© Bâtie Festival

LA BÂTIE - FESTIVAL DE GENÈVE
 

45th edition

Music, dance, magic, theater, concerts, showrooms, cabaret shows… La Bâtie festival offers us a wildly eclectic and absolutely international programme with artists from all over the world, united in “The Grand Geneva” this September. You will find in this issue a selection of performances but do check-out the full programme to find your personal favourites in one of the over 50 venues in Geneva, Vaud and neighbouring France.

All Audiences

Multiple locations | September 3rd to 19th

©  Bâtie Festival 

William Forsythe - A Quiet Evening of Dance

As part of the Bâtie Festival

William Forsythe is still at the forefront of creation. After a few years’ break he returns with a gentle evening of dance: a colourful tribute to classical dance that assimilates the virtuosity of contemporary dance to serve perfection. A quiet evening of dance is a twofold piece of choreographic purity.

All Audiences

Théâtre du Léman | September 8th & 9th

© Nunu Ngema

Black Privilege
 

As part of the Bâtie Festival

"Black privilege doesn't exist", says Mamela Nyamza in an interview. There is no black economy, no black politics, no freedom: "The only black privilege is our presence, our body.” It is her body that the South African dancer-choreographer and activist puts on stage.

All Audiences

Théâtre du Loup | September 8th & 9th

©  Grütli

Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare

In partnership with La Bâtie Festival

“There is something moving about seeing an orange scared, a tin of mackerel falling in love, a can of hairspray humiliated, a stick of glue dying” For the complete works of Shakespeare, six actors divide up the 36 plays, select a cast in their cupboards, bring out the china and the mustard pot, and sit down at the table. On a red velvet background, each of their stories gives life to these funny puppets who turn into Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Coriolanus, Romeo or Juliet. This is the company’s winning gamble: to translate the power of theatre into a story in a provocative, strange and moving domestic production.

All Audiences

The Grütli Center | September 9th to 18th

© Anna Fa Brega

SONOMA

Dance directed by La Veronal

Launched on stage at full throttle, nine women breathlessly dance the story of a humanity caught up in its own whirlpool; a world of women whose bodies are wrapped in black and white under tight buns and austere petticoats. Whether they evoke the saint or the ingenue, the immaculate bride or a circle of witches with raised fists, they stick and scream together. So far away and yet so close to our folklore and our mystical references, Sonoma invents a world, bringing together biblical beatitudes, theatrical brilliance, haunting songs and frenetic dances.

All Audiences

Comédie de Genève | September 13th and 14th

© Grand Théâtre de Genève

War and Peace

Opera by Sergueï Prokofiev after Leo Tolstoï’s masterpiece

Tah-dah! What a massive drum roll to open a season! Prokofiev’s most monumental opera (and probably also of the entire Russian repertoire) finally arrives in Geneva, for the first time at the Grand Théâtre! Prokofiev’s opera masterfully manages to narrate the passage from individual adventure to popular struggle, to one great tale of love and death. Coproduction with the Hungarian National Opera.

All Audiences

Grand Théâtre de Genève | September 13th to 24th

© MAH

For the gallery - Fashion and portraiture

Paintings and fashion objects exhibition
 

For a long time reserved for the elite, today within reach of a mobile phone, the portrait is the place of projection and the making of the self-image par excellence. Clothing, from the sumptuous drapery of ceremonial portraits to the variety of contemporary clothing, is a key element: it is a means of distinction, between conformism and the quest for originality.

All Audiences

Art & History Museum 
From September 17th until November 14th 

© Peter Honnemann Kampnagel

MAL - EMBRIAGUEZ DIVINA
 

Dance directed by Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Cape Verdean choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas is interested in the dark charms of Evil. A chorus of brazen dancers takes over the stage, which becomes a Dionysian platform for their carnival-like excesses. Devil, Antichrist, Satan, Leviathan or Lucifer, these magnificent evils rule a world of inverted values. Mal, subtitled Ivresse Divine (“Divine Drunkenness”), challenges our religious, moral, political and judicial foundations to explore the hidden side of human nature.

All Audiences

Comédie de Genève | September 18th and 19th 

© OSR

OSR Tribute to Armin Jordan

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande concert
 

Scheherazade, Rimsky-Korsakov's picturesque suite, has been one of the orchestra's favourite works since its creation. It was on the programme of the very first concert of the OSR, as well as on its 50th anniversary, and was recorded several times under the prestigious batons of Ernest Ansermet and Armin Jordan, to whose memory this concert is dedicated.

All Audiences

Victoria Hall | September 23rd - 19:30 

© Museum d’Histoire Naturelle

Bottle to the sea, Te Ao Maori

Exhibition coupled with Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Thanks to Nuku’s installation we plunge into the heart of the oceans in 2120. Entirely created from recycled plastic bottles and Plexiglas, his delicately sculpted and chiseled coral reefs, sea anemones and schools of fish are simply mesmerizing. This collaboration with the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva, the Museum of Cultures in Basel, the Museum of Natural History in Bern and the Musée du Léman in Nyon is supported by Save Our Seas Foundation, with the participation of Race For Water Foundation and Oceaneye Association.

All Audiences

Natural history Museum | until January 23rd 

THE ML MUNICIPAL LIBRARIES NETWORK (BM)

International books, documents and press selection

Are you looking for a book, a magazine, a newspaper, CD or DVD for you or your children? You’ll find more than 500,000 books and documents, 80,000 CDs and 50,000 DVDs for free in one of the 7 municipal libraries throughout Geneva. Many books, journals, DVDs, newspapers, etc. are available in several languages including English, German, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Albanian.

All Audiences

© Bibliothèques Municipales