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| St Petersburg: home of the White Nights Festival |
There is a huge variety of summer festivals in Europe this year. Here are 10 of the best.
St Petersburg, Russia
White Nights Festival
11 June – 2 July
www.saint-petersburg.com
The world-famous festival owes its name to
the light skies that characterise midsummer nights in the northern latitudes.
Summer visitors to St Petersburg can experience a huge variety of cultural
events; with opera, ballet and classical concerts much in evidence.
Then, when the performance ends, they can step out of venues such as the Mariinsky (Kirov) ballet or the Opera theatre into blue-hued streets.
In 2012 the Stars of the
White Nights Festival opens with a premiere of Boris Godunov, featuring acclaimed
bass-baritone Yeveny Nikitin.
Other featured operas include Aida, Eugene
Onegin, Othello, The Tales of Hoffman, Turandot and Tosca. Ballets include The
Rite of Spring, Romeo and Juliet, Spartacus, The Firebird, Swan Lake and The
Nutcracker.
London, UK
London 2012 Festival
21 June – 9 September
This, say organisers, will be the biggest
festival the UK has ever seen. It would be churlish and probably downright
wrong to disagree.
Coinciding with the Olympic Games and Queen Elizabeth II’s
Diamond Jubilee, the festival encompasses many UK cities and most cultural
genres.
On offer is a huge range of cultural events, from museum exhibitions,
to pop and classical concerts, to stand-up comedy gigs.
The World Shakespeare
Festival is one headline event, with many of the great man’s plays being
performed at venues such as the Globe Theatre – the reconstructed 17th-century
playhouse just across the River Thames from St Paul’s cathedral – and the
diminutive Swan Theatre in Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford upon Avon.
Lyon, France
Tout le Monde Dehors
21 June – 4 September
Lyon’s major summer event translates as
‘The whole world outside’ or ‘Everybody out’ and it aims to provide a wide
selection of cultural attractions across the city.
With its two rivers (the
Rhône and Saône) and hill-top old town, the French city is a very pleasant
summer destination in its own right, with the sort of summer climate that
encourages outside living.
The festival comprises around 250 free shows and
includes cinema performances in city squares, folk dance displays and street
theatre.
Shows also take place in the atmospheric setting of the city’s
medieval passageways and courtyards – known as traboules – which provide a
historic and intimate backdrop.
Athens, Greece
Athens-Epidaurus Festival
22 June – 31 July
Running from over the course of several
summer weeks, the festival has now been part of Europe’s cultural calendar for
well over 50 years.
It is perhaps most famous for having as one of its
principal venues the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, which dates back to the 4th
century BC.
It’s an appropriate place for thousands of spectators to watch
actors stage productions of plays by the literary greats of ancient Greece.
On
offer for 2012 are plays by the likes of Sophocles and Aristophanes. The latter
have been adapted, say organisers, to reflect the tricky position in which
contemporary Greece finds itself.
Madrid, Spain
Veranos de la Villa
July 2012
Madrid’s annual summer party comprises
performances of opera, plays, classical and pop music, flamenco dancing and
more.
Various venues are used, such as cuartel del Conde Duque for concerts and
dance shows and La Muralia Arabe for theatre performances.
The latter is a
length of 9th-century wall near the Almudena cathedral that can trace its
origins back to the Arab occupation of the city. Events are also staged in the
Sabatini Gardens; the ornate, formal combination of lawns, fountains and
statuary that surround Madrid’s royal palace.
At least 150 separate shows are
scheduled to take place as part of the festival.
Barcelona, Spain
The Grec Festival
1 July – 31 July
The Grec Festival has been the highlight of
Barcelona’s summer cultural programme since the 1980s. As well as providing
entertainment for visitors and locals alike, it also looks to provide a
showcase for home-grown (in this case Catalonian) artists and performers.
The
festival takes its names from one of its principal venues, the Theatre Grec,
which was originally built in 1929 for the Universal Exhibition.
Today, though,
events are staged in many other places around the city. As well as theatre,
music and dance shows, the Grec is also renowned for its circus displays, with
acrobats and trapeze artists among those impressing with their sinuous skills.
Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg Festival
20 July – 2 September
For a veritable outpouring of high culture,
few events can compare with Austria’s Salzburg festival.
It can trace its roots
back to 1920, although Salzburg has been a cultural hotspot for much longer
than that – beginning as a venue for passion and mystery plays in the Middle
Ages and encompassing the short but meteoric career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(who lived here).
Taking place against the backdrop of flower-spangled
mountains and winding medieval streets, the festival this year brings together
the likes of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras and productions
include The Magic Flute, Peer Gynt and La Bohème.
Be warned, though, some of
the concerts are already sold out so it’s worth going online to check
availability.
Lisbon, Portugal
Ocean Festival
30 July-13 August
http://www.festivaldosoceanos.com/
The Portuguese capital offers many
different festivals during the summer, with theatre, food, music and ballet all
represented.
Also worth a look is the annual magic festival that brings
magicians and their tricks and sleights of hand to the city’s boulevards and
squares.
Perhaps the event that most hits the true pulse of Lisbon, though, is
the Ocean Festival – a celebration of the sea and the city’s maritime heritage
that is staged at sites overlooking the river Tagus and, sometimes, on the
river itself.
The firework display that concludes festivities is arguably the
most dramatic event of the city’s summer.
Berlin, Germany
Tanz im August
11-26 August
Berlin’s contemporary dance festival was
founded in 1989 and, over the years, has provided absorbing, sometimes
controversial, entertainment for fans of the genre.
Its programme is not
finalised until June, but it tends to bring together numerous performers who
strut their stuff at venues across the city.
The Podewil arts centre near Alexanderplatz
is generally one of the more important centres for the festival, but more
impromptu events can also be found being staged on and around Alexanderplatz
itself.
Given the square’s former role as a place of military parades, there is
something rather progressive in that.
August is traditionally a time when some
of Berlin’s clubs and arts venues close their doors for summer and the dance
festival serves to fill any gaps in the city’s cultural life.
Frankfurt, Germany
Museumsuferfest
24-26 August
Frankfurt may be famous for its status as
one of Europe’s leading financial centres, but it’s also home to some of
Germany’s best museums.
For three days in August these become the focus of attention as the so-called Museum Embankment, on the banks of the River Main, plays host to live performances, art and craft stands and food stalls.
Also worth seeing are the firework displays which are centred on the bridges that span the river. The museums, meanwhile, stay open late into the evening to let art lovers indulge themselves. The pick of the bunch is probably the Städel, one of Europe’s finest and most all-encompassing art collections.
For three days in August these become the focus of attention as the so-called Museum Embankment, on the banks of the River Main, plays host to live performances, art and craft stands and food stalls.
Also worth seeing are the firework displays which are centred on the bridges that span the river. The museums, meanwhile, stay open late into the evening to let art lovers indulge themselves. The pick of the bunch is probably the Städel, one of Europe’s finest and most all-encompassing art collections.
Five Unexpected Treats
Riga Opera Festival, Riga, Latvia
In June the Latvian capital hosts some of
the world’s greatest opera singers who put on some of the world’s finest
operas.
Culture Night, Vilnius, Lithuania
On 16 and 17 June Lithuanians celebrate
midsummer with torchlit parades, laser shows and musical productions.
St Juan Festival, Girona, Spain
An annual celebration (23 June) that is
marked by bonfires, fireworks, dancing and the eating of traditional cake –
called coca de San Juan.
Varna Summer International Jazz Festival,
Varna, Bulgaria
Jazz performers and enthusiasts from across
the world converge on the Bulgarian city in July.
Odessa International Film Festival, Odessa,
Ukraine
First staged in 2010, this event aims to
showcase the best in eastern European film. It runs from 13-21 July.
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