Theatre: 50% Kenyan, Dec. 5-20 2013 @ Alliance Française Auditorium

50% Kenyan presented by Heartstrings Entertainment directed by Sammy Mwangi

Date: December 5-20, 2013 – Except December 9 & 16
Venue: Alliance Française Auditorium
Time: Weekdays – 6.30pm & Weekends – 3 & 6.30pm
Tickets: 500

Each Kenyan has a way they define their ‘Kenyaness’. One would think that that is not a problem. But it is. We have come to believe that our view about Kenya is the best and more supreme than others. This has made Kenyans tear into each other at the smallest difference.

As we mark 50 years, each Kenyan has his thought on how Kenya should mark 50 years of independence.

The big question is “Are You Half a Kenyan or A Full Non-Kenyan?

Exhibition: from the Kenya Photography Awards, Until Dec. 20 2013 @ Alliance

Dates: Until December 20, 2013
Venue: Alliance Francaise, Ground Floor Gallery

PAWA254 and Photographers Association of Kenya (PAK) present photographs by the 50 finalists from the inaugural ‘Kenya Photography Awards’. The winners were unveiled at a gala dinner at the KICC on November 26, 2013 in the following categories: News, Daily Life, Creative, Portraiture, Nature, Sports and the Most Promising Young Photographer.
1281 entries were received across all categories.

The Photographer of the Year award went to the Reuters’ Photographer, Thomas Mukoya, who won the Sports Category and was runner-up in the Daily Life category.

Other winners include: Georgina Goodwin (News), Thandiwe Muriu (Portraiture), Joe Kiragu (Creative), David Mutua (Daily Life), Karim Kara (Nature) and Thandiwe Muriu and Louis Nderi (Young Photographer).

Poster-Rythm of our dreams2.2.indd

Dj sets/Visual: The Rhythm of our Dreams, Dec. 6 2013 @ Goethe-Institut

Poster-Rythm of our dreams2.2.indd
Date: December 6, 2013
Venue: Goethe-Institut, Auditorium
Time: 7.00 pm
Admission free

To go forward, we go back. To evolve, we grow from the spirit around us – as we mark 50 years of our conception, The Rhythm of our Dreams is an explorative and experimental journey of sounds, songs and images from Kenya. Through a careful selection of music and moving images, The Rhythm of our Dreams draws from a curious selection of music from all corners and times of our country. Tonight, through a historical and contemporary visual soundscape, we celebrate the diversity and the spirit of Kenya.

Featuring DJs from a diverse spread of Kenyan genres and subcultures, each set is researched and selected to feature a plethora of tunes; think Taarab meets Benga or “Night Bus to Mombasa 1996” or “Christmas lunch with Gukah 1974.” An evening of a mélange and collage of Kenyan dreams an memories.

Charity Concert

Charity concert by renowned ensemble I SOLISTI VENETI, Dec. 6 2013 @ Oshwal Centre

Charity Concert
Date: December 6, 2013
Venue: Oshwal Centre
Entry: Free
Booking essential nairobi.rsvp@esteri.it Ensure you receive a written confirmation to show at the door

Programme
Antonio VIVALDI Concerto in D minor RV 127
(1678 –1741) for strings

Giovanni BOTTESINI “Gran Duo concertante”
(1821 – 1889) for violin, double bass & strings

Gioacchino ROSSINI Variations in E flat major
(1792 – 1868) for clarinet & orchestra

Antonino PASCULLI “Beautiful souvenirs of Verdi’s Traviata”
(1842 –1924) for hoboe & strings

Giuseppe VERDI From the Opera “I Lombardi”
(1813 – 1901) Introduction Act II for violin & strings

Ennio MORRICONE “Gran Cinema Paradiso” for orchestra
(Born 1928)

Nicola PIOVANI “Life is beautiful” for clarinet & strings
(Born 1946)

Jean ARBAN Variations on the “Carnival of Venice”
(1825 – 1889) for trumpet & strings.

Vittorio MONTI “Czarda” for violin & strings
(1868 – 1922)

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The ensemble

CLAUDIO SCIMONE, Musical Director

Lucio DEGANI, Chiara PARRINI – violins
Charlie DI VACRI – viola
Giuseppe BARUTTI – cello
Gabriele RAGGHIANTI – double bass
Paolo GRAZIA – hoboe
Lorenzo GUZZONI – clarinet
Daniele GRECO D’ALCEO – trumpet

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I Solisti Veneti

The “I Solisti Veneti” orchestra which was founded and directed (to this day) by Claudio Scimone in 1959, quickly reached worldwide fame and obtained unconditional enthusiasm by audiences and the critics alike. To its name are almost 6.000 concerts in over 80 countries, participation to the Major International Festivals (more than 30 concerts at the Salzburg Festival), an impressive discography of over 350 titles on LP, CD and DVD editions and a wide range of musical and historical as well as cultural and promotional activities.

The fiftieth anniversary of “I Solisti Veneti, in 2010, was solemnly celebrated at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua by the President of the Italian Republic and in December 2010 as part of the official Christmas concert for the Italian Senate (the most important official concert of the Italian musical life) in the presence of the President of the Republic and of all the official Italian authorities and the Vatican.

The highest awards in the music world were conferred to “I Solisti Veneti “and to Claudio Scimone: Grammy Award, several Grand Prix du Disque and the ‘ Academie du Disque Lyrique’, a number of awards from Discography Critics in Italy and other countries. The brilliant award of the Festival Bar with 350,000 votes from the youngest listeners. In 2008 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice they were awarded the Arthur Rubinstein Foundation Association prize “Una vita nella musica” (“A life in music”) which is considered by the international critics to be the Nobel Prize of music.

The Solisti were the focus of major television programs including “The Seven Words” by Haydn at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (Ermanno Olmi, director), “Vivaldi peintre de la musique” by François Reichenbach and many others. They have worked with the greatest singers and soloists of our time from Placido Domingo, to Josè Carreras, June Anderson, Ruggero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey, Itzaak Perlman, Sviatoslav Richter just to name a few. They were the first in Italy to hold concerts with special programs and presentations in the premises of primary and secondary schools.

They brought to light hundreds of unknown works from Italy’s great musical heritage in concerts and in theatres bringing to life many of the illustrious musicians from the past as well as taking care of the complete works by Giuseppe Tartini.
With the memorable first modern performance of “Orlando Furioso” (Verona 1978) with Marylyn Horne, Victoria de Los Angeles and with Luigi Pizzi as the director, they disclosed to the world the ‘importance of Vivaldi’s theatre works.
By performing the “Birth of Dawn” and the “Council of the Planets” by Tommaso Albinoni and his interlude “Pimpinone” they revealed the beauty of the vocal works by Tommaso Albinoni.
Many amongst the most famous composers of our time, including Ennio Morricone, Bussotti, Donatoni, R. Malipiero, Halffter, Constant, De Pablo, Corghi, Guaccero, Manzoni, De Marzi, devoted music to “I Solisti Veneti” thus creating an important series of works for 10 or more solo strings.
To express the deep connection existing between Venetian music, architecture and visual arts they have recorded a series of DVDs of great importance including “Vivaldi’s Seasons at the Palladian Villas” (Arthaus), “The Glory and the sacred music of Vivaldi in San Marco Square in Venice and at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua” (Dynamic), “Vivaldi Concertos for flute with James Galway at the Palazzo Ducale of Venice” (Hardy Classic), “Council of the planets” by Tommaso Albinoni (Unitel) at the great, historical Sala della Ragione in Padua (Unitel) and many others.

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Claudio Scimone

Claudio Scimone founded “I Solisti Veneti” in 1959 and has to date conducted all concerts and all recordings of his Orchestra.
A pupil of the great Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and of Franco Ferrara, he made his debut in opera at Covent Garden in London with Donizetti’s “Elisir d’Amore”.
For operas, concerts and recordings he co-operated with many of the world’s top organizations such as the Arena of Verona, La Fenice in Venice, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (for the first performances in modern times of “Moses in Egypt”, “Il Maometto”, “Edipo a Colono”), the San Carlo theatre in Naples, the Opera in Rome (at the “Terme di Caracalla”), La Scala of Milan, the Opera Theatres in New York, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Zurich, Melbourne and so on… and with the London Symphony Orchestras (Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic), and equivalent in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, Sydney, Montreal to mention but a few.
Claudio Scimone is also the Honorary Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon.
He has conducted and recorded the first modern integral performance of many operatic works by Rossini (“Moses in Egypt”, “Maometto”, “Edipo a Colono”, “Hermione,” “Armida”, etc…) and by other great Italian composers (Vivaldi, Albinoni, Galuppi, Salieri, etc.) and he conducted the world’s first recording of the symphonic works by Muzio Clementi.
He collaborates with the Rossini Foundation of Pesaro in the ‘Rossini edition of the Opera Omnia’.
He has dedicated a passionate activity to teach music to young people.
He taught Orchestra at the “B.Marcello” Conservatory of Venice, and for a good 30 years held the directorship of the Padua Superior National Conservatory of Music holding music master classes there as well as in many countries. Because of this activity and the many others Claudio Scimone was bestowed with both the honour of “Cavaliere di Gran Croce al Merito della Repubblica” (the Italian Republic’s highest honour) and the Gold Medal Of School, Art and Culture, from the President of the Republic of Italy.
He is the only musician awarded the Veneto Lion by the Veneto Region of Italy, an award given by the unanimous decision of the Regional Parliament.
The University of Padova – one of the two most ancient Universities in the world – awarded him with the honorary title of Doctor in Law.

Special Holiday at Nairobi Gallery

Special Holiday Exhibition: Sanaa Gateja, Dec. 1 2013 – Mar. 1 2014 @ The Nairobi Gallery

Special Holiday at Nairobi Gallery
Exhibition by SANAA GATEJA – Artist, Designer and Bead King at the Nairobi Gallery.

Dates: December 1, 2013 to March 1, 2014
Entry: Museum Rates Apply

About
Sanaa Gateja was born in Kisoro, Uganda in l950, where he completed his early education. In l970, he moved to Mombasa where he opened his first art gallery across from the port at Mombasa Old Town called Studio Sanaa. This expanded into Fort Jesus Museum in l974. His gallery was among the first to concentrate on exhibiting the traditional arts of Kenya, including the functional arts of Northern Kenya and Lamu and
basketry and jewellery from the East African coast . He worked closely with other pioneer art organizations in Mombasa such as Bombolulu and Mombasa Home Industries. In l976, he opened the first major art gallery in the Mombasa city centre where he exhibited works by East African artists and craftsmen. He also redesigned the Lawford’s Hotel in Malindi in Swahili style.

In the l980’s, Sanaa relocated his studio and workshops to Nairobi. He founded a brass workshop where he created and produced brass lamps, traditional coffee pots and other brass ware including the unique lampstands in the Nairobi Serena hotel lobby. He held several exhibitions at African Heritage Gallery in Nairobi, at the National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya National Archives.

Sanaa then trained as a gold and silver jewellery designer in Florence, Italy after which he worked within the art and jewellery trade in London for 6 years. He held a major solo exhibition of both jewellery and paintings at the African Centre in London to celebrate Uganda’s liberation in 1986 .

In 1989 Sanaa returned to Uganda where he founded Kwetu Afrika Art and Development Centre based in Lubowa, Kampala, Uganda to research, innovate, and create using easily available materials, as a way of using art to fight poverty. One of his unique contributions was the innovation of recycling paper into beads which he started in 1990 at his Kwetu Africa Studio and which has spread throughout East African communities providing a livelihood to many jobless , especially women and youth. His Centre exports many products made of hand made paper beads employing dozens of skilled women workers full time and many others on a part time basis. Thus he is often called “The Bead King”.

Alliance Francaise supported his exhibitions in Kampala 2000, Kigali 2004, Nairobi 2012, and Eindhoven in the Netherlands. His work featured in “Design in Africa”, an African artist’s and designer’s exhibition that travelled through Europe, American and Asia from 2008 to 2010. In 2008, 2009, and 2010 he held major exhibitions at Baraka Gallery in Lamu, as well as exhibitions at Diani Beach Art Gallery.

Other recent exhibitions:
Museum of Art and Design in New York 2010/11.

Recent Commissions:
Saatchi and Saatchi Kampala, Pulse Advertising Agency Kampala, Java Coffee House,
Nairobi