EVENT CATEGORIES

Event Highlight

EU in Sync

The European Union isn’t exactly always known for being unified, especially when it comes to monetary matters, but on the musical front, the bloc has struck a harmonious note with the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO), which makes its first visit to the U.S. since 1988 this month.

Photo: WPAS

EUYO features Europe’s finest young musicians, with 116 musical prodigies from all 27 member states (the only one on the continent to do so), led by renowned conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, a six-time Grammy-winning pianist. The prestigious orchestra has toured more than 60 countries such as India, Germany, Kazakhstan, Brazil and China.

“In the challenging times which Europe is living through today,” the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso wrote in a message of support, “the European Union Youth Orchestra is a reminder of the common values and shared heritage which transcends our day-to-day concerns. This orchestra symbolizes much of what is good about the European Union: It brings together members from across the EU united by the vibrancy of youth and the passion for excellence.”

Open to any musician between the ages of 14 and 24 who is of conservatoire standard, EUYO was founded in 1976 by Lionel and Joy Bryer, a Boston native who came to Europe in the mid-1950s when she married and settled in London. Their first major project was the International Festival of Youth Orchestras and Performing Arts in 1969, whereby Joy organized and raised funds for 10 major festivals showcasing leading youth orchestras, ballet, folk, choral, dance, opera and visual arts groups. Joy has since been widely recognized throughout Europe for promoting intercultural understanding among young people.

The latest crop of young musicians from EUYO will tour the U.S. from April 13 to 24, with performances at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, New York City’s Carnegie Hall (appearing with solo violinist Itzhak Perlman) and Boston’s Symphony Hall, among other stops. On April 15, they’ll come to the Kennedy Center in D.C., joined by solo violinist Pinchas Zukerman, in a concert sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS).

To celebrate the many cultural ties between the United States and Europe, the EUYO will also invite 15 young American musicians to join them as orchestral members for some of the concerts. And in D.C., EUYO musicians will conduct informal workshops with students at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.

The U.S. tour has been made possible by the European Union Delegation to the United States, EU member states, the Friends of the British Council, the British Council, Delta, KLM, Air France and Alitalia.

— Anna Gawel

ART

April 10 to July 31
Joan Miró from the Collection of the Kreeger Museum
Joan Miró was a perfectionist who insisted he was a “self-taught amateur” to transgress traditional techniques, especially in pursuit of printmaking as a medium for his breathtaking expressions of Catalan culture. This exhibition marks the first time the Kreeger’s complete collection of works by Miró will be on view, including T”he Mallorca Suite,” “Makimono,” and “El Vol de l’Alosa (The Flight of the Lark).”
The Kreeger Museum

Through April 10
Costantino Nivola: 100 Years of Creativity
On the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Italian Cultural Institute is paying tribute to one of Italy’s most acclaimed sculptors, Costantino Nivola (1911-88), renowned for combining architecture with sculpture in his bas-relief and semi-abstract artwork, as well as for his technique of sand casting in cement.
Italian Cultural Institute

Through April 12
Another Way of Viewing the World: Le Monde Diplomatique, 1954-2012
To celebrate the release of the magazine Le Monde Diplomatique in the U.S., this exhibition showcases 58 years of front pages from the famous French monthly devoted to international relations.
District Archtecture Center Sigal Gallery

Through April 13
Lie of the Land: New Australian Landscapes
More than 60 works by 12 Australian artists offer a contemporary take on traditional landscape traditions. “Images of Australian landscapes have long been celebrated internationally,” said Ambassador Kim Beazley. “However these artists re-examine the conventions of the genre to suggest the complex histories that persist beneath picturesque images of gumtrees and golden pastures.”
Embassy of Australia

Through April 15
Anil Revri: Faith and Liberation through Abstraction
Anil Revri constructs his paintings on a grid, and the repetition of finely detailed geometric elements offers viewers numerous optical rewards. But these are also contemporary spiritual paintings analogous in their functions to tantric art, and its distant relation the Byzantine icon.
American University Museum Katzen Arts Center

Through April 15
Flangini & Minnelli – Il Cinema Dipinto
During the filming of “Lust for Life” (a 1957 Oscar winner), a movie about the life of Vincent van Gogh that director Vincent Minnelli shot in Belgium in 1955, artist Giuseppe Flangini created a wonderful storyboard for the film comprised more than 50 works, including oils and drawings. This marks the first time the American public can view this comprehensive exhibit of Flangini’s works.
Italian Cultural Institute

Through April 15
Gabarrón’s Roots
In his first D.C. exhibit, Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarrón’s vibrantly colored sculptures are larger than life, but human in scale and effect, while his painted tondos (circular works of art) evoke archaeological and zoological mysteries.
American University Museum Katzen Arts Center

Through April 15
Duva Diva: DuvTeatern’s Glorious Carmen and Photographs by Stefan Bremer
These two exhibitions feature beautiful photographs by Stefan Bremer of actors and dancers with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities who performed in an unusual performance of Bizet’s “Carmen” last year with the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki (supported by the Embassy of Finland).
Charles Krause/Reporting Fine Art

Through April 15
Migration_Standards
Realized in cooperation with the art collective bäckerstrasse 4 – plattform für junge kunst curated, this exhibit featuring four artists focuses on the challenges of migration and its structural conditions as a result of redistribution of power and property.
Austrian Cultural Forum

Through April 27
gute aussichten: young german photography 2011/2012
Photography by seven winners of “gute aussichten 2011/2012,” the eighth annual German competition for graduate photography students, reflect highly diverse aesthetic, formal and conceptual approaches that provide insights into the multifaceted themes that form the focus of young artists’ interests today.
Goethe-Institut

Through April 30
Roisin Fitzpatrick – Artist of the Light
Roisin Fitzpatrick, who previously worked at the U.N., was inspired to take up art after a brain aneurysm. Now a leading contemporary Irish artist, Fitzpatrick uses the finest quality crystals and silks to maximize the reflection and refraction of light in original works that are inspired by her Celtic heritage, nature and the cosmos — and which have been critically acclaimed by Forbes, Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe.
La Luna Gallery

Through May 5
15
To celebrate 15 years as an international gallery in Washington, International Visions’ next exhibit is a group show featuring artists who have worked with at the gallery over the years, including Stanley Agbontaen, Annette Isham and Helen Zughaib.
International Visions Gallery

Through May 5
A Thousand and One Faces of Mexico: Masks from the Ruth D. Lechuga Collection
Masks have always been an integral part of a society’s rituals and ceremonies. This exhibit displays more than 140 masks from the expansive collection of Ruth D. Lechuga (1920-2004), who traveled around Mexico for 50 years collecting more than 10,000 pieces, including 1,200 masks, which constitute one of the most important folk art collections in Mexico.
Mexican Cultural Institute

Through May 6
Picasso’s Drawings, 1890-1921: Reinventing Tradition
Through some 55 works, this exhibition presents the dazzling development of Pablo Picasso’s drawings over a 30-year period, from the precocious academic exercises of his youth in the 1890s to the virtuoso works of the early 1920s, including the radical innovations of cubism and collage.
National Gallery of Art

Through May 6
Shadows of History: Photographs of the Civil War from the Collection of Julia J. Norrell
Inspired by the 150th anniversary of the Civil War — one of the first conflicts to be extensively documented by photography — this focused collection developed in recent years by Washington collector Julia Norrell captures a wide range of images, from soldiers and officers at rest, to the death and destruction of battle.
Corcoran Gallery of Art

Through May 6
Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard
Approximately 200 snapshots made by renowned post-impressionist artists like Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard using the new technology of the Kodak handheld camera, most previously unpublished, are displayed with 70 paintings and works on paper that the snapshots inspired, revealing fascinating parallels in cropping, lighting and vantage point.
The Phillips Collection

Through May 6
Tim Hetherington: Sleeping Soldiers
Between 2007 and 2008, photographer Tim Hetherington (1970-2011) was embedded with U.S. Army soldiers in a remote and dangerous post in northeastern Afghanistan. This exhibition includes photographs and a video installation that juxtaposes chaotic scenes of combat with still images of soldiers at rest.
Corcoran Gallery of Art

Through May 13
Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space
“Suprasensorial” is the first exhibition to re-evaluate the evolution of the international Light and Space movement through the work of five pivotal Latin American artists. Coinciding with the show, a 360-degree projection by Doug Aitken will illuminate, animate and transform the Hirshhorn’s entire façade.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through May 20
Ñew York
Works by outstanding young Latin American and Spanish artists residing in New York City pay tribute to a long-lost artistic exchange and revive innovative communication channels between Latin and Spanish plastic and visual artists, reflecting on mobility in an era of widespread displacement where both global and local barriers are broken down.
Organization of American States
Art Museum of the Americas

Through May 20
Shakespeare’s Sisters: Voices of English and European Women Writers, 1500-1700
This exhibition explores those women who were writing during Shakespeare’s time, reimagining the “conversations” of these early women writers — with each other as members of families or groups, with the Bible, with spiritual and secular ideas, and with male writers of the time — in hopes of expanding their overshadowed voices.
Folger Shakespeare Library

Through June 1
Contemporary Uruguayan Artists
To honor Uruguay and the city of Montevideo, site of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank, 13 artists specializing in painting, print, sculpture, mixed media and photography offer a panorama of contemporary Uruguayan creativity, revisiting history and changes that have transformed the nation’s culture, environment and traditions.
Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center

Through June 2
The Style that Ruled the Empires: Russia, Napoleon, and 1812
Paintings, porcelain, glassware, metal ware, attire, Napoleonic armor and other items commemorate the bicentennial of Russia’s triumph over the French army in 1812, which dealt an arresting blow to Napoleon and his pursuit of European conquest while also igniting a collective Russian pride and production of decorative arts that persists today.
Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Through June 17
Hokusai: 36 Views of Mount Fuji
The most acclaimed print series by Japan’s most famous artist, “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) contains images of worldwide renown, including “The Great Wave.”
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through July 6
Alberto Schommer: Portraits and Scenarios
Alberto Schommer, one of Spain’s most prominent photographers, has pioneered a path challenging conventional forms, including a series of psychological portraits, always guided under the influence of the oeuvre of Irving Penn and William Klein. Part of the “Spain arts & culture” series (www.spainculture.us).
Embassy of Spain

Through July 8
Masters of Mercy: Buddha’s Amazing Disciples
Kano Kazunobu’s (1816–1863) phantasmagoric paintings reflect a popular theme in Edo art: the lives and deeds of the Buddha’s legendary 500 disciples.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through July 29
From the Library: The Fleeting Structures of Early Modern Europe
In early modern Europe, state visits, coronations and weddings were among the occasions that gave cities a chance to stage lavish productions in which artists and architects designed elaborate structures and decorations, allowing them to experiment with new ideas or encourage city officials to consider new uses of public space.
National Gallery of Art

Through July 29
Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections
The National Museum of Women in the Arts celebrates its 25th anniversary with the first exhibition to explore the life and work of women artists in the time of the French Revolution with more than 75 rarely seen works by 35 artists.
National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Jan. 6
Dragons, Nagas, and Creatures of the Deep
In the Spirit of the East Asian calendar’s Year of the Dragon, this exhibition highlights objects drawn from cultures as diverse as the ancient Mediterranean world, imperial China and contemporary South America, portraying dragons as everything from fire-breathing beasts to beneficent water gods.
The Textile Museum

DANCE

April 11 to 15
ALICE (in wonderland)
For this world premiere, Washington Ballet Artistic Director Septime Webre teams up with costume designer Liz Vandal (Cirque du Soleil’s “OVO”), composer Matthew Pierce, set designer Jim Kronzer, lighting designer Clifton Taylor and puppeteer Eric J. Van Wyk for this spectacularly re-imagined take on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale. Tickets are $50 to $155.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 12 to 14
Moscow Festival Ballet
The Moscow Festival Ballet comes to George Mason University for three special engagements: “Giselle,” the tale of a young peasant girl who falls in love with a count (April 12 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center); the magical fairytale of “The Sleeping Beauty” (April 13); and “Cinderella” featuring Prokofiev’s exuberant score (April 14). Tickets are $27 to $54.
George Mason University
Center for the Arts (April 13,14)

Hylton Performing Arts Center (April 12)

DISCUSSIONS

Tue., April 3, 8:30 a.m. to noon
Faith, Money, Power
The American Islamic Congress, Ogilvy Noor, Dinar Standard and the Pew Research Center present information and insights on the buying power, demographics and engagement of America’s Muslim consumer community. To register, visit www.aicongress.org/faith-money-power/.
Carnegie Institution for Science

Thu., April 5, 7 p.m.
Literary Salon: Alexandre Najjar
Today, French literature might just as easily be composed in Africa, the Middle East or North America as in France. This literary salon examines the richness of the Francophonie world through Beirut-born author Alexandre Najjar, considered one of the best French authors of his generation. Tickets are $15.
Alliance Française de Washington

Mon., April 9, 6:30 p.m.
Literary Salon: Guy Régis Jr.
Guy Régis Jr., born in 1974 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is a playwright, translator, stage and film director, and founder of the contemporary Haitian theater troupe “Nous Théâtre.”
Embassy of Haiti

Tue., April 10, 7 p.m.
‘Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero’
MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews joins Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno to discuss Matthews´s 2011 book, “Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero.” (Photo ID required to enter.)
Inter-American Development Bank

Fri., April 20, 12 p.m.
Women’s Empowerment in the Middle East and Worldwide
Michelle Bachelet, the first executive director of UN Women, has recently returned from a trip to the Middle East and will speak at a luncheon benefit on the topic of women’s empowerment hosted by the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, with PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff moderating. Individual tickets are $250 for nonmembers; for information, call (202) 429-2692 or visit www.wfpg.org.
The Four Seasons Hotel

Wed., April 25, 7:30 p.m.
Martin Fletcher: The List
Former NBC News Middle East correspondent and Tel Aviv bureau chief Martin Fletcher discusses his new fictional book, “The List,” which delves into the world of post-World War II England and the pre-statehood years of Palestine. Tickets are $10.
Washington DCJCC

FESTIVALS

April 9 to 15
Songkran Thai Restaurant Week
The Royal Thai Embassy in D.C. is sponsoring a Thai Restaurant Week for the fifth year to celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year, which falls on April 13. The embassy has partnered with local restaurants to offer a menu showcasing the vibrancy of Thai food. For information, visit www.thaiembdc.org.
Various locations

April 10 to 14
Small is More: Snapshots of Belgian Performing Arts
Considered among the most cutting-edge troupes in Europe today, five companies from Belgium captivate audiences with their corrosive humor, incongruous plots and experimental settings — in the first showcase of Belgian theater and dance to be held in D.C. For a full schedule, visit www.francedc.org.
Various locations

Through April 27
National Cherry Blossom Festival
A century after Japan’s 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C., the National Cherry Blossom Festival presents an unprecedented citywide celebration of this enduring sign of friendship on its 100th anniversary, with five weeks of events ranging from workshops and exhibits to seminars and parties. For information, visit www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.
Various locations

GALAS

Wed., April 18, 6:30 p.m.
Folger Gala
The Folger Shakespeare Library’s annual gala is its most important fundraiser of the year, with proceeds Folger’s cultural and educational programming for the greater Washington area and beyond. The 2012 Folger Gala will mark the library’s 80th anniversary. Tickets are $600; for information, call (202) 675-0324.
Folger Shakespeare Library

Sat., April 21, 6 p.m.
WPAS Gala and Auction
Japanese Ambassador and Mrs. Ichiro Fujisaki are the honorary diplomatic chairs of this year’s WPAS Annual Gala and Auction to benefit the Washington Performing Arts Society, a wide-ranging nonprofit presenter of both established performers and emerging artists that also supports educational programs for children and adults throughout the city, including Concerts In Schools, Enriching Experiences for Seniors, the Capitol Jazz Project and the Embassy Adoption Program. This year’s gala features NBC’s Barbara Harrison as master of ceremonies and a special performance by Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, as well as dinner, dancing and live and silent auction. Tickets start at $600; for information, call (202) 293-9325.
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

MUSIC

Wed., April 11, 8 p.m.
Cheikh Lô
One of the great mavericks of African music, Jammm Senegalese Cheikh Lô is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist who has distilled a variety of influences from West and Central Africa to create a style that is uniquely his own. Tickets are $25 to $45.
GW Lisner Auditorium

Wed., April 18, 6:30 to 10 p.m.
10th Annual Winners Grand Prix Concert
Under the gracious patronage French Ambassador François Delattre, the Washington International Piano Arts Council (WIPAC) presents the 10th Annual Winners Grand Prix Concert featuring the first-prize winners of the Festival of Music and Washington International Piano Artists Competitions and Le Concours de Grands Amateurs de Piano of Paris, which was WIPAC’s source of inspiration in 2001. WTOP’s Bob Madigan is master of ceremonies. Tickets start at $50; for information, visit www.wipac.org.
La Maison Française

Fri., April 20, 7:30 p.m.
Mendelssohn Piano Trio
The Embassy Series trio in residence is joined by violist Michael Stepniak for a program of Austrian chamber music, including a piano trio by Joseph Haydn, a rarely performed youthful piano quartet by Gustav Mahler and the celebrated piano trio in E flat Major by Franz Schubert. Tickets are $50, including reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.
Embassy of Austria

Fri., April 27, 7:30 p.m.
Paulius Andersson, Piano
Paulius Andersson is the winner of the Music Without Limits international competition and has performed in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and at various concert halls in Lithuania. Tickets are $55, including reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.
Embassy of Lithuania

Fri., April 27, 6:30 p.m.
Voices of Spring
The Opera Camerata of Washington, with support from the Ambassador of Belgium and Mrs. Jan. Matthysen, present a program featuring Jesús Hernández, José Sacín, Michael Ronay, Evelyn Thatcher, Joyce Lundy and maestro Stephen Czarkowski conducting the Opera Camerata of Washington Orchestral Ensemble. Tickets are $125 and include cocktails and a buffet dinner. For information, call (202) 386-6008.
Belgian Residence

THEATER

Through April 8
Sucker Punch
In 1980s London, two black teenagers try to box their way into fame, fortune and a better life, but will they become champions or sell-outs? Tickets are $35 to $60.
The Studio Theatre

Tue., April 10, 7:30 p.m.
The Burden Within – Moi, fardeau inhérent
In the night, a woman waits by the window in a universe of shadows and visions, of crisp contours and soft edges that we live through each breath of her voice (in French with English subtitles).
La Maison Française

Through April 15
Brother Russia
In a desolate Siberian potato field, a comically fourth-rate Russian theater troupe sets up its ratty tents and wows the local farmers with rock-fueled adaptations of great Russian figures, focusing one night on the hypnotic mystic Rasputin. Tickets start at $63.
Signature Theatre

April 18 to May 20
The 39 Steps
With four actors playing over 150 characters, this classic Hitchcock thriller takes a comedic turn when Richard Hannay agrees to take home a mysterious woman he meets at the theater — and unexpectedly finds himself thrown into a world of spies and adventure. Tickets start at $26.
Olney Theatre Center

April 28 to May 21
Nabucco
For the first time in its 56-year history, Washington National Opera (WNO) presents Giuseppe Verdi’s early masterpiece “Nabucco,” which tells the Biblical tale of the defeat, enslavement, and exile of the Jews in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Tickets start at $25.
Kennedy Center Opera House

Through April 29
Strange Interlude
Heartbroken over her adored fiancé’s death, Nina engages in a series of sordid affairs before marrying a man she does not love. Months later, pregnant with her husband’s child, she learns a horrifying secret about his family, setting off a chain of events that spans two decades (part of the Eugene O’Neill Festival). Tickets are $20 to $100.
The Shakespeare Theatre

Through May 6
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
In Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical masterwork, delusion and disenchantment have pitted the Tyrone family members against one another for decades, until they’re forced to either confront their defeated dreams or be forever doomed to a cycle of guilt and resentment. Call for ticket information.
Arena Stage