RhineBuzz: January 2012

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

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!

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.

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.