Book Fair for Canada
The 26th edition of the International Book Fair of Havana (FIL-2017) will be held in Havana until February 19. The event is dedicated to Canada and will be attended by 36 Canadian authors, representatives of 18 publishing houses and a delegation from Quebec province led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Francophonie, Christine St-Pierre.
The northern country will celebrate 150 years of its confederation and it will bring famous authors to the Island, such as the prolific novelist Margaret Atwood and the outstanding writer Graeme Gibson.
Within the FIL 2017 program of activities, visitors should not miss out:
Monday 13 at 11:00 a.m.
Manuel Galish Hall of Casa de las Américas
The first Titón. Conversation about the life and work of the well-known filmmaker and presentation of a book with the same name by the film critic Juan Antonio García Borrero.
Panelists: Mirtha Ibarra, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Reynaldo González and Luciano Castillo
Wednesday 15 at 5:00 p.m.
Manuel Galish Hall of Casa de las Américas
Presentation of the novel The man who loved dogs, by Leonardo Padura (Aurelia Publishing House)
Host: Rafael Acosta de Arriba
Thursday 16 at 11:00 a.m.
Garden of the Artistic and Literary Lyceum of Havana. Palace of the Marquis of Arcos (Mercaderes, # 16, Old Havana)
Regarding the homage to Gabriel García Márquez for the 90 years of his birth and the 50 years of the publication of One hundred years of solitude, a sculpture by José Villa Soberón (donated by the Colombian Embassy in Cuba to the Office of the Historian of the City) will be unveiled.
Thursday 16 at 4:00 p.m.
Che Guevara Hall of Casa de las Américas
Tribute to Gabriel García Márquez celebrating 90 years of his birth and the 50 years of the publication of One hundred years of solitude (coordinated by Planeta Publising Group and Casa de las Américas).
Moderator: Jorge Fornet
Friday 17th at 11:00 a.m.
Manuel Galish Hall of Casa de las Américas
Presentation of the book Good luck living. Messages to a poet (Matanzas Publishing House), an homage to Roberto Fernández Retamar’s 85 years.
Host: Laidi Fernández de Juan (compiler)
Moderator: Alfredo Zaldívar
The Deer in Departure
The Bewitched Deer will show in premiere Departure, a performance on stage directed by Nelda Castillo. The show will take place at the company headquarters, starting from today Friday to Sunday 12, at 8:30 pm.
Freddys presents Dolls in my house
The company directed by, Camagüey-born Freddys Núñez Estenoz, perform for the first time the play Dolls in my house, with the script by Alessandra Santiesteban.
“The scene as a space of risk. A flimsy structure (a house, home, street, province, island…) sustains Nora-Pablo, a new tropical doll. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes a woman and a man at the time. The boundaries between the sexes blur. Nora defies her space that transcends the Family and remains anchored in reality.
The show describes the interiorities of a family in conflict, not only with everything that undermines the traditional roles of its members, but also with the need of change on a political, economic, moral, cultural, and sexual scale… “
The functions will be on February 10, 11 and 12 at José Luis Tasende Cultural Center in Camagüey.
The mirror on stage
Ludi Theater Company will perform for the first time the play The mirror, based on the text The comb and the mirror by Abelardo Estorino. Stage-managed by Mariam Montero and with the general direction by Miguel Abreu, the performances will take place until March 5 at the Tito Junco Hall of the Bertolt Brecht Cultural Center; Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.
Do not touch those keys
Keys, text of the Spanish playwright Cristina Colmena, is put on the stage by Jazz Vilá Project. Keys will take place every Thursday at 6:00 pm, at the Hispano-American Center of Culture.
ALCINA arrives to Cuba
The Cuban version of ALCINA, performed by the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, arrives at the García Lorca Hall of the Great Theater of Havana Alicia Alonso.
With musical direction by Idalgel Marquetti and stage-managed by Luis Ernesto Doñas, the performance of this opera includes the presence of young talents of the Cuban lyric and artists with more experience and public recognition.
Starring the sopranos Johana Simón and Dayana Lorente, who will play the role of the magician ALCINA while the sopranos Cristina Rodríguez and Teresa Yanet Senra, and the countertenor Lesby Bautista, will alternate in the role of RUGGIERO.
ALCINA, by G. F. Händel, is the first baroque large format opera presented on Cuban stages and it is included in the National Lyric Theater’s repertoire.
Synopsis
Magician ALCINA reigns next to its sister MORGANA in an island of pleasures. The passing men, attracted by the apparent beauty of them both, succumb to their charms and then they are transformed into animals, plants and waves. The brave RUGGIERO, is bewitched by ALCINA, who feels really in love for the first time.
BRADAMANTE, RUGGIERO’s fiancé, arrives to the island, under the false identity of RICCIARDO, to recover her fiancé, with the help of his mentor MELISSO.
MORGANA falls in love with the young stranger RICCIARDO, unleashing the jealousy of her boyfriend ORONTE, head of ALCINA’s army.
After discovering the truth and breaking the spell casted on him, ALCINA and MORGANA disappear with their haunted palace and the old and true ALCINA is uncovered, without any power. The stones and the animals are once again the men who came to the island once.
Ancient Music Festival says goodbye to its 12th. Edition
The 12th edition of the Esteban Salas Ancient Music Festival will conclude this Sunday, February 12 at the Old Church of St. Francis de Paola, home of the Ancient Music Group Ars Longa.
With the presentation of the play Golden Age of the oboe and bassoon, performed by the Ensemble Zefiro from Italy, the group of presentations, that enlivened several points of the Historic Center of Havana for a week, will close.
The weekend will also bring other presentations including the Tembembe Ensamble Continuo from México and the New York Baroque Dance Company from USA.
Programming
Friday 10 / 7:00 p.m. / St. Philip Neri Oratory
Music for the feet
Novohispanian music and dance from XVIII century.
–Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, Mexico-
Saturday 11 / 7:00 pm / Teatro Martí
«The pleasures of baroque dance»
Ballroom and theater dances of the XVII and XVIII centuries.
-New York Baroque Dance Company, USA; Ancient Music Group Ars Longa, Cuba; Orchestra of the Higher Institute of Arts attached to the Mozartian Lyceum of Havana, Cuba-
Directed by: Catherine Turocy and Walter Reiter.
Sunday 12 / 7:00 pm / Old Church of St. Francis de Paola (Closing ceremony)
«Golden Age of the Oboe and the Bassoon»
Instrumental compositions of late Baroque.
-Ensemble Zefiro, Italy-
Directed by: Alfredo Bernardini.
The green bulb with music and light
The musical batches of the House of the Green Bulb will continue this weekend with the presentations by Michel Portela, on Friday at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, at the same time, by Yeni Toriño.
Cuban dancer to perform in Russia
Cygne, by Argentine choreographer Daniel Proietto, performed for the first time in the past 25th. International Ballet Festival of Havana Alicia Alonso, will be part of the program that will perform Cuban dancer Daniela Gómez on February 14, at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The young lady will share the stage with prestigious dancers of the hosting company and guests from Bolshoi Ballet Theater and the Opera and Ballet Theater of Perm.
With Cygne, Daniel Proietto, guest dancer and choreographer of the Norwegian National Ballet, has created a new version of Mijaíl Fokín’s The Death of the Swan–performed for the first time by the famous dancer Ana Pávlova- with the intention of highlighting the modern elements in this Russian dancer and choreographer’s work.
La Marca continues the party
La Marca (the brand) continues to celebrate its second anniversary. The Gallery Studio, located at Obrapía Street #108C between Oficios and Mercaderes, Old Havana, has prepared for this week the following activities:
February 10 at 6:00 p.m .: Inauguration of Dystopia Memoria, personal exhibition of the French artist Anaïs Pradal.
February 14 at 8:00 p.m .: Ports, sonorous exhibition by Raymel Casamayor, as part of the event Itinerant voices, organized by Leo Brower’s Office.
February 15 at 8:00 p.m .: Experimental sonorous installation by Dj Jigüe and Iran El Menor. Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of GUAMPARA MUSIC project.
February 18 at 3:00 p.m .: Children’s workshop Chalk in the park taught by the French artist Anaïs Pradal
Lourdes with Havana upon her shoulders
The personal exhibition of photographer Lourdes Guerra Mesa will be officially inaugurated today Friday at 6:00 pm, in the One-Eyed Cat Club of the Cuban capital. With Havana on the shoulders is the title of this exhibition about which the master of photography Rufino del Valle Valdés refers:
“Havana has for years been the city object of worship by artists. His bewitchment entangles, of course, besides its people, its eclectic architecture. It is, next to Cadiz, in Spain, and Verona, in Italy, the city with more porches and columns in the world.
As I expressed once “in addition to the famous phrase of the city of columns, it is also the city of shadows, lines and lights, if we know how to look.”
This old city has been narrated by the Cervantes Prize and seconded, first, with photographs of Paolo Gasparini, later by the Cuban Ramon M. Grandal, then by the Cuban photographer Lissette Solórzano, and now by another woman and also a Cuban photographer Lourdes Guerra.
The well-known essay The City of Columns, by Alejo Carpentier, has inspired this work. Lourdes has been able to find and project a city fragmented from details in columns, corners, stairs, walls or windows, which forces us to think before each work, and then ask us what part of the city it is, or what those lines are.
In this case, the artist strips herself of the traditional “architecture” photographs and looks for a way to project an imprint in which she uses the strength of lines and shadows very strongly, like if she was searching for neofiguration and even reaching abstract works. This is what she calls With Havana on the shoulders, but that city, besides carrying it herself, also preserves it within her internal jurisdiction.
Lourdes, as a sensitive artist and as a faithful passer-by of his city, has been able to approach those old walls and colonial columns, looking for the detail of other epochs, reflecting a formal and structural potential of the intrinsic beauty of an old city in a monochrome tonality, but mainly perishable in time and space.”
In the recent years, Lourdes has specialized herself in photography about dance, theater and architecture and she has participated in more than 40 collective exhibitions, two personal, and she has been awarded several times.
Anette in Snapshots
The collective exhibition Ella will be inaugurated today, Friday at 3:00 pm, at the Museum of the Revolution (Refuge Street #1 between Zulueta and Misiones Avenue, Old Havana), dedicated to Anette Delgado, first dancer of the Cuban National Ballet. The exhibition includes works by artists Luis Alberto Alonso, Graciela Gómez, Paco Bou, Alfredo Cannatello, Golgota and Isabel Santos.
Anette Delgado, began her studies in 1988 at the Alejo Carpentier Provincial Dance School in Havana and continued at the National School of Ballet. As a student, she was awarded with in important competitive events, among them Gold Medal and Best Couple Award in the First International Contest of Ballet Academies, Silver Medal in the Contest of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (1995), Gold Medal and Special Prize to Best Technique and Artistic Work of Style in the 2nd International Contest of Ballet Academies (1996) and Silver Medal and the Best Couple Award in the XVII International Ballet Competition of Varna, Bulgaria (1996). As a student, she participated in cultural exchanges in several cities from Mexico and Italy. Since her graduation in 1996, she joined the cast of the Cuban National Ballet, with technical and artistic direction by Alicia Alonso, a company in which she has performed in numerous countries in America, Europe, Asia, as well as Egypt and Australia. Between 1999 and 2001 she performed as a member of the Young Ballet of France.
Due to her artistic performance, she was promoted to the rank of First Dancer in 2005 and she has participated as a guest artist in several international ceremonies. In several seasons, Anette Delgado has been selected, according to Dance Europe Magazine, among the most outstanding dancers worldwide.
Let’s laugh with The children of the package
ETCétera Comedy Group, led by Guantanamo-born Eider Luis Pérez, will perform for the first time The children of the package at the Covarrubias Hall of the National Theater of Cuba (Paseo St. and 39 St., Plaza de la Revolución, Havana).
The show presents five stories, located in Cuba in the year 2021, which will provide forecasts of the possible behavior of new generations, more informed technologically but less educated…
The functions will be from February 10 to 12, Friday and Saturday at 8.30 pm and Sunday at 5:00 pm.
To live by one’s wits before February 14
The cast of the comedy show To live by one’s wits, advance the Valentine’s Day celebrations to February 11, at the Hialeah Tropical Salon.
Aztec method for Trump-et
In Puebla city, Mexico, the singer-songwriter and comedian Virulo will present this Saturday the show Aztec Method for Trump-et.
The Factory opens a new space
The Cuban Art Factory (FAC) inaugurates the new space Humberto Solás Cinema in Nave 5 where film projections will take place from Thursday to Sunday at 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.
As part of the program, this weekend will be the concert of the singer Adrian Berazain, on Friday at 11:00 p.m. in the concert hall. Recognized within Cuban trova, Adrián has worked with important personalities such as Frank Delgado, Vicente Feliú, Liuba María Hevia, Augusto Blanca, Marta Campos, William Vivanco, David Torrens, Erick Sánchez, et al.
On Saturday at 9:30 p.m. on Nave 3, the plastic artist Yosvany Martínez will present the fashion show My hobby with daring contemporary designs in which he fuses elements, textures and colors in the dresses and the accessories, using traditional techniques of two needles knitting.
At 11:00 pm, singer, composer and arranger Tanya will offer a concert in the Nave 4 and at 12:00 am, international rock covers from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today’s will be enlivening the Santiago Feliú Hall.
On Sunday, several artists, including Roberto Carcassés, X Alfonso, Roberto Luis Gómez, Ernesto Blanco, Rochy, Rodrigo García, Beatrix López, Emilio Peña and Ruly Herrera, et al, will perform a homage concert to Santiago Feliú, at 10:00 pm, and an hour before Rachel Pastor, along with her Contarte project, will continue the presentation of the play And, what have you done?.
Last days in Havana
Last Days in Havana, a film directed by Cuban Fernando Pérez has been selected to participate in the Berlin Film Festival, taking place until next February 19. Awarded with the Special Jury Prize and Best Soundtrack Award at the Havana Latin American Film Festival in last December, the film will be presented in the Berlinale Special section.
Last Days in Havana shows the story of Miguel (45 YO), who dreams of fleeing to New York, waits for a visa that never arrives and works as a dishwasher in a private restaurant. Diego (45 YO) only dreams of living and, deteriorated by the disease of AIDS, releases all his energy with humor, passion and yearnings. There is a contradictory and indestructible friendship between them, sustained by a shared past in which only they know their secrets.
Program
Monday, February 13 at 9:50 pm – CinemaxX 5 (Press Release)
Tuesday, February 14 at 22:30 – International Premiere
Wednesday, February 15 at 18:00 – Cubix 8
Sunday, February 19 at 18:00 -Cubix 8
