Cultural entertainment on lockdown

As we are part way through the lockdown now some people may be missing seeing art and cultural performances. Others may want to start to experience some of the beautiful performances that are being offered online. So, for one night or a whole weekend why not switch off the news and tune into one of these.

Opera

Nightly Opera Stream
The Metropolitan Opera. Every night, 7.30pm EDT (12.30am Spain). Free.
While the MET is closed due to the epidemic it will be screening presentations from the Live An HD series of cinema transmissions. Each transmission will remain available on www.metopera.org for 23 hours.

Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House. The ROH have announced a programme of full-length productions which will be broadcast over Facebook and YouTube. 7pm GMT (8pm Spain).
The programme includes both ballet and opera and the schedule can be found on facebook.com/royaloperahouse or https://www.youtube.com/user/RoyalOperaHouse
17 April. The Metamorphosis. A contemporary piece by Arthur Pita, created on Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, Edward Watson. It is based on the novella by Franz Kafka, about how one family reacts when their son wakes up, transformed into a monstrous insect.

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Ballet

Ballet Malandain De Biarritz
The prestigious Ballet Malandain is now on YouTube with short extracts of choreography from some classical and modern ballets.

Marie Antoinette
The ballet company’s most recent success was Marie Antoinette with music by composers Hadyn and Glück of which a 14-minute fragment is now available on Vimeo. Finf Ballet Malandain de Biarritz on YouTube and Vimeo.
World Ballet Day
The Bolshoi Ballet. The World Ballet Day filmed live from Moscow can be seen on YouTube.
The Bolshoi Ballet are shown in the video during rehearsals with interviews with some of the teachers and dancers translated into English. There are many other videos of other performances available.
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Museum tours

Musée de la Musique

Philharmonie de Paris
Philharmonie de Paris. Virtual tours of the extensive collection of instruments and artefacts that form part of the collection held by the Paris Philharmonic.
The collection is divided into various categories such as keyboard, string and wind as well as percussion, electronic and other instruments. There are also art works including portraits of Stradivari and Fender and an archive containing documents and bills signed by Beethoven etc. The site allows previous exhibitions such as that of Charlie Chaplin to be viewed. www.collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr

Palace tour
Le Chateau Versailles. A virtual tour of how the Versaille palace evolved.
The Versaille palace started life as a hunting lodge and was converted into a sumptuous chateau under Louis XIII, XIV, XV and finally Louis XVI. The video shows the gradual changes made to the buildings under each monarch. http://www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir

Collections and Louvre Palace
Louvre. Visit the museum’s rooms and galleries and discover how the palace was built and for whom.
The Louvre is famous worldwide as an art gallery but few know it was originally built as a fortress complete with a moat and drawbridge. Now it houses an amazing selection of art as well as Egyptian antiquities. https://www.louvre.fr/

Concerts

Recordings of live concerts
Philharmonie de Paris. The orchestra has released several of its past performances.
The web page https://live.philharmoniedeparis.fr/concert has a selection of eight concerts which can be watched online.

The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band.The band play the ‘Floral Dance from their own living rooms. Video is also on their Facebook page. www.brighouseandrastrick.com/the-brighouse-and-rastrick-band-present-a-concert-in-the-living-room/.

Conciertos en Casa.

Iris Nieto new website listing concerts online around the world.
The website lists the concerts, where and when they are being streamed and information on the performers. If you subscribe, information is sent straight to your email address. https://www.conciertosencasa.com/

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Exhibitions

Contemporary Art
Museo de Arte Contempóraneo de Bogotá. The Contemporary Art Museum in Bogotá has a virtual tour of its installations.

Chanoir
Using videos and images, the museum takes the virtual visitor through the different galleries of exhibitions examining the works of Colombian-French artist Chanoir and Joemz among others. http://www.mac.org.co/
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Heritage art
Google Arts & Culture. Some of the world’s most famous museums and galleries on the planet can now be visited without leaving home.
Clicking on the arrows you can move around in the pictures looking at the rooms from different angles and getting up close to the art works. The choice of places to visit is too many to list here. https://artsandculture.google.com/

Multimedia visits

Museo Reina Sofía. The museum has several web sites where its art works can be viewed.
A large number of videos and audios (in Spanish) of tours around the museum and particular collections can be found online with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo and TouTube. https://www.museoreinasofia.es/

Art and Culture at home
Twitter A huge range of art and culture is available on Twitter. Public administrations, galleries, companies and private artists are using twitter to stream their art collections. #laculturaentucasa

Picasso En Casa
Museo Picasso Málaga. The Picasso Museum is presenting its main exhibition online with an audio-guide in English.
The exhibition Genealogías del Arte, o la Historia del Arte Como Arte Visual includes works by Picasso, Cézanne, Kandinsky and Malevich. It is accompanied by a narrative in Spanish or English and the virtual visitor can also listen to a selection of 30s jazz. The museum web page also has information on past exhibitions such as Warhol. https://masdearte.com/especiales/picassoencasa/

Art explained

Museo Del Prado. Each day the Prado museum is uploading a video.
One of its many works of art is chosen each day for an in depth study. The museum also offers free (90€ with certification) online courses. The courses available are El Bosco and Velázquez en el Museo del Prado. https://www.museodelprado.es/

Art collections
Pinacoteca Di Brera Collection. The gallery has several of the greatest masterpieces in the history of art anywhere in the world.
The art collection online is divided into centuries starting from 1300-1400AD up to the present. A box in the right- hand corner allows you to scrutinise areas of the paintings up close. https://pinacotecabrera.org/

Latest exhibitions online
Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga. The museum has recorded 360º videos of some of its most recent exhibitions.
Virtual visits of exhibitions such as Fortuny Grabador and Fantasía Árabe, Henri Matisse, Jazz and Sorolla are available as well as a look at the permanent collection at www.carmenthyssenmalaga.org/visitas-virtuales

Painting by painting
Museo de Málaga. The museum’s web page gives a detailed description of each work of art.
Each unique piece of art has a story which is explained. Open the web page below and click on Obras Singulares www.museosdeandalucia.es/web/museodemalaga

Hypervisions
Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi.The Uffizi Art Gallery is inviting people to discover its collections and history through pictures and descriptions (in English).
The huge collection is divided up into various sections. Factories of Stories is slightly different than the others as each picture has a narrative with it although none in English (Spanish, Italian, French, Arabic, Farsi and Mandarin). https://www.uffizi.it
Lectures
Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series
The National Gallery Of Art. The series gives distinguished artists an opportunity to discuss the evolution of their work in their own words.
The lectures available include artist Alex Katz, Zoe Leonard and Thomas Struth as well as many other artists. https://www.nga.gov/
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Charity

Online quiz
ADANA. The Animal charity ADANA is trying to raise funds with a virtual quiz.
Register for a whole week of brain training by visiting https://www.virtualquizevents.co.uk and once registered, you can search for the ADANA quizzes from the Available Quiz events section. You can sign up for each event that you would like to attend and pay by credit card if you don’t want enter your bank details. Games start at 7pm GMT or 8PM CET.

Statue quiz
Axarquía Animal Rescue. Match the title to the statue for charity.

Garden statue quiz
Los Perros have numbered and named twenty-two garden statues and all competitors have to do is match the name to the statue. Entry is a donation to the animal charity and the prize for the winner is lunch or supper for up to four people at Los Perros near Comares (obviously after the current Covid-19 health scare is over). https://comares.webs.com/statuecompetition

Let us know what your favourites have been and once the lockdown is over plan to visit some of this beautiful places in person.