ART GALLERY

OMA/Progress Events Programme and Last Chance to See
January and February / Barbican Art Gallery / Further details available online
Now is the last chance to catch OMA/Progress events before the exhibition closes on 19 February. OMA events throughout January and February include the final OMA in Conversation talks with partner Ellen van Loon (26 January) who will discuss the design and construction of the new Rothschild Bank headquarters, OMA’s first completed building in London, plus on 16 February, partner in charge of OMA’s operations in the Americas, Shohei Shigematsu will be in conversation with his former OMA colleague Bjarke Ingels, now director of Copenhagen architecture office BIG, about their architectural contemporaries and generational inheritance.

On 16 February is a special event celebrating Maggie’s Centres. Maggie’s have 15 extraordinary cancer caring centres across the UK designed by some of the world’s leading architects, including Rem Koolhaas who designed their latest building in Glasgow. The event will start with a welcome from Charles Jencks, co-founder of Maggie’s and architectural critic, and OMA Partner Ellen Van Loon, while jellymongers Bompas & Parr will show how the centres have inspired them.
Read the events release

Song Dong: Waste Not
15 February – 12 June / The Curve / Media View on 14 February 10am-1pm
Celebrated Chinese artist, Song Dong is known for his conceptual and often poetic and personal performances and installations. For his first solo exhibition in a major UK public gallery, Song Dong is installing the monumental work, Waste Not, in The Curve. Comprising over 10,000 items collected by Song Dong’s mother over five decades – ranging from a section of her house to metal pots and plastic bowls to blankets, bottle caps, toothpaste tubes and toys – the installation is a tribute to his mother, as well as a meditation on family life during the Cultural Revolution. The activity of saving and reusing objects of all kinds is in keeping with the Communist adage wu jin qu yong – ‘waste not’ – a prerequisite for survival during periods of social and political turmoil.
Read the press release

Song Dong: Events programme

Song Dong
16 February / Cinema 3 / 6.30pm
A rare chance to hear artist Song Dong speak about the extraordinary collection of objects that make up his installation Waste Not.

Objects with Stories
15 February – 12 June / Invitation to the public
In response to Song Dong’s installation, Objects with Stories is an online participation project which invites the public to share their thoughts of loved ones – to submit one photograph of an object along with a couple of sentences about the memory of the relationship the object brings to mind. A selection of the stories will feature on www.barbican.org.uk .

THEATRE AND DANCE

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore / Cheek by Jowl
16 February – 10 March / Silk Street Theatre / 7:30pm (2:30pm matinees on 25 February, 3, 10 March) / Press night 21 February
Following their triumphant productions of The Changeling (2006) and The Duchess of Malfi (1995), Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod return to Jacobean tragedy with a new production of John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. In this violent and bloody drama, we watch a brother and sister’s passionate descent into hell. Incest, morality, religion and corruption all make this play as shocking and controversial today as it was almost four hundred years ago. Cheek by Jowl have an established international reputation for bringing fresh life to the classics, have toured to over 300 cities in 40 countries and are Artistic Associates of the Barbican. Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s first feature film Bel Ami screens at the Barbican from 2 March.
View the press release

Rawums(:) / florschütz & döhnert
3 - 5 March / The Pit / 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 3pm – see website for schedule / Press performance 3 March
The spring sees the development of the Barbican’s strand of high quality international theatre for children with Rawums(:) from Germany. Presented by florschütz & döhnert, this charming and ingenious trip to the wonderland of gravity for very small children, explores the laws of physics – falling and flying, lightness and heaviness, in a beautifully poetic form of physical theatre.
See further information

The Master and Margarita / Complicite / Simon McBurney
15 March - 7 April / Barbican Theatre / 7:15pm (2pm matinees on 24, 31 March, 7 April; no performance on 6 April) / Press nights 21 and 22 March
Complicite / Simon McBurney return to the Barbican following the success of Shun-Kin and A Disappearing Number with a new English language adaptation of The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Bulgakov’s violent, poetic maelstrom of a novel remains timeless and prescient, affirming his place as one of Russia’s greatest 20^th century novelists. Paul Rhys and Sinéad Matthews join an ensemble cast of Complicite performers from many of the Company's previous shows going back to The Street of Crocodiles.
Read the press release

MUSIC

New Classical Music season and Associate Ensembles announced
The Barbican last week announced its 2012-13 Classical Music season. A major new feature of the music programme is two new Associate Ensembles that join the Barbican’s existing family of orchestras: the Academy of Ancient Music, renowned for its dedication to fresh, historically-informed performances of baroque and classical music; and Britten Sinfonia which has built its reputation on imaginative programming developed through strong artist relationships across the musical spectrum. These ensembles begin regular performances at the Barbican in the new season.
Read the announcement release and find out more about the Classical Music 2012-13 season

Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito
22 February / Barbican Hall / 7pm
Please note that the role of Sextus will now be performed by Alice Coote.
Mozart’s late opera La Clemenza di Tito is performed in concert by Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, conducted by Louis Langrée with a stellar cast of soloists including Michael Schade and Alice Coote.
Read the full programme details

March Music highlights
On 3 March (the Barbican’s 30^th birthday) we hold Urban Classic as part of the BBC’s Music Nation, bringing together the BBC Symphony Orchestra with urban artists including Ms Dynamite, Fazer, Devlin and Skepta. The following day, Rufus Wainwright performs the UK premiere of his exquisite settings of five of Shakespeare’s sonnets with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, also forming part of Music Nation. Multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird presents material from his new album on 5 March, and the Britten Sinfonia gives the world premiere performances of Nico Muhly's new Cello Concerto, featuring Oliver Coates, and of Owen Pallett’s Violin Concerto, featuring Pekka Kuusisto (16 March).

Bang on a Can All-Stars: Field Recordings takes place on 20 March with Mira Calix , Christian Marclay & Nick Zammuto (of The Books), including specially-commissioned pieces inspired by archival audio and video. The Barbican is also looking for new artwork to represent Bang on a Can’s new project Field Recordings in a marketing campaign around East London – find out more about the artwork competition. Krzysztof Penderecki makes his first Barbican appearance in over 12 years on 22 March, conducting the AUKSO Tychy Chamber Orchestra and presenting a selection of his own repertoire and music by Radiohead guitarist and radical innovator Jonny Greenwood. Finally, the St Petersburg Philharmonic and their chief conductor Yuri Temirkanov, perform one of symphonic music's most powerful testimonies, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony ‘Leningrad’ (24 March).

Just announced for May 2012 - The Lady: A Homage to Sandy Denny
Feat. members of Bellowhead, plus Maddy Prior, Jerry Donahue, Dave Swarbrick, Thea Gilmore, Lavinia Blackwall, Blair Dunlop, Sam Carter, PP Arnold & more
23 May / Barbican Hall / 8pm
In the years since her tragic death, folk-rock icon Sandy Denny has been cited by many as Britain’s finest female singer songwriter. Alongside the completed archive, former colleagues, friends and young admirers will interpret work that has a particular resonance for them. Maddy Prior, Jerry Donahue and Dave Swarbrick will perform alongside Thea Gilmore, Lavinia Blackwall, Blair Dunlop, Sam Carter and diverse contributors such as PP Arnold and other special guests. They join members of Bellowhead, who form the core of a house ‘super group’.
Read more about this concert

FILM

Bill Cunningham: New York (US/France, 2010, Dir Richard Press)
3 March / 4pm
This documentary from director Richard Press examines the work of visionary photographer Bill Cunningham and his unconditional love of fashion. The cinematic biography also features interviews with Vogue editor Anna Wintour, alongside designers such as Michael Kors.

In Darkness (Poland/Germany/France/Canada, 2011, Dir Agnieszka Holland) + Screentalk with Robert Więckiewicz and Agnieszka Holland (tbc)
11 March / 5pm
Leading actor, Robert Więckiewicz, appears in conversation with writer/director Agnieszka Holland (tbc) after a screening of their new film In Darkness (2011). This harrowing tale is based on the true story of one man’s rescue of Jewish refugees in Nazi-occupied Ukraine.

Manasse (Romania, 1925, Dir Jean Mihail) + Live Musical Accompaniment by Minima – part of the Silent Film and Live Music Series
25 March / 4pm
Jean Mihail’s silent masterpiece is set in a small town in Eastern Romania at the turn of the 20th Century and features a tender love story between a Romanian man and a Jewish woman, while Minima’s music is an audacious 21st-century interpretation of the images of silent and avant-garde film.

New March releases
From 2 March we will screen Bel Ami (UK/France/Italy, 2012, Dirs Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod), from 9 March, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (UK, 2012, Dir Lasse Hallström), and from 16 March, Mirror, Mirror (US 2012, Dir Tarsem Singh).
Read the March film highlights release

CROSS-ARTS

Barbican Weekender: Urban Stories
3-4 March / Barbican Centre / 10am – late
This March, the Barbican Weekender returns with two free action-packed days of dance, theatre and music for anyone and everyone eager to try something new. Themed as Urban Stories – where Shakespeare meets hip-hop – this much anticipated annual fixture in the Barbican’s calendar coincides with the Centre’s 30th anniversary and is a London 2012 countdown event.
Find out more in our press release

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Press Information
For further information, images or to arrange interviews contact:

Lorna Gemmell, Head of Communications, +44 207 382 7147,
lorna.gemmell@barbican.org.uk

Caitlin Sinclair, Communications Coordinator, +44 207 382 5274,
caitlin.sinclair@barbican.org.uk

Barbican newsroom
All Barbican Centre press releases, news announcements and the Media Relations team’s contact details are listed on our website at www.barbican.org.uk/news/home

About the Barbican
The Barbican Centre is one of the world's leading arts centres, founded and run by the City of London Corporation. It encompasses dance, film, music, theatre, visual arts and creative learning who work together in creating the model of tomorrow's international arts and learning centre. Committed to providing a world-class programme, which inspires, challenges and amazes its audiences, the Barbican is also home to Resident Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Associate Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Associate Producer Serious. Its Artistic Associates include Boy Blue Entertainment, Cheek by Jowl, Deborah Warner, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre and Michael Clark Company. International Associates are Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The architecturally renowned Centre, now Grade II listed, opened in 1982, and comprises the 1,949 seat Barbican Hall, the 1,166-seat Barbican Theatre, the Pit theatre, a 286 seat cinema, the Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library, Lakeside Terrace, roof-top tropical conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants.
For more information visit www.barbican.org.uk