RCK Fundraising Cultural Day, Nov 27 2010 @ Splash Waterworld

The Refugee Consortium of Kenya organises a fun day fundraising event to be held on the 27th November.
This is an effort by the organization to fundraise in support in the resettlement process of IDPs who are still living in tents despite the government’s operation rudi nyumbani.

Tickets are available for 2000/= which includes meals, 500/= is
for entry only while 800/= is for children.

Concert: Chopin Bicentenary Celebrations, Nov. 16 2010 @ Alliance


Embassy of Poland presents the Polish pianist, Mateusz Kolakowski

Date: November 16, 2010
Venue: Alliance Française auditorium
Time: 7pm
Entrance: Free

Early this year, Poland launched the Chopin Year to mark the 200th anniversary of the celebrated composer Frederic Chopin, with events in Poland and abroad.
In May, on the occasion of the European Film Festival, the Embassy of Poland presented a piano recital by the Polish pianist, Mariusz Drope. To conclude the Chopin Year, the Polish Embassy has invited the young pianist, Mateusz Kolakowski, a laureate of ‘Virtuosi per music di pianoforte’ in the Czech Republic and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in the US. He is also winner of the 2002 ‘Jazz Fryderyk’ prize, awarded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and the ‘Most Promising Pianist’ at the Martial Solal Competition in Paris.
He is currently studying classical piano at the Music Academy of Katowice in Poland.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krge6YvGFeA]

Mateusz Kolakowski’s Discography
Triology-‘Presence’-Livingroom Records (USA,2000)
’14th Spring’-Jazz Forum Records (2003)
‘ad LiBiTuM-1st Warsaw Jazz Concert’ (2007)
Mateusz Kolakowski & Dave Liebman ‘Live at Jazz Standard’ (Fenommedia 2009)

Kwani? Litfest 2010, Dec. 4-10 2010

The 2010 edition of Kwani? Literature Festival comprises of lectures, conversations, panels, readings and workshops that explore the practical aspects of African writing and literary life between successive literary generations. These conversations will also extend to recapturing what is considered a literary temporal black hole – the 80s and 90s when writing seemed to have dried in the continent, and a fledgling present.

Festival Programme to follow shortly -Check  Kwani? website for details!

Ps: Once the program is out NairobiNow will publish it.

The Life & Music of Vincenzo Bellini, Nov 18 2010 @ Italian Institute of Culture

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents la life and music of Vincenzo Bellini La Vita di Vincenzo Bellini (DVD)

Venue: the Italian Institute of Culture ‘Michelangelo Hall’
Date: November 18, 2010
Time: 6.30 for 7pm
Entrance: Free

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Vincenzo Bellini (3.11.1801 – 23.09.1835)
Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer of the Romantic period, established himself as the master of the Italian operatic bel canto (‘beautiful singing’). He has been widely acclaimed for his opera Norma. In Italian bel canto operas, the story and setting takes a back seat in favor of beautiful voice, and arias have long melodic score and dramatic tension brilliantly crafted.

Born on November 3, 1801, in the Sicilian town of Catania, Bellini started piano lessons from his father. A child prodigy, at five years of age, he already played the piano very well and immediately developed simplicity of melodic expression. Later in his teens, he studied at Naples Conservatory.

Bellini’s first opera, Adelson e Salvini, was produced in 1825 while still a student. This attracted the attention of Domenico Barbaia, who commissioned him to write Bianca e Gernando, produced at the Teatro San Carlo. Norma and La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) followed. In I Puritani (The Puritans), his last work, he discovered a new boldness and vigour of orchestral effect.