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Visual Arts

Cuando Crucemos el Océano, 14 Visiones de la Mujer

10TH BIENNIAL ART EXHIBITION OF HAVANA, 2009 INTEGRATION AND RESISTANCE IN THE GLOBAL ERA

The most important event of the visual arts in Cuba will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Over 300 artists from 54 countries will be present with projects and works from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia that will deal with participation strategies in a global world and the resistance to trends that aspire to impose themselves over local, regional and individual characteristics. In response to the slogan of the 10th Biennial—Integration and Resistance in the Global Era—the 120 personal and group exhibitions, spread all over the city of Havana, including the suburbia, focus on the fundamental problems that under the local-regional-global tensions affect the world today.

GENERAL PROGRAM

Music

	Festival Internacional del Son Matamoroson Heredia Theatre and Casa de la Trova, Santiago de Cuba	1-5 April / 2009
	This festival is held in Santiago de Cuba, the birthplace of son, as a tribute to one ofg the most representative figures of traditional Cuban music, Miguel Matamoros. The meeting, which promotes the development of popular dance music, also holds workshops, lectures and theoretical meetings, plus concerts and dance exhibitions as its main attractions.

	Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís Oficios y Churruca, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 9683	6:00 pm / 2009
	4 April: Promúsica, a duet composed by María Victoria del Collado (piano) and Alfredo Muñoz (violin), will perform works by four greats of classical music: Handel, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. 9 April: The Coro Polifónico, directed by Carmen Collado, will celebrate its 9th anniversary with a recital from the best of its repertory. 11 April: Two excellent duets—D’Accord (with Marita Rodríguez at the piano and Vicente Monterrey at the clarinet), and Ondina, with the flutist Niurka González and the pianist María del Henar Navarro, will perform works by the Baroque composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Handel; by the French composer exponent of Classicism, Francois Devien; and by two representatives of the American Modern Age, the Brazilian and Cuban composers, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Jorge López Marín, respectively. 15 April: Present day works from the American continent will be performed as part of the Latin American Composition Prize, organized by Casa de las Américas. 17 April: A musical meeting by the Coro Sinfónico Infantil de Querétaro (Mexico) and the Coro Estrellitas, part of the Schola Cantorum Coralina (Cuba). 18 April: Performance by the quintet Ventus Habana on the occasion of its 5th anniversary.

	Premio de Composición CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS Calle 3ra. esquina a G, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 838 2706-09 TEATRO AMADEO ROLDÁN Calzada y D, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4521-22	20-24 April / 2009
	Aimed at promoting and disseminating the most recent symphonic, chamber and choral music compositions, the third edition of the Composition Award will be dedicated this year to works for string quartets. As part of the activities, the Casa de las Américas has organized the 1st Latin American Workshop on Composition, with a program that includes concerts, lectures, commented auditions and invited papers with the participation of outstanding Caribbean and Latin American composers. Besides cash prizes, the winners will be able to perform, publish and record the prized compositions.

	Oratorio San Felipe Neri Aguiar esquina a Obrapía, Old Havana	7:00pm / 2009
	Performance of great works by the Baroque giant as part of the Bach Festival, sponsored by the Mozart Lyceum of Havana, the Higher Institute of Arts and the City Historian’s Office: 6 April: The entire repertory of Bach’s concerts for keyboard and orchestra will be performed for the first time in Cuba. 7 April: Six partitas for harpsichord, Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue and French Overture.

	El Jardín de la Gorda Centro Iberoamericano de la Décima Calle A entre 25 y 27, El Vedado	Third Sunday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2009
	Sara González, emblematic voice of the Cuban Nueva Trova, has resumed her monthly gatherings where the audiences can enjoy, in an informal atmosphere, the performances of some of the best Cuban troubadours.

	Peña de Manuel Argudín Agencia Cubana de Derecho de Autor Musical Calle 6 entre 15 y 13, El Vedado	Last Saturday of the month, 6:00 pm / 2009
	At troubadour Manuel Argudín’s monthly gatherings, anything is possible: from the active participation of a member of the audience to an impromptu performance by concert pianist Frank Fernández.

	Peña de Rochy Balneario Universitario El Coral Calle 1ra. esquina a 42, Miramar	Last Thursday of the month, 8:30 pm / 2009
	Performance by Cuban singer Rochy with her group and guests.

	Concierto Abierto Sala Villena Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551 al 53	Last Thursday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2009
	Concert and electroacoustic music for soloists and chamber music ensembles, under the direction of Guido López Gavilán.

	Maxim Rock Bruzón 62, entre Almendares y Ayestarán, Plaza de la Revolución Tel. +(53) 7 877 5925	April, 8:00 am-12:00 pm / 2009
	Sponsored by the Cuban Rock Agency, long-standing and recently created Cuban rock bands, plus international guests will perform throughout the month in an informal ambience for die-hard rock fans. Wed 1 Doble A / Viento Solar Thu 2 Anima Mundi / Punkasila (Indonesia) Fri 3 Qva Libre / No Te Va a Gustar (Uruguay) Sat 4 X Alfonso / No Te Va a Gustar Wed 8 Mágnum / Replay Thu 9 Magical Beat / Kill the Fish Fri 10 Zeus / Switch Sat 11 Tesis de Menta Wed 15 Médula / Darkness Fall Thu 16 Chlover / Kill the Fish Sat 18 Extraño Corazón / Odisea Fri 17 Agonizer / Dead Point Wed 22 Rice and Beans / Blood Heresy Thu 23 Aria / The Shepal Fri 24 Hipnosis / Estigma Sat 25 Escape and guests Wed 29 Video Rockoteca Maxim Thu 30 Combat Noise / Mortuory

	Conciertos de Dimensión Vertical El Sauce Calle 9na. entre 120 y 130, Playa Tel. +(53) 7 204 7061	Sundays, 4:00 pm / 2009
	Dimensión Vertical, one of the oldest Cuban rock bands who insist on reproducing, the same as 40 years ago, hit songs by famous British and US rock bands of the 60s and 70s, make up, together with their middle-aged fans, a sort of Jurassic Park.

	Peña de Los Kents Café Cantante, Teatro Nacional Calle Paseo y 39, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 870 4651	Sundays, 4:00 pm / 2009
	Los Kents, another “dinosaur” of Cuban rock, play their own hits from the 60s.

	Peña de Heydi Igualada Palacio del Segundo Cabo O'Reilly 4, esquina a Tacón, La Habana Vieja	Last Saturday of the month, 4:00 pm / 2009
	One of the most beautiful voices of the Cuban trova, almost always accompanied by very special guests, covers the best of the Cuban trova repertory of all time.

	Tardes del Jazz Hurón Azul, Unión de escritores and Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Second Thursday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2009
	Jam sessions with important Cuban jazz musicians and bands.

	Peña de Rembert Duharte Jardines del teatro Mella Línea entre A y B, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 4987	Last Friday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2009
	The young jazz musician Rembert Duharte plays the different forms of Cuban jazz.

	Noche de Boleros Hurón Azul, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Saturdays, 9:00 pm / 2009
	Lovers of this romantic genre par excellence have the opportunity of meeting and enjoying the performances of the best Cuban boleristas.

	Presentación de Frank Delgado Cine Riviera Calle 23 entre F y G, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 9564	4 April, 12:00 am / 2009
	Concert by one of the most popular exponents of “intelligent song” in Cuba, composer of the emblematic Río Quibú and Embajadora del sexo.

Theatre

	Huevos Sala Adolfo Llauradó Calle 11 entre D y E, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 5573	Fri and Sat, 8:30 pm; Sun, 5:00 pm / 2009
	Directed by Tony Díaz, who has staged this play by the outstanding Cuban playwright Ulises Rodríguez Febles as a musical, the Mefisto Teatro company presents this retrospective inquiry into the events that took place in 1980 during the exodus via Mariel and the deplorable “acts of repudiation” where many people threw eggs at the people who had decided to leave the country.

	La travesía de Byron Sala Hubert de Blanck Calzada 657 entre A y B, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 1011	Fri and Sat, 6:00 pm; Sun, 5:00 pm / 2009
	The Hubert de Blanck theater company, directed by Orietta Medina, premieres La travesía de Byron [Byron’s Travels] by the renowned Cuban Esther Suárez Durán, in which the eventful journey of a young woman and her dog serves as pretext to depict conflicts, customs and lifestyles of Cubans today.

	Final de partida [Fin de Partie] Sala Argos Teatro Ayestarán 307 esquina a 20 de Mayo, El Cerro Tel. +(53) 7 878 5551	De viernes a domingos, a las 8;30 pm / 2009
	Directed by Carlos Celdrán and with the impeccable performances which characterize this theater company, Argos Teatro premieres one of Samuel Becket’s masterpieces. According to the program, “Samuel Beckett wrote Fin de Partie after the success of his play En Attendant Godot…Fin de Partie revalidated Becket’s reputation as a playwright, and after its premiere at the London Royal Court Theater in 1957, the play became a classic of the theatre of the absurd…The unspeakable nature of power relations, its mystery and its ritual of guilt, blackmail, demand, pardon, manipulation, the unforgiving self-examination, intimate and unmentionable in public, of Hamm, the decadence and decline; Clov’s lack of strength, which prevents him from leaving, are some of the topics that have disturbed us the most when seeking to grasp their meaning.”

	Actrices Sala Teatro El Sótano Calle K entre 25 y 27, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 0630	Fri-Sat, 8:30 pm; Sun, 5:00 pm / 2009
	The National Council of Drama, the Havana Theatre Centre and the Rita Montaner theatre company present Actrices [Actresses] by the Catalan dramatist Josep M. Benet i Jornet, performed by Adria Santana (Hubert de Blanck theatre company), Paula Alí (Teatro El Público), Oneida Hernández (ACTUAR Agency) and Yanell Gómez (Rita Montaner theatre company). The inquiries made by a young woman on a famous stage actress lead her to three other—also famous—actresses who new her, triggering surprising confessions which laid bare greatness and human miseries.

Dance

	Compañía de Santiago Alfonso Teatro Mella Línea entre A y B, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 4987	23-26 April, 8:30 pm / 2009
	The Santiago Alfonso dance company celebrates its 5th anniversary with a show that will include a selection of the most representative pieces of their repertory, which combines modern and contemporary dance, theatre and popular dances with a renovating and experimental spirit.

	Encuentro Internacional de Academias de Ballet Gran Teatro de La Habana	5-18 April / 2009
	Organized for the first time in 1993, this meeting of ballet academies has made it possible for dancers, teachers and students to become familiar with the technical and stylistic peculiarities of the Cuban School of Ballet through workshops, courses, and methodological and master lessons. Similarly, dancers and pedagogues from other countries have conveyed their experiences in a fruitful exchange with their Cuban colleagues. In addition, since 1995, an international competition for students is held in different categories (13-14, 15-16 and 17-18 years old) and four prizes are awarded: revelation, best partners, best individual performance and the Grand Prix.

	Festival Internacional de Danza en Paisajes Urbanos: “Habana Vieja, Ciudad en Movimiento” Historical Centre of Havana	15-19 April, plazas, streets and institutions in Old Havana / 2009
	This unique International Urban Dance Festival “Old Havana, City in Motion” was first held in 1996 in two or three small museums located in Havana’s Historical Centre, eventually bringing into play most of the institutions, plazas and streets of Old Havana. Aiming to link dance choreography with the visual and expressive nature of the old city, as well as seeking to interact with passers-by, the event, organized by the Retazos Dance Company directed by dancer and choreographer Isabel Bustos, is attended by hundreds of foreign and Cuban guests.

	La bella durmiente del bosque Gran Teatro de La Habana Prado y San Rafael, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 861 3077-79	16-19, 23-26 April, Thu-Sat, 8:30 pm; Sun, 5:00 pm / 2009
	The Ballet Nacional de Cuba announces a promising season in which young figures will dance the famous ballet The Sleeping Beauty choreographed by Alicia Alonso, based on Marius Petipa’s choreography with music by Tchaikovsky’s.

	Festival de Ruedas de Casino Plazas, parks and dance halls throughout the country	4 y 5 April / 2009
	The island will become a giant dance floor in which members of the Art Instructors Brigade and experts from the National Council of Culture Centres will give lessons to anyone who wishes to learn or improve their skills in this popular figure dance, born in Cuba during the 1960s and still very popular among dancers, young and old.

	VI Festival de Danzón Habana 2009 ASOCIACIÓN CARIBEÑA DE CUBA Calle 41 esquina a 58, Marianao CASA BALEAR Calle G esquina a 23, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 4524 CENTRO HISPANO AMERICANO DE CULTURA Malecón 17 entre Prado y Genio, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 860 6282 HOTEL RIVIERA Calle Paseo esquina a Malecón, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 836 4051 SOCIEDAD UNIÓN FRATERNAL Revillagigedo esquina a Misión, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 863 4860 Teatro Amadeo Roldán Calzada y D, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4521 al 22 TEATRO AMÉRICA Galiano entre Concordia y Neptuno, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 862 5416	Through 5 April / 2009
	Focused on the danzón, a rhythmical musical and dance form born in the city of Matanzas in the second half of the 19th century, the competition will gather dance couples who are expert danzón dancers, including many from Mexico where, surprisingly, it is more alive than in Cuba. The festival will include the performance of traditional danzón bands, workshops, colloquiums, and gatherings for popular dancing. COMPLETE PROGRAM

Cinema

	Festival Internacional de Cine Pobre Gibara, Province of Holguín	13-19 April / 2009
	Since 2003, the International Low-Budget Film Festival has been held in the small town of Gibara close to the eastern city of Holguín. Besides the competition itself, which awards prizes for fiction and documentary films, there are also meetings, concerts, recitals and art exhibitions. The festival guarantees a broad range of approach and topics, aspiring to become an alternative to commercial filmmaking—promoting artistic quality with production costs kept to a minimum. Founded by the late Humberto Solás, one of the greats of Cuban cinema, a number of films by long-standing Cuban filmmakers, including Enrique Pineda Barnet and Tomás Piard will be competing. One particular film that will enter the competition is Ernesto Daranas’ Los dioses rotos, which was not only winner of the Popularity Prize during the last International Havana Film Festival, but also won critical acclaim thanks to its exploration into the “dark” zones of Cuban society—marginalization, prostitution and sex trafficking.

A PREVIEW OF THE COMING MONTHS

Festival Internacional del Son Matamoroson

Romerías de Mayo
2-8 May
Holguín

Continuing a tradition that dates back to colonial times, in 1993 a group of young artists decided to organize these romerías with the arrival of Spring. The event is presided over by the Hacha Taína (the Taino Axe) and the Cruz de Madera (the Wooden Cross), symbols of the mixture of elements that constitute the Cuban culture. Following this spirit, every year musicians, actors, researchers, artists, writers and dancers come together to share their artistic endeavour during intense days and nights in which the diversity of their propositions is exhibited. During the festival, which was held for the first time at the foot of the cross which Father Antonio Alegría placed on 3 May, 1790 at the top of a hill, 275 metres above sea level, Cuban and international artists will join the locals to enjoy a marathon

Encuentro Internacional de Academias de Ballet

	Premio La Joven Estampa 31 May to 7 June Casa de las Américas 3ra. y G, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 838 2706 al 09
	Organized by Casa de las Américas, La Joven Estampa Prize (considered the only prize of its kind in Latin America) brings together engravers under 35 years of age, born or naturalized in the continent. The event includes exhibitions, lectures, and workshops on the art of engraving.

Festival La Huella de España
13-19 April
Gran Teatro de La Habana and other venues in Havana

Founded in 1989 by Cuba’s prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso, this festival (literally, “Spanish Imprint Festival”), while acknowledging both traditional and contemporary Spanish cultural influence on the island, is nonetheless very Cuban. Cuban and Spanish soloists, theatre companies, dance ensembles and music groups perform at the Gran Teatro de La Habana as well as in the Plaza de Armas and the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, both enduring testimonies of previous Hispanic presence in the city.

Festival Internacional de Danza en Paisajes Urbanos: “Habana Vieja, Ciudad en Movimiento”

Cubadisco 2009
16-24 May
Different areas in Havana

Nothing to do with discotheques, this fair was begun in 1997 as a way to bring to national and international attention what the Cuban recording industry has been up to. This year, Puerto Rico is the Fair’s special guest country, and tributes will be paid to outstanding Puerto Rican musicians, including Rafael Hernández, Tité Curet Alonso, Pedro Flores, Bobby Capó and Daniel Santos. Traditional music genres from Puerto Rico, such as bomba, plena, danza and seis, will be heard during the event for the enjoyment of all. Important Cuban musicians and bands will also receive due recognition: the bands Van Van and Aragón, and musicians Benny Moré, Barbarito Diez and Rodrigo Prats. The central theme of Cubadisco 2009 will be "Music and Children", underlining the significance of music in moulding a child’s personality and sensitivity.

	XIV Festival Internacional de Poesía 25-30 May Havana
	Dedicated to the poetry of the Middle East and Maghreb, over 100 poets from every continent will meet during the 14th International Poetry Festival, in which the Meeting of Poets in Defense of Humanity will also take place. A seminary on Arab literatures, readings and art exhibitions will also be held.