Capital of Culture plans finally unveiled

[liverbird04]

Klimt brings the bling to Liverpool's big year

 

 

Artist's work to join Rattle and footballers' wives for capital of culture year

 

David Ward and Charlotte Higgins

Tuesday November 7, 2006

The Guardian

 

 

When Liverpool was competing to be European capital of culture in 2008, a member of its bid team defined culture as "anything bar throwing up ... on a Saturday night".

Last night the Liverpool Culture Company honoured that broad definition when it unveiled its long-awaited programme, a £95m mixed bag of 70 events ranging from the Berlin Philharmonic and a Gustav Klimt exhibition to the European senior boxing championships and a footballers' wives fashion show.

 

 

There is no mention of scouse writers Willy Russell or Alan Bleasdale. But there were hints that Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr could appear together on a floating stage at a waterfront concert in May featuring "the music that Liverpool exported to the world".

The 2008 programme, featuring a wide variety of genres, leans more in the direction of high art than many local commentators had expected. "This is just the start," said the council leader, Warren Bradley. "I hope there will be plenty more rabbits out of the hat."

 

Following a series of debacles culminating in the resignation in July of Robyn Archer, the Australian singer and festival director hired to run 2008, the culture team announced the programme with a sense of relief that they could at last tell the people of Liverpool what to expect during the big year.

 

The launch, planned by Nigel Jamieson, who created the closing ceremony for the Manchester Commonwealth Games, will be in early January 2008 in and around the 10,000-seat arena being built on the waterfront.

 

But some events will jump the gun. As already announced, the Turner prize show will be at Tate Liverpool from October 2007, to be followed in December by the Liverpool Nativity, the Christmas story told through the city's music. A follow-up to this year's Manchester Passion, it will be broadcast live on BBC3.

 

Events with a broad appeal include the People's Festival, "a celebration of football, fashion and music" with a catwalk show featuring footballers' wives and girlfriends and music by composer Michael Nyman. Liverpool's World Museum will stage an exhibition celebrating the city's pop and rock history from 1945. There will also be a programme of street performance running throughout the year, a six-week summer festival for families, a celebration of black music and a musical about the Adelphi, Liverpool's best-known hotel.

 

Sir Simon Rattle will return to his native city to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in works by Wagner and Messiaen, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the world premiere of a work by the Australian composer Brett Dean.

 

The Klimt exhibition will be the first in the UK devoted to the artist, and will find a particularly apt home in the city, according to Christoph Grunenberg, director of Tate Liverpool, "because of the bling. Liverpool is very bling and Klimt is very bling - these are very decorative, ornamental works". The exhibition will include more than 100 works, including what Mr Grunenberg called "major, major paintings", erotic drawings, jewellery and architectural models.

 

Other exhibitions will be devoted to James Tissot and the influence of railways on art, with works by Turner, Monet, Van Gogh and Hopper.

 

The Liverpool Biennial, the festival of contemporary art, will feature more commissions than ever before and there will be a major exhibition on the architect Le Corbusier. New choral works have been commissioned from Sir John Tavener and Kenneth Hesketh and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will perform Britten's War Requiem in the city's huge Anglican cathedral.

 

The actor Pete Postlethwaite is in talks about starring in King Lear at the Everyman theatre, and the Playhouse will stage Chekhov's Three Sisters. Both theatres will also present a "major theatrical event" in the Anglican cathedral.

 

The big events

 

December 2007 Liverpool Nativity: told through city's music

 

January 2008 Year of street performances begins; Fresh Festival, jazz, world and contemporary music

 

February James Tissot exhibition at Lady Lever gallery; premiere of choral work by Tavener

 

March Pete Postlethwaite as King Lear (to be confirmed); railway in art at Walker gallery

 

May Liverpool Sound, waterfront concert; Klimt at Tate Liverpool

 

June War Requiem in Liverpool cathedral; Wags' fashion show

 

July Exhibition of Liverpool as pop and rock capital; tall ships race

 

September Rattle conducts Berlin Philharmonic; Liverpool Biennial

 

October Riba Stirling prize; Le Corbusier exhibition

 

November Shipping Lines literature festival with Seamus Heaney

 

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1941265,00.html

 

 

hope pete postlethwaite gets confirmed ,I would defo go and see that.

[Molby]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[cymrococh]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here