The Dictator - Sacha Baron Cohen

‘The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.’ The film raises some laughs, often in spite of yourself but the only really bit of decent satire was when he (The Dictator) lists the advantages of America becoming a dictatorship – tortured foreign suspects, fixed elections, 1% of the population own virtually all the wealth of the country etc … all of which has already happened of course.

Bauhaus:art as life - Barbican

Following the route around this exhibition of the modernist design school I passed some Bauhaus furniture and overheard a eight or nine year old say the immortal line to his parents 'it's just like IKEA'. His well-spoken and obviously proud Father explained why this may be so and congratulated him on a good observation. I know what the boy meant and I think that's why this exhibition didn't grab me in the way some previous Bauhaus related exhibitions have such as the Albers/Moholy-Nagy and Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde at Tate Modern. The Bauhaus is now another part of our modern, consumerist world with the obligatory shop with buying opportunities.

Afterwards I treated myself to a coffee from Costa, the hugely profitable coffee wing of Whitbread which has a concession at the Barbican (£2.15 for a small latte although you mustn't actally call it 'sml' of course). Sitting outside in the sun the Barbican is undeniably beautiful, the flats with flowers drapped over their balconies look like a modern day Hanging Gardens of Babylon, modernist social housing from the sixties/seventies that actually work. Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, would've been proud although unfortunately, because of its success the Barbican is now out of the reach of anyone on an ordinary wage of course.

Pharos Arts Foundation

International Chamber Music Festival
Friday 25 May / Royal Manor House, Kouklia / 8:30pmWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Flute Quartet No.3 in C, K.285b (1778)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –1847)
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 (1839) arrangement for flute
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 (1861)
We were fortunate enough to be in Cyprus for the second year in a row during the Pharos Arts Foundation's annual international chamber music festival. This acclaimed festival brings together world class musicians for a range of truly luscious chamber music concerts in amazingly atmospheric venues, including The Royal Manor House at Kouklia, a medieval monument on the site of Aphrodite's Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site dating back over 3,500 years. Other venues include the open air at The Olive Grove at Delikipos, and the Shoe Factory in the heart of old Nicosia.

After a lovely meal in the village of Kouklia, we walked up in the golden evening light through the ruins of Aphrodite's Temple, with a view to the sea to the right. The opening piece, Mozart's flute quartet no 3 reflected the usual genius of Mozart, despite the fact that apparently he wasn't overly enamoured of the flute as an instrument! As the music progressed through the evening it also progressed through history: it was noticeable how much more romantic the pieces became in the 19th century, and this was wonderfully reflected in the sheer passion with which these wonderful musicians played. Interestingly they included Levon Chilingirian, one of the founders of the Chilingirian Quartet and a son of Cyprus through Armenian parentage.

The interval drinks were served in the courtyard of the Manor House, atmospherically lit and dominated by a magnificent tree in the centre. The event had the peculiar intimacy of Cyprus cultural events of old, where many in the audience knew each other, well, a little, or even just by sight.

The music-making was of the highest standard, and with the musicians milling about in the courtyard too, it was particularly interesting to see pianist Ashley Wass having a last quiet look at the Brahms score under the tree in the gloaming, minutes before he was due to play it. And play it he did, with depth and agility matched by the four string players.

A magical evening thanks to the Pharos Arts Foundation, which punches well above its weight in the world of the arts. We are coveting a visit to the Olive Grove at Delikipos! and wondering about the extent to which the Pharos schedule of events will play a part in the timing of our future visits to Cyprus...

For more like this, see: http://www.thepharostrust.org/about.htm. And for Pharos in the BBC Music Magazine's Festival Guide see the very end of: http://www.classical-music.com/festival-guide-2012#international_pharos_chamber_music_festival

Musicians:
Mozart: Emmanuel Pahud / flute, Levon Chilingirian / violin, Philip Dukes / viola, Tim Park / cello
Mendelssohn: Emmanuel Pahud / flute, Ashley Wass / piano, Alexander Chaushian / cello
Brahms: Ashley Wass / piano, Levon Chilingirian / violin, Maya Avramovic / violin, Philip Dukes / viola, Tim Park / cello

Jeff Cox - What's going on?

The Stone Space, Leytonstone, E11

A most enjoyable exhibition of Jeff Cox's small abstract/figurative paintings in an intimate Leytonstone gallery.

http://thestonespace.wordpress.com/

Ray Bradbury 1919-2012

Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 45, has died aged 91. Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favourite science fiction books (and a very good film) about a society where firemen don't put out fires, they start them in order to burn books.