, live readings, artist performances or band sessions will play a daily part in the programming on air, so even if you can’t make an event you won’t miss out. Visit www.brightonfestival.org for more details. Supported by Visit Brighton

Mass Observation 4pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.53 The Moment I Saw You I Knew I Could Love You 5pm, 6.10 pm, 7.20pm, 8.30pm, The Basement, p.50 NoFit State: Workshops/Open Rehearsals 6pm – 7pm, The Level, p.41 U ncle Vanya & Women Dreamt Horses – Daniel Veronese 7pm, Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, p.44 B rian Eno: This is an illustrated talk! 8pm, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, p.55 B est Before – Rimini Protokoll 8pm, Sallis Benney Theatre, p.45 Park Life – NoFit State 8.45pm (pre-show), 9.15pm (performance) , The Level, p.54 Recontres des Imbeciles – Ted Stoffer 9pm, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, p.52

Booking Information Book online Book 24 hours a day with our secure online booking service at www.brightonfestival.org. There is a reduced transaction charge of £1.75 for all online bookings. You can choose your own seat for all reserved seats events. Book by phone Call the Brighton Dome Ticket Office on 01273 709709, open between 10am – 6pm Mon – Sat and every day until 7pm during the Festival. Please have your credit/debit card to hand when you call us. You will need to bring the same card with you to collect tickets on the door. Book in person Visit the Ticket Office at 29 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UG. Opening hours as above.

Festival Venues The Basement Argus Lofts, 24 Kensington St, Brighton, BN1 4AJ www.thebasement.uk.com Contact 01273 699733 for access information.

Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Corn Exchange, Pavilion Theatre, Founders Room, Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1UE (Pavilion Theatre entrance on New Road). Contact 01273 261516 for access information. www.brightondome.org

Brighton Marina Waterfront, Brighton, BN2 5WA www.brightonmarina.co.uk

The Old Co-op Building Entrance on London Terrace, off Rosehill Terrace, Brighton. Contact 01273 260836 for access information. St Nicholas Rest Garden Dyke Road, Brighton – opposite St Nicholas’ Church Fabrica 40 Duke Street, Brighton BN1 1AG www.fabrica.org.uk

Glyndebourne Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU www.glyndebourne.com Wheelchair access – foyer circle level only.

All Brighton Festival tickets are available from the Brighton Dome Ticket Office. Book by post Send us a letter and a cheque and we’ll complete your booking for you. Please state: the event title, date, number of tickets, preferred seat area and price and the total amount you wish to pay, which should include £2.25 transaction fee. Send it to the Brighton Dome Ticket Office, 29 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UG or fax it to 01273 261540. Please make cheques payable to Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd, leaving the amount blank, but stating the upper limit you wish to pay. Transaction charges There is a £2.25 transaction charge for all bookings by telephone and post. There is a reduced charge of £1.75 for online bookings and no transaction charge for bookings in person. Group discounts Save 10% when you book 10+ tickets for an event and 20% when you book 20+ tickets. Jubilee Library Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1GE www.citylibraries.info

Sallis Benney Theatre 58 – 67 Grand Parade, BN2 OJY www.brighton.ac.uk/gallery-theatre

Komedia 44 Gardner Street, Brighton BN1 1UN www.komedia.co.uk

St George’s Church St George’s Road, Brighton, BN2

Lighthouse 1, Zone B, 28 Kensington Street Brighton, BN1 4AJ www.lighthouse.org.uk

Music Room, Royal Pavilion Pavilion Gardens, BN1 1EE www.royalpavilion.org.uk

Theatre Royal Brighton New Road, Brighton, BN1 ISD www.ambassadortickets.com/brighton

The Level 37-47 Ditchling Road, Brighton www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Hove Town Hall Norton Road, Hove, BN3 3BQ www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Get more for your money

Buy five events, get your sixth FREE Buy tickets for six different Brighton Festival events and we’ll give you the cheapest one free.

See More For Less This year’s Festival includes 110 performances with tickets for £10 or less as well as 17 free events and two free Brian Eno installations open daily. So you can see more for your money.

Tickets should all be booked in one transaction, through the Ticket Office. This offer is not currently available online. Only tickets for six different events count towards the offer (i.e. not six tickets for the same event). Free sixth event tickets are for up to the equivalent number of paid tickets (i.e. up to two free if two tickets bought for each of the other five events.)

£10 Festival Standby Book the best available seats in person from one hour before the show on selected events. Available to under 26s, over 60s, JSA/IS, registered disabled/DLA or IB and Brighton Dome & Festival Members.

Join Now and save even more Become a Brighton Dome & Festival Member and you get a FREE Festival ticket worth £20 plus you can save on your trip to the Festival with discounts on Southern Trains, myhotel and NCP (see inside back cover).

Take a Festival Chance and Save 15% Try something new this Festival: book two or more of these selected international events and save 15% on your total ticket price. Brighton Dome & Festival members save 20%: Anouar Brahem, Rokia Traore, This is Acappella!, Music in 12 Parts, Koyaanisqatsi, This is Afrobeat!, Uncle Vanya, Women Dreamt Horses, Best Before. Brighton Festival is produced and promoted by Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd Registered Charity number 249748 12a Pavilion Buildings, Castle Square Brighton, BN1 1EE

Festival Programmers: Brian Eno – Guest Artistic Director Andrew Comben – Chief Executive Felicity Field – Director of Artistic Planning Philip Morgan – Head of Artist Development and Festival Producer Pippa Smith – Head of Learning, Access and Participation Liam Browne – Books & Debate Hilary Cooke – 26 Letters Gill Kay – Lunchtime Recitals Guy Morley – Dance/Music

For more Festival offers as well as previews and reviews of most Festival events see The Argus. argus.co.uk/brightonfestival

Copywriting Max Crisfield / www.maxcrisfield.co.uk Design Harrison / www.harrisonandco.com Brochure correct at time of going to press. Brighton Festival reserves the right to alter the programme without prior notice if necessary.

Beyond Brighton Festival Brighton Festival Fringe

Sat 1 May – Sun 23 May Tickets – www.brightonfestivalfrimge.org.uk/01273 709709 The world’s third largest fringe festival showcases the talents of hundreds of artists and performers, from top comedy acts to classical music, from family shows to cutting edge theatre and outdoor events at over two hundred different venues. Come and sample the programme at Fringe City (free outdoor festival) on New Road, Brighton every Saturday of the Fringe!

Charleston Festival

Fri 21 – Sun 30 May | www.charleston.org.uk | for brochures call 01323 811 626 For more Books and debate visit the 21st Charleston Festival, near Lewes. From David Dimbleby on British treasures to Andrew O’Hagan on Marilyn Monroe; Alan Bennett on being himself to Carol Ann Duffy on being poet laureate; Philip Pullman on the divine, William Dalrymple on the sacred to Sarah Waters on the supernatural; Bill Bryson at Home to Rose Tremain in France; Shakespeare to Chekhov; and Eliot to Orwell.

Artists Open Houses

Image: Mark Gertler: Natalie Bevan (née Ackenhausen, later Denny), 1928 Oil on canvas. Collection National Portrait Gallery, London NPG 6877 © estate of Mark Gertler

Photo: James Pike

With 1,000 exhibiting artists in more than 200 venues, citywide, every weekend throughout the festival, Artists Open Houses offer something for everyone. It’s a great opportunity to look around houses, meet the artists and buy work directly from them. New curated partner festival, HOUSE Gallery, shows contemporary experimental work from leading local artists at 10 venues around the city. An exhibition of selected work from Open House artists ‘HOUSE Open’ can be seen at The Regency Town House (pictured).

‘The art is as warm and welcoming as the partyloving couple themselves’ Sunday Herald Sat 17 Apr – Sun 12 Sep Adult (16+) £5, under 15s free, other concessions available

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery From Sickert to Gertler | Modern British Art from Boxted House From Sickert to Gertler celebrates the lives of Bobby and Natalie Bevan and their remarkable art collection at Boxted House in Essex. Bobby was the son of artists Stanislawa de Karlowska and Hove-born Robert Bevan. Natalie, who famously modelled for Mark Gertler (amongst others), was a distinguished painter and ceramicist. Their home played an important role in the post-war cultural renaissance. This exhibition reflects the artists who were drawn there: Walter Sickert, Mark Gertler, Charles Ginner, Robert Bevan, John Nash and more.

The Great Escape

Thu 13 – Sat 15 May | Tickets from www.escapegreat.com/buytickets The Great Escape is the leading event in Europe for showcasing new talent from around the world, aimed at ‘export ready’ bands and Industry Professionals. TGE takes place in Brighton, UK every May with a total attendance of over 15,000 people including 5,000 industry professionals. A variety of insightful industry talks, panel debates, targeted networking sessions and key note interviews are run alongside performances from 350+ new local and international artists, themed parties and club nights in over 30 different venues. 73

1 – 23 May www.brightonfestival.org Ticket office 01273 709709

Top cover image: Ovingdean, Brighton by Alex Bamford North Laine Photography. Lower cover image: Detail from ‘77 Million Paintings’ by Brian Eno Mixed Media Giclee print, Edition of 50. Brochure cover design supplied by Brian Eno.