Die Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW Düsseldorf 2012

Richard Deacon
©Bernd Ahrens Photography 

Take a look at the Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW Düsseldorf 2012 at Museum Kunstpalast until March 18.
This is a show of art to buy - eclectic, at times amusing and certainly inspiring, with  a focus in 2012 on photography.

The photographs of prize-winning Walter Vogel are quite wonderful.

Anne
©Michael H.Rohde

If you buy here you are contributing in keeping this great tradition alive and who knows which great artists of the future you may be supporting.

Silvia Liebig
Pimp my Head 

This year also sees a special section of sculpture students of the class of Professor Richard Deacon, Turner prize winner in 1987 and recipient of a CBE in 1999 for his considerable work in the arts world in Britain. He is currently teaching at the world-renowned Düsseldorf Art Academy.

Speaking with Richard Deacon
©Bernd Ahrens Photography 

A rich catalogue has been produced to accompany this show and for a special deal of just €20 you receive entry for two and a catalogue.

Highly recommended!

Museum Kunstpalast

Ehrenhof 4-6

40479 Düsseldorf

Open until 9pm on Thursdays

A Musical Walk Through Time

RhineBuzz is pleased to present the first own event of 2012 on March 1 2012 at 7.30pm with Julia Coulmas, a bright, young soprano from Florida and former principle singer with the Tampa Bay Opera. We are now very fortunate to count her as a vibrant new member of the RhineBuzz community!

'A Musical Walk Through Time' will feature popular Broadway and opera highlights accompanied by Michael Carleton on piano.

We are also especially happy to be hosting this at the Weinzimmer on Burgplatz.

It never ceases to astound me the incredible talent of those that write to RhineBuzz. Julia contacted me recently and soon we had a her singing at a private event, and then again on the first 'We Love Music' tour of the year. I think it's true to say we were pretty astounded at the marvellous voice that came out of this very tiny woman, we even had a guest with a tear in his eye on the recent tour, so it is with all the more anticipation that we look forward to a lovely evening of wine, fine melodies and two most wonderful artists.

Do come and join us!

Tickets, €10, may be purchased by sending an email to: opera@rhinebuzz.com

Julia Coulmas and Micheal Carleton

"A Musical Walk Through Time"

March 1 2012 at 7.30pm

Weinzimmer

Burgplatz 12

40213 Düsseldorf

Schumann Festival 2012

"Get Romantic"' is the tempting motto for the Schumannfest 2012. It’s an invitation to get up-close-and-personal with the sensitivity of Robert Schumann, ‘the’ German romanticist, exclusively interpreted through outstanding names of today’s music scene. His desires and despairs, his passions and personalities will be recreated in ways that makes Robert Schumann more modern than ever! One glimpse into the programme and the wide spectrum of creatively inspired ‘labours of love’ awakes a curiosity to discover more. From the Emerson String Quartett’s “Transatlantic Festoverture” homage to the beginnings of the Lower Rhenisch Music Festivals, to “The New Romantics” with the electronic wizardry of Hauschka and the magic of My Brightest Diamond, right up to the music-comedy of “A Little Nightmare Music” with over six million views on YouTube, it’s obvious that the Schumannfest 2012 will captivate audiences of all sorts like never before! 

The Intendant of the Schumannfest, Michael Becker, enthusiastically invites listeners to experience the Schumann that appeals to all age groups, both 'newbies' and the well-versed to the Romantic era of Schumann. The next Schumannfest takes place from May 24  to the 4 June 2012, musically connecting with the Dusseldorf Jazz Rally at the end of May. "We Love Music" here in Dusseldorf, and May will be something to really look forward to! 

Book now, and 'Get Romantic'!
Tickets also bookable through RhineBuzz

There will be extra "We Love Music" tours on offer during the Festival including press and public tours in English. Please contact tours@rhinebuzz.com for details.

Tim D. Morand

Trailing Spouses Workshop 17 January 2012

Feedback from a very successful day on Tuesday:

"[This is] the most comfortable [I've felt] since coming to Germany."


"Was even better than I expected it to be. :))".

"[My expectations] were more than met. I was very impressed with the useful information presented."

More here

Thanks Everyone :)

I've already had enquiries for a follow-up, we'll certainly keep you informed!


Moving to a foreign place when your partner accepts a contract for a new and demanding job can, at times, be twice as hard on the you.
You may have been busy fixing up the new home, your partner has new challenges and new colleagues, possibly your children are at school making new friends and once you are all 'settled', do you find yourself saying "now what?"


It's not easy finding your way around a new place when you've left your friends and family behind, you don't speak the language and you find yourself at home alone. Just don't despair! Düsseldorf has so very much to offer and we are here to help you find it!


The International School on the Rhine in Neuss, (ISR), and RhineBuzz have come together to offer you a fun-filled day where you can meet folks in the same situation as yourselves and discover much that there is to enjoy and share in Düsseldorf.
Our workshop will be packed with guest speakers including the director of the Tonhalle and director of the forthcoming Schumann Fest, Michael Becker; Peter Inhoven, gourmet butcher extraordinaire who will explain all those weird cuts of meat; yoga with our wonderful instructor from USA, John Vilardo; Driving School Ludwig will let you know that you can learn to drive here too; we will have speakers on activities to do with children and information on where to shop when the crazy German closing times leave you stranded. There will even be a talk on communication in Germany and how it might differ from what you are possibly used to.
There will be so very much in this day that you can use in a most hands-on way and of course I'll be adding a few words about filling your social calendar!


Giveaways include a chance to win tickets and vouchers from Düsseldorf Marketing and Tourism, the German Opera on the Rhine, Museum Kunstpalast, Champu Stylists, the Schumann Fest and the Tonhalle.


So do come and join us on 17 January 2012 from 9 until 4.30pm at
E.ON
E.ON-Platz 1
40479
Düsseldorf
Free lunch is included!
Click here for registration, or simply send an email with your name and contact details to caroline@rhinebuzz.com

A donation of €5 to the Children's Hospice Regenbogenland is requested.

Payment please to:

ISR GmbH,

Sparkasse Neuss,

Acc No. 93366177

BSC 305 500 00

adding "Trailing Spouses Workshop" as a reference.
Questions? Call Isabel (on leave Dec 24-Jan 3) on 02131 40 388-15
or email caroline@rhinebuzz.com

This event is generously sponsored by E.ON

World Class The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819 - 1918

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

Closes January 22!

Were you aware that 'Washington Crossing the Delaware', a vast painting by Emanuel Leutze that currently hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, actually has its roots in the Düsseldorf School of Painting?

It is in fact believed that the river depicted in this icon to American history is not the Delaware but the river Rhine.

Under the patronage of Philip D. Murphy, the United States ambassador to Germany and Guido Westerwelle, the German minister for foreign affairs, the Museum Kunstpalast opened an extraordinary exhibition on September 24.

World Class The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819 -1918 shows the rich and varied wealth of painting involved in the art's movement known as 'The Düsseldorf School of Painting' beginning in the late nineteenth century. At the time, the Düsseldorf School was amongst the leading European schools of painting.

Wilhelm von Shadow, director of the Academy from 1826, was responsible for bringing great students to Düsseldorf; such was the reputation of the training that was happening at the Art Academy that kings sent their best painters to Düsseldorf to learn more about their craft.

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

To begin the show there is a world map, pin-pointing where the painters who trained in Düsseldorf took their new trained talents all over the globe, from New Zealand to South America, up to Scandinavia and especially to the USA.
There are also fascinating portraits of some of the greatest painters of the era who spent time in Düsseldorf and also wonderful sketches showing how their working studios in the Academy once looked. 

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

Loans for this exhibition have been given by some of the most prestigious museums in the world including the Louvre in Paris, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago.


There are paintings which have returned to Düsseldorf for the first time in 200 years. At the opening, the curator Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel was clearly touched by the richness of this exhibition.


This is a beautiful show, rich, colourful and bombastic. One Düsseldorf can be truly proud of, with some 450 works of art on show.
It will open your eyes as to the great global influence of the Düsseldorf School of Painting from the dedicated artists of the Düsseldorf Art Academy and surrounding area.


For a peek into the Academy today take a look at this CNN video RhineBuzz gladly helped put together.

The museum is offering 2 public tours in English on: 

November 5 and December 17 both at 4pm.

Audio guide also available in English.

The museum is open from 11am until 6pm daily except Mondays and until 9pm on Thursdays.

World Class The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819 - 1918

Museum Kunstpalast

Ehrenhof 4-5

40479 Düsseldorf

24 September 2011 to 22 January 2012

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

© Hans Jörg Michel

The first RhineBuzz opera event of 2012 is Rossini's classic Il Barbiere di Siviglia presented by the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. A light-hearted evening for sure, not only are the tunes very hum-along-able, but the performance is also colourful, amusing and thoroughly entertaining.
The story of the infamous barber has been transformed to the world of insects, truly this is not a production you will forget in a hurry!


RhineBuzz at Il Barbiere di Siviglia on February 5 at 7.30pm at the Opera House Düsseldorf.

RhineBuzz offers discounted tickets, the best in the house in the stalls, and also a few in the upper tier. Contact opera@rhinebuzz.com for details.


This performance continues on limited dates until July 7 2012.

Deutsche Oper am Rhein - Three Premieres this Weekend!

Il barbiere di Siviglia ©Hans Jörg Michel

The German Opera on the Rhein re-opens its season in Düsseldorf again this evening after the extension of the orchestra pit with a spectacular weekend of three premieres.
On Friday December 2 we will be treated to a sold out performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia. On Saturday December 3 Martin Schläpfer will baffle with b.10, including a technicolour delight I have already seen in Duisburg, and on Sunday December 4 the three days will close with a much anticipated premiere of Carmen, which has also been sold out for quite some time now!


The extension of the orchestra pit has made an enormous difference to the acoustic of the house. Axel Kober, conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, confessed at the press conference that one of his predecessors at the DoR had warned him on congratulating him on his new post a few years ago that he would not, in all honesty, have great joy with his orchestra in this house as the space for the orchestra was somewhat cramped. 
Now however, with an extra 23 square meters the sound of the instruments is much freer and more easily definable. Axel Kober is delighted with the new pit as was Lord Mayor Elbers at the opening of the house a couple of weeks ago.

The new, much improved orchestra pit ©Susanne Diesner

RhineBuzz will be visiting the opera again on December 11 when we see b.10. We have just a few discounted seats remaining in the stalls. Please contact us at opera@rhinebuzz.com if you'd like to join us.


I'm greatly looking forward to seeing this piece again and am indeed full of anticipation of the two operas I will experience this weekend.

That was 2011! ESC, We Love Music and So Many Incredible People

Photo ©Dietmar Morand for RhineBuzz

What an extraordinary year 2011 has been! I've met some incredible people, made some exceptional friends and experienced many wonderful and emotional performances. The 56th Eurovision Song Contest hit town in May and along with the delegations of 43 nations, 2500 accredited journalists from all over the world; (plus a whole lot that were not accredited) I was in the team that helped set up programmes and show them the gems our city has to offer. We were determined to give our absolute best, after all, the show reaches some 125 million viewers!!! With Ken Bruce BBC, who has presented Eurovision for the past 24 years, at the Uerige brewery house ©RhineBuzz My colleagues and I at Dusseldorf Marketing and Tourism worked our socks off in the run up to and during the festival. It was a unique time for the city when we could show the world the rich cultural variety and great internationality that we have here and yet also the deep Rhenisch traditions of the city. I was privileged to be commissioned to write two new tours for the international visitors we welcomed, 'Art in Düsseldorf' and 'We Love Music'. Tim and I will be back with 'We Love Music' in February! The 'We Love Music' tour was originally conceived to show the astounding musical history of the city which is marked by such iconic artists such as Robert Schumann and Kraftwerk. William Cook, who was in town to write 48 Hours in Düsseldorf for the Independent was the first international guest to sample the tour with Dietmar Morand and myself, William greatly enjoyed Tim's enthusiasm and the modern way in which we presented the city - we were pretty much on a roll after that! The response from the international press has been so incredible that this tour is now part of the city's regular programme of tours. One of the nicest quotes I'd like to share with you was from Antenne Düsseldorf, the city's radio station 'Other cities have regular old city tours - but Düsseldorf has the 'We Love Music' tour...' The public love the tour too, and for Tim and I there is nothing better then when Düsseldorfers tell us that they have experienced their city anew because of all they discovered on the tour. We love organising surprise guests and delight in giving away tickets to some of the best performances in town. The tour has turned into a real talking newsletter, if you don't know what to do in Düsseldorf come and join the tour! 'We Love Music' will be back every first Saturday of the month from February 4 at 3pm from the Tourist Info in the Altstadt. April 7 at 5pm sees our first public tour in English. At the press centre at the Eurovision Arena with Olan McGowan RTÉ Radio from Ireland Tim and I worked on a piece about Kraftwerk that Olan and I are editing here I've often been asked, 'What did the ESC bring for the city?' Well, the marketing value was immense. To put this into real figures - I took care of a Dutch journalist couple one afternoon in May. They wrote a double page piece on the city which went nationwide in the Netherlands. Had Düsseldorf paid for advertising space on this kind of scale, the bill would have come to €140.000. Multiply this times all the press that was in the city at the time, add the journalists that have already returned and you begin to get the picture. Monika Günnewig, Eurovision VIP Volunteer and Mayo Velvo, Düsseldorf Chansonnier in the Eurolounge Many are surprised by what they find here, the many museums, the concert venues, the life-style, all offer a quality of life not at all anticipated by the press coming to see us. Again and again I hear 'A top venue' from those that were expecting something quite different. Maybe one of the best compliments was from Gary Bones, executive producer for the BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce Show, (I helped put together the interviews for the 3 and 1/2 hour show they broadcasted from here), who said he'd love to come back with his other half. Considering the BBC was initially not at all keen to be in Düsseldorf, this is such a compliment for all that worked so very hard during that time.  Düsseldorf icon Freifrau von Kö is interviewed by the BBC ©Bernd Ahrens Photography I thought it might grow quiet after Eurovision, but in many ways it has grown busier. I'm booked to show such varied people around town, from retired folks who love the arts to a Chinese group on a round-the-world music tour. On the roof of the Tonhalle with a group from China including  top Chinese music producer Zhang Yadong  ©Bernd Ahrens Photography So what's with RhineBuzz for 2012? We are working on many new ideas and will have to expand with new freelancers in the coming year. My time is now so taken up by looking after international press not only in Düsseldorf but in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia that I've pretty much come to my limit time and energy-wise! I've also taken on a new role with a life style exhibition at the Messe Düsseldorf.  The RhineBuzz events have been a little neglected in 2011, I know, I'm sorry, but I'm doing all I can to bring you more and varied events in the New Year. Our very fruitful partnership with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein will continue of course. Our first event will be Il Barbiere di Siviglia on February 5 and the AIDS Benefit Gala on March 3 2012. The new partnership in 2011 with the spectacular Tonhalle has also proved most enriching for the RhineBuzz community. We will certainly be building on this and we are greatly looking forward to the bi-annual Schumann Festival in May/June 2012. As one RhineBuzzer wrote on facebook "Twelve months, a new year ahead...I do hope that my diary will show as many times 'wonderful evening with Rhinebuzz' as it did this year." I will certainly try my very best to fulfill this wish! Thank you, thank you :) to all the wonderful folks I've met in 2011 from all around the globe. You have enriched my days, and I'm very lucky to have met you all. I hope that you do return to Düsseldorf as promised and that I have another chance to show you around. I wish you all, our readers, our visitors, my wonderful colleagues, photographers, writers and the extraordinary artists I've met in 2011 a very peaceful, fulfilling and happy 2012 and hope to see you around town soon! Keep buzzing!  Caroline

Merry Christmas Everyone!

If you are staying in Düsseldorf there’s quite a nice choice of things you can do if you don't wish to stay home over the festive period.

My top pick would be the Ballet on the Rhine, Martin Schläpfer’s b.10, which I’ve seen twice now - and I’d love to see it again! There will be performances on December 22 and 26, and a few tickets left for each evening.

My Opera Scout review is here.

b.10 Gert Weigelt 

If you want to get out and dance our favourite DJ Henry Storch is hosting a party on Christmas Eve at his Blue Note club on Kurzer Str 13 in the Altstadt with the Siam cocktail bar next door from 11.30pm.
You will be able to groove to a mixture of the greatest sounds on a couple of floor levels.


On Boxing Day, another RhineBuzz favourite, The Schumann Quartett are playing at the Robert Schumann Hall in the Museum Kunstpalast. This time with piano, it promises to be great!


So it simply remains for me to wish you all a wonderful Christmas!
If you are travelling, stay safe, I hope all goes well without delays and that you enjoy a relaxed and fun time with your loved ones. If you are staying in the city, enjoy yourselves! The Christmas Market is still on up until December 23, so there's still time for delicious goodies and maybe I'll see you around. I'm staying here and looking forward to friends, music and lots of rest after a crazy and exhilarating year. 
But more of that next week .... x

©Cindy Voss Photography

Classical Music for Beginners - Leonardo Mozart, Arkadi Shilkoper, Alphorn and Christian Ehring at the Tonhalle

Christian Ehring and Arkadi Shilkloper

©Susanne Diesner 

On Sunday December 18 at 4.30pm the Tonhalle will host another concert in the series "Ehring goes to a concert".

Christian Ehring is a much-loved Düsseldorf entertainer who says of himself that he is an 'amateur' classical music lover ...
So Tonhalle director Michael Becker thought he was the perfect person to invite along to host a series of concerts. The first we saw, a few weeks ago featured the music of Bach. It was a beautiful concert and Ehring's input were both funny and most informative.
Yes this is all in German, but I know that many of you are learning the language and is there a better way to learn than to both hear and see?


This Sunday, a very varied programme is given the chance to seep into our souls. Ehring will also introduce Arkadi Shikloper, a Russian alphorn player (?!) - intriguing stuff!!





Arkadi Shilkloper
Alpenpfad
Sergej Prokofjew
Symphonie Nr. 1 D-Dur op. 25 "Symphonie classique"
Leopold Mozart
Sinfonia pastorella G-Dur für Hirtenhorn und Streicher
Peter Warlock
Capriol Suite
Arkadi ShilkloperFolk Song


There are still a few tickets available, you can reserve here.

Hollywood Comes to Düsseldorf!!! Halle Berry Films 'Cloud Atlas'

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

So who was in town last night?
None other than the gorgeous Halle Berry who was filming all night at a top secret shoot for her upcoming movie Cloud Atlas.
Photographer Bernd Ahrens and I joined just a handful of journalists and photographers as filming began last night at 11pm outside the Dreischeibenhaus next to the city theatre. Despite the rain, all were in a jolly mood as we watched vintage USA cars pass by, re-creating a 1970's San Francisco.

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

Just how great is this for the city? Following filming in Spain and Scotland, Düsseldorf was chosen as the next location to shoot this movie which will also feature Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant. Coming up October 2012!

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

Rafael Aguirre Miñarro

Rafael Aguirre Miñarro plays as surprise guest on the 'We Love Music' tour

©RhineBuzz

So how exactly do you respond when someone you've just met, says in a dark music club, 'you have to meet my friend .... he's one of the best guitarists in the world ....'?

A few days later Rafael Aguirre Miñarro offered to play his guitar on my sofa.

Time stands still when Rafa plays. 

You kind of see his hands, his facial expressions, the way he totally gets lost in the music he is creating and you do nothing but feel the sounds coming from his fingertips and sense absolute awe. And I'm not someone who uses that phrase 'awesome' much at all!

Defined as 'one of the most versatile musicians of his generation' it is not difficult to see why this charismatic young man is making huge waves around the music world.


Rafael spends much of his time on planes jetting around the globe from one concert hall to the next. Next March his crazy itinerary includes the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York. When he played Carnegie Hall in 2010 he was obliged to give four encores, in Sao Paulo earlier this year nine encores!!!!

2011 has been an extraordinary year for me. I've met so many wonderful, wonderful people in this Eurovision year but Rafael has, without a doubt, a very special place amongst all the memorable characters that have passed through my life these past 12 months.

'We Love Music' guests are intrigued!

I'm privileged to say he has become my friend and along with his peers from the Robert Schumann School of Music, Luis Regidor (who won second prize for voice at this year's Montreaux Jazz Festival) and Mircea Stefan Gogoncea (winner of the Schmolz and Bickenbach 2011 competition, which Rafael won in 2007 as the first guitarist ever) and numerous other students and teachers of the school, RhineBuzz has grown into a group that includes some of the most gifted young musicians of our time. I truly am spellbound by this. If he is in town Rafael sometimes guests for us on the 'We Love Music' tour. Sitting on a park bench nearby we are delighted to introduce him as he suddenly takes out his guitar to the absolute enchantment of our guests who are just stunned by what happens next.

Tim D. Morand and I are treated to an one-on-one concert on 
Ratinger Strasse after the tour

photo: Patricia Baeza Céspedes 

Düsseldorfers have the extraordinary opportunity to experience this young musician, the Spaniard who has won the most guitar awards of all time, than any other Spaniard. On Sunday December 11 when Rafael plays in Düsseldorf at the Palais Wittgenstein. Tickets are just €8, as this concert is organised by the Department of Culture. You can only reserve tickets by calling 0211 89 96 294 or just be at the venue at 10.30am and hope for a ticket in this beautiful and most intimate hall. The concert begins at 11am.

I, and a whole bunch of RhineBuzzers will be there for sure!

I set up an interview for Rafa along with his professor Joaquín Clerch 
by BBC Radio Two's Ken Bruce during Eurovision week at Museum Kunstpalast 

©Bernd Ahrens Photography

Rafael Aguirre Miñarro on December 11 at 11am
Palais Wittgenstein

Bilkerstr 7-9

40213 Düsseldorf