Touch of class

The 17th edition of Spring of Culture continues to delight people from across the kingdom with its array of performances, workshops, exhibitions and tours.

The festival, which boasts more than 50 activities, will run until the end of this month. 

* Tonight at 6:30pm, there will be an Application 001: Residency Artist Talk which will explore art residencies as a catalyst for artists' development. 

Venue: Al Riwaq Art Space

* Tonight (Wednesday), the Muharraq Supper Club will stage its second dinner event from 7pm to 10pm at the Archaeologies of Green Pavilion. The event does not require pre-registration and reservation, and diners can enjoy an immersive culinary experience inspired by the food served all over the city of Muharraq, from the house, the Majlis, and its streets.

Chef Yousif Qamber is preparing the contemporary menu that will be a fusion of Bahraini culture with other cultures from around the world. 

Venue: The Archaeologies of Green Pavilion

* On Thursday, popular local band Majaz will perform a selection of their released and unreleased material outdoors, along with interactive musical visuals, from the Unesco Site of Qal’at Al Bahrain. The show, with limited seating and free for all, will start at 8pm.

Venue: Qal’at Al Bahrain Site Museum

* Also tomorrow (March 2), the world-renowned Imperial Russian Ballet (IRB), led by its co-founder Gediminas Taranda, will perform the popular Swan Lake. 

The immortal creation of Pyotr Tchaikovsky will be conducted by acclaimed Maestro Pavel Klinichev of the Bolshoi Theatre. The show, which is in collaboration with  Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority and Common Ground International, runs from 6:30pm to 10pm.

Venue: Grand Hall of the Bahrain World Exhibition Centre in Sakhir

The captivating Swan Lake performance continues the next day (on Friday) in two sittings from 12:30pm to 4pm and then a second show from 6:30pm to 10pm. The venue remains the same.

* There will be a ‘Who Do ARTISTS Produce For— A Round Table Discussion’ by William Wells also on Friday at 6:30pm. Participants will discuss the notion of artist production and the motives that drive them to pursue this field. 

Venue: Al Riwaq Art Space

* Join the Little Archaeologist programme on Saturday from 9am to 11am as children and young adults are introduced to the archaeological pieces and heritage sites of Bahrain. Children will work under the supervision of specialists to find artefacts with tools similar to those used in real restoration operations.

Venue: Qal’at Al Bahrain 

* Those that brought you Swan Lake will be showcasing Sleeping Beauty: Aurora’s Wedding on Saturday as well, designed primarily for young spectators. It will include an open orchestra masterclass. It will consist of ‘sounds of music’, ‘sounds of dance’ and ‘sounds of voice’ for the audience to enjoy. 

The lesson on ‘sounds of music’ will be honoured by director of the Gnesin Academy of Music Professor Alexander Ryzhinsky. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ will take audiences into the enchanting world of ballet, conducted by the acclaimed St Petersburg Maryinsky Theater Maestro Nikolay Khondzinsky.

The show is on at 12:30pm.

Venue: Grand Hall of the Bahrain World Exhibition Centre in Sakhir

* At 6pm on the same day, there will be a series of informal discussions about Muharraq between local, regional, and international urban planners, architects, sociologists, and others in the Muharraq Talks.

The conversations will look into how the city has evolved 10 years after the building of the first two public squares of the Pearling Path and what people can learn from it for the future of its ongoing urban regeneration.

Venue: Pearling Path Squares

* There will also be a traditional musical performance on Saturday at 8pm by the Dar Bin Harban Band. 

Venue: Dar Bin Harban

* On Sunday is the opening of the Treinta caras de la luna exhibition by artist Salah El Meligy. It is a journey to the moon and its phases. His artworks are meticulously drawn in ink on Canson paper in circles with a diameter of 37:60 cm.

The opening is at 7pm  and the exhibit runs until March 23 (from Sunday to Thursday), from 10am to 2pm and 3pm to 6pm. On Saturday, it is open from 3pm to 7pm.

Venue: Art Concept

* A lecture will commence on Monday at 8pm by Tunisian novelist and professor of Arabic and linguistics at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Sousse, Amira Ghoneim, called ‘Women and Citizenship, The Case of Tunisia and Other Examples from The Maghreb Region’. She was nominated for the Arabic Booker Prize for Fiction in 2021 for her novel Staying at the House of the Elite. 

Venue: Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Centre for Culture and Research

* Another lecture will also be conducted on Tuesday at 8pm at the same centre by Manuel Rabaté, the director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi called ‘Louvre Abu Dhabi: Reframing A Universal Museum in the 21st Century’.

* Also at 8pm on Tuesday is the Qawwali Night in collaboration with the Indian Embassy. This energetic musical performance of Islamic Sufi poetry aims to inspire listeners.

Venue: Cultural Hall