“Born of a passion and a belief that opera can speak directly to all kinds of people, Artistic Director, Graham Vick, set out to create a company that the people of Birmingham – a city of many peoples – could be proud of…

…We’ve got more exploring to do to discover where opera can be performed. How to perform it. How to re-write the rules of engagement between audiences and performer. How to experiment with space and acoustics. Who can we make it speak to?”

Birmingham Opera Company would like to invite you to their production of Khovanskygate: A National Enquiry.  You may have already heard a sneak preview at Springhill Tesco Superstore, where professional soloists Joseph Guyton and Stephanie Corley were accompanied by Sergey Rybin on piano. The singers performed a selection of opera favourites from Tosca, Madame Butterfly and Othello, demonstrating their talents whilst preparing to play the roles of Prince Andrei and Emma in this latest production.

The opera will take place in a big top tent at Cannon Hill Park, with performances at 7pm on the 22nd, 24th, 28th and 30th April before a final performance on the 2nd May.

The story depicts Russia in the midst of a division between powerful conservative forces and growing Westernising influence. Musorgsky paints a devastating portrait of a nation on the brink of collapse; torn apart by state corruption, religious fanaticism, social inequality and ethnic cleansing.

The unique setting and involvement from local performers already sets the bar for an interesting series of evenings. Birmingham Opera Company released an open call for singers with varied to little experience in performance, asking them to join in with rehearsals several days a week. If you’d like to become involved with Birmingham Opera Company’s projects yourself, then please contact them at getinvolved@birminghamopera.org.uk .

We wish the cast and Birmingham Opera Company the best of luck for the shows. For telephone booking information please call 0121 246 6632 Monday – Friday 9:00am-11:00am or use the following link for further information and online booking.

As part of this year’s Supersonic festival, Capsule have decided to get the kids involved in exploring experimental music. The Kids Gigs take place on Saturday 23 October at 11am and 2.30pm at mac in Cannon Hill Park.

Aimed at 2 – 7 year olds and their families, these 1 hour workshops will involve performances, offering ‘Big Sounds for Little People’. 

Ever since Schoenberg and Kandinsky became pen pals back in 1907, avant-garde art and experimental music has been attempting to find some common ground.  But, it’s not been easy.  While modern art is a mass phenomenon, experimental music is often derided and ignored by the masses.

With a view to introduce children to experimental music at an early age, the events will feature one-man band from the USA, Dosh, and local circuit-bending fiend Glatze.

Glatze uses customised instruments (including: circuit-bent Furby dolls and kids’ toys) that have been specially rewired to create all sorts of musical wizardry. Dosh a multi-instrumentalist; combines a host of instruments into an exciting and unique live experience.  See firsthand how these unlikely instruments are used to make noise / sound / music, and to have a go yourselves.

Tickets are only £5, and can be booked at www.macarts.co.uk or by calling 0121 446 323

Just a quick round up of everything going on this weekend, there’s a lot and we wouldn’t want you to forget and miss out on anything!

Cum Clubbing – Hosted by VIVID, this art party does not look like something to be missed (although it’s happening now, so get down quick). From 8pm – late, VIVID’s project space will be taken over by live music, DJs and visual artists who’ll conspire to create an excitingly strange evening of camp disco. Tickets are £5.

To save time I’m going to be both lazy and efficient, and link you to everyone else who’s been talking about this. Take a look at Digbeth is Good, More Canals than Venice, brianduffyhasabigbrain, and Birmingham: It’s Not Shit.

Zine Festival – Not put off by the scale of Artsfest, this niche festival has a weekend full of events for you to get involved in.

• Starting this evening at The Edge is a screening of ‘$100 & A T-Shirt‘, Joe Biel’s documentary on zine culture. Entry is a £1, which also gets you a bag of popcorn, along with a talk from Pete Ashton and Rob Horrocks on the emergence of the small press comics scene and music zine influence in the 80s.
• The Victoria is host to the Zine Fair on Saturday from 12 – 6pm, along with a workshop from 2 – 2.30pm with Peter Lally, as he runs through the history of Alternative Press and curates a Q&A session on running your own zine events.
• At 5 – 6.30pm Island Bar are inviting zine fans to ‘Drop in + Draw’, offering a pencil and paper to unwind with, before the party starts with the Atta Girl Zine Party, 8pm – 2am.
• From 6.30 – 8.30pm, Get A Grip will be guiding guests through the process of making your very own totally unique t-shirt. T-shirt, equipment, inks, images and expertise supplied for £20 per person. If you fancy it, book in advance, more details here.
• Sunday will be a chilled out picnic in Cannon Hill Park at 1 – 4pm. With nothing for sale and free to attend, the party will be meeting at mac.

Artsfest – As already mentioned, the weekend of free arts events kicks off this evening and will continue to entertain through to Sunday night. With live performances coming from Centenary Square and Chamberlain Square, along with short films and animations screened at the Crescent, plus various performances and workshops held at theaters and bars across the city, don’t let the miserable weather deter you from leaving the house!

There seems to be a lot of talk of human shaped animals roaming Canon Hill Park at the moment.

Some say they have seen rabbits chasing foxes through the bushes, only to find human footprints when they reach the spot… Whatever the explanation, these creatures are known locally as The Changelings.

Expeditions to discover more about these creatures are being run by Birmingham-based art group a.a.s, exploring concealed routes and hidden dens to trace the secrets of The Changelings.

To take a two-hour trip into the undergrowth, head over to Cannon Hill Park on 28 and 29 August at 10am-12pm and 2-4pm.

Tickets can be bought from mac website for £3.30 and £2.20 concessions.

You’ve got today and tomorrow to get down to Taste of Birmingham in Cannon Hill Park if you’re into foody kinda stuffs. Lots of the fanciest restaurants around the region will be there to tempt you with their wares. They’ll have cooking demos and all sorts of other things too.

Also on the foody tip, today is the first anniversary of 24 Carrots, the monthly farmers market next to the Big Peg in the Jewellery Quarter. I popped down last month and can recommend the bread, the spicy sausages and also Krystal‘s jerk chicken.

On 1 May 2010, mac will open its doors again and there’s a bunch of stuff going on to mark the occasion.

There’s a celebratory gig featuring Misty’s Big Adventure, Vijay Kishore, and Kevin Dempsey and Joe Broughton, there’s Motionhouse’s outdoor dance spectacular Cascade, The City Sings, featuring the new anthem for the mac by Helen Ottaway, and a host of other things to take part in.

But the fun stuff doesn’t stop there. Once mac is open, there’ll be a steady stream of events and interesting goings on to keep you going back to Cannon Hill Park for more.

On the performance side of things, there’s Motionhouse’s multimedia dance Scattered, comedian Daniel Kitson’s 66a Church Road,  “return” by spoken-word artist Polarbear. In the visual arts and events spectrum there’s a discussion on the invention of the balti, an exhibition charting the history of sampad, and a debate on social media and globalisation.

And don’t forget there’s a programme of events for families, learning opportunities and the cinema.

For full listings and updates, be sure to check the mac website here.

Kate Chapman & Charlotte Goodwin - Amplifying the Map

I have to admit to be SUPER excited about the impending re-opening of the mac.  So ANY news, or any work linked to the opening, in turn excites me too.  In addition, my personal interests are deeply rooted in events which involve an element of participation – and with that in mind, I’m particularly excited to touch upon ‘Site and Sounds’.

“Site and Sounds offers a taste of the activities planned for mac’s re-opening in 2010 including workshops, walks and the premiere of a specially composed anthem for mac. mac’s Associate Artists Stan’s Cafe and Motionhouse Dance Theatre will also be presenting work as part of the summer programme including an adventure in the dark and some in-your-face dancing.”

There’s a substantial programme of events leading up to the re-opening – details of which can be found on the macartists website, as well as information on how to book for workshop places.  I was excited to see a screen-printing workshop advertised, then realised I am sadly 16 years too old to take part. Sniffle.  If you DO fit into that age category however, I think it’ll be a lot of fun!

I’m also curious about the recent theme of ‘mapping’ which keeps cropping up in projects and artist’s works of late.  This time, artists Kate Chapman and Charlotte Goodwin are exploring the mapping theme by inviting people who live, work or play close to mac to re-discover familiar places and explore places they have never visited before, sharing their thoughts and observations to create an audio map of the changing landscape.  All of these recordings will feed into an audio map – a web of downloadable audio tracks focusing on different locations in a mile radius of Cannon Hill Park.  I’m wondering if any CiB readers have experienced any other map-themed artworks/projects of late – if so, send me an email or leave a comment.

I will also be interested to see ‘Underground’,  performed by four dancers from Motionhouse Dance Theatre.

“Set within a rocking tubular structure, using physical dance, poignant imagery and surprising aerial encounters, ‘Underground’, explores the reality of train travel.”

Considering the title of the performance, I imagine it would originally by inspired by the experience of underground travel as opposed to regular trains.  How this will translate both to regular train travel as well as the open space of Cannon Hill Park will remain a mystery until the performance itself, which is happening Saturday 18th July at Cannon Hill Park at 11.30am, 1pm and 3pm.

Motionhouse Dance Theatre - Underground