Pick of the month | September 2018

La Bâtie

Festival: New Music, Dance, Theatre, Performance

If you’re sad summer’s coming to an end, do what trendy Genevans do and look forward to La Bâtie! Now in its 42d year, this multidisciplinary festival is the main feature of Geneva’s cultural life in the first two weeks of September. La Bâtie books the best of the world’s avant-garde artists so don’t feel discouraged if you’ve never heard of the performers on programme: they’re just too hip to be famous. We’ve gone through their extensive programme and selected a few events for our newsletter. But do take some time to check out the festival website, as all events are described in excellent English-language blurbs. There’s also a Mini-Bâtie for kids, a Kinky Bâtie for the over-18 and of course, the Club Bâtie and its impressive line-ups, open every night until the wee hours.

All Audiences, Adults, Kids/Families

30 August - 16 September - Geneva

Youth Orchestra of Bahia /NEOJIBA

Classical Music

NEOJIBA, the Children and Youth Orchestra of Bahia in Brazil, tackles social, economic and cultural exclusion head-on through the collective practice of music. With performers as young as 13, many coming from the grittiest favelas of their city, NEOJIBA rocks the classical repertoire and delivers a performance just bursting with tropical colour, passion and infectious, youthful energy. At 11:30AM the younger members of NEOJIBA join forces with young musicians from the Geneva area for a free concert at the Victoria Hall. That same evening at 6PM, the whole NEOJIBA orchestra plays a benefit concert of Schumann’s piano concerto and Dvorak’s well-loved New World Symphony, with Ricardo Castro directing and performing the piano solo. Come support NEOJIBA’s amazing work with young people. It’s a great cause and they are guaranteed to knock your socks off!

All Audiences

9 September - 11:30 AM & 6PM - Victoria Hall

MILOS FORMAN RETROSPECTIVE

Film

In the 1960s, a young Czech film director captured the irreverent spirit of a society itching for more awareness and openness with films like A Blonde in Love and The Fireman’s Ball. When Soviet tanks put an end to the Prague Spring in 1968, Milos Forman started a second career in the United States. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Hair (1979) established his American movie-maker credentials. His international career began in earnest with Amadeus (1984), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999). Cinémas du Grütli pays homage to this gifted, protean and slightly crazy artist who passed away this spring at the age of 86.

Adults, Over 14 years old

1 to 11 September - Cinémas du Grütli

MACBETTU ALESSANDRO SERRA

Theatre (La Bâtie)

Shakespeare buffs will need to know the Scottish Play well for this riveting performance in the Sardinian language, surtitled only in French. Alessandro Serra’s Macbettu uses the funeral chants, intimidating masks and violent folk rituals of Sardinia, with an entirely male cast (as was done in Shakespeare’s day) to deliver a mesmerizing version of this tragedy of ambition, thirst for power and ghostly guilt. So screw your courage to the sticking point and let the magic of this Mediterranean Macbeth haunt you beyond the boundaries of language.

All Audiences

4 & 5 September - 9PM - Théâtre Forum Meyrin

OORLOG (War), Theater Artemis/Jetse Batelaan

Dance/Theatre (La Bâtie)

Is war is too big, too heavy or too scary a topic for kids? Not for the nutty Netherlanders of Theater Artemis it isn’t! Jetse Batelaan and his players seize the issue playfully by the horns, which is often the best way to treat it seriously. Helicopters fall out of trees, a shower weeps, tyres and balls explode while three soldiers on roller skates charge into one madcap battle after another. This noisy and hilarious piece of burlesque comedy is theatre of the absurd at its best!

Young Audiences

5 & 6 September  - Théâtre Am Stram Gram

Nature Politics or How To Leave Nature Alone, Martin Schick & Mirko Winkel

Theatre (La Bâtie)

Nature takes care of everything: German and Swiss choreographer/performers Mirko Winkel and Martin Schick push Montaigne’s words of wisdom to the extreme in a wacky, interactive and irreverent performance/lecture, delivered in English and French. The artists’ idea of a Parliament of Nature allows fragments of our world return to Nature in its wild state: bits of a garden, the corner of an apartment, a patch of city street or farmland. Their project may sound like an utopia but it displays a lot of commitment and common sense.

All Audiences

7 & 8 September - Théâtre de l'Orangerie

European heritage days

Cultural Heritage Interpretation

What began in the 1980s in France as a simple open house for famous – but unvisitable – buildings now extends from Azerbaijan to Iceland. Switzerland joined in 1994, so this is the 25th year that heritage buildings, monuments and sites are open to the public with fascinating and free guided tours by experts and professionals. In the Geneva area alone, there are 20 different tours on offer: you could see Voltaire’s nightcap at Les Délices, visit the 1920’s concrete cathedral of the Chancy-Pougny hydro dam on the Rhône, take a tour of the GVA tarmac or the border-straddling Jewish cemetery in Veyrier. Some activities require registration and other parameters, so make sure to check beforehand on journeesdupatrimoine.ch
PLEASE NOTE: The European Heritage Days website for Geneva and the programme are unfortunately only published in French but many guides on hand will be able to answer questions in English, so feel free to enjoy the EHD weekend as best you can.

All Audiences

1 & 2 September - Geneva

European Heritage Days

Rule of Three, Jan Martens

Dance (adc - La Bâtie)

With over fifteen original works under his belt, Jan Martens zooms along, bowling his audience over with every one of his shows, the latest one, RULE OF THREE being no exception. Three dancers, helped by an obsessional percussionist, pound the ground and sway their hips in a powerful and repetitive cadence, until they enter a trance. The Flemish choreographer exposes the attention deficit of our frantic times in a stunning coincidence of music and movement which suddenly erupts into silence and ethereal tenderness. A real slap across the face!

Adults

Until 2 September - adc - Salle des Eaux-Vives

Carmen

Classical Music/Opera

Carmen is the most performed opera in the world and one of the designated works with which to lose one’s opera virginity. Packed full of lively tunes and hummable choruses (or is it the other way round?) its plot is so obvious you don’t really need the Grand Théâtre’s excellent English surtitles to know what’s happening. The fiercely independent Gypsy’s smoking hot affair with pathologically jealous soldier Don José ends in huge drama, which might also explain why it’s such a popular work. Veteran German choreographer Reinhild Hoffmann is fascinated by opera. She resurrected her 1983 ballet Callas last year for the Grand Théâtre who’s asked her to come back and give Georges Bizet’s heroine a spin.

All Audiences

10 to 27 September - Opéra des Nations

GRAND FINALE - HOFESH SHECHTER

Dance (adc - La Bâtie)

Israeli-British choreographer Hofesh Shechter is the hottest name in contemporary dance. Full stop. His first full evening programme to be performed in Geneva, Grand Finale is a piece for 10 dancers and live percussion on stage, designed by a rebel with a cause.
Hofesh Shechter shouts his wild anger at a world that is losing its grip; his performers create a new tribe that reclaims the right to be human together in a sensual, modern and organic act of dance. Want to join in?

All Audiences

10 & 11 September - Bâtiment des Forces Motrices

CELTIC DIALOGUES : HUMANITY AND NATURE

World Music

Jordi Savall needs no introduction for Early and Baroque music lovers: for almost three decades, the Catalan maestro has been conducting and recording musical gems from the 10th to the 19th century. Himself a virtuoso viola da gamba player, Jordi Savall is also one of classical music’s greatest crossover artists, with a passion for folk and traditional music of the Mediterranean and beyond. This evening’s performance brings him and some of his most trusted musical companions together in a mood that is definitely not classical. They will perform two sets of historic and traditional Scottish, Irish, Galician and Basque folk tunes that are guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings and get your toes tapping.

All Audiences

30 September 5PM - Victoria Hall

Russiana / Camerata Venia

Classical Music

Camerata Venia is a chamber music ensemble based in Geneva and directed by Gleb Skvortsov. These young classical musicians are celebrating their tenth year together as a flexible number of soloists that redesigns its numbers with every programme that they choose to play. This evening, for instance, in a gala celebration of the Russian musical tradition, they welcome a balalaika player into their ranks to give an added shot of Slavic soul to their performance. If you missed the white nights of Petersburg this year, you have a chance to feel the emotion at the Victoria Hall with Camerata Venia.

All Audiences

24 September 8PM - Victoria Hall

LG Trail

Sports

Thousands of commuters move with trains and cars between Lausanne and Geneva every day. Why not try doing it on foot and take the scenic route while you’re at it? LG Trail offers a unique and unforgettable sport challenge to all kinds of participants. The main event is a 110km trail, with a total 3400m ascending elevation, but if your idea of outdoor sport is not as hard-core, there are several other options: LG Half, LG Relay 4, LG Walking and an LG Express that criss-crosses the pedestrian footpaths of Geneva. With the right weather, it’s the best time of year to enjoy the Jura ridge path’s amazing views of the Alps!

All Audiences

21-22 September - Geneva

Département
de la culture et du sport.

Route de Malagnou 19, 1208 Genève