The Arts of Islam

Following the successful exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, some 500 selected pieces from the fabulous Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art are on view at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris until March 14, 2010. The works on view in the exhibition The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection, most of which have not been exhibited in Europe before, span thirteen centuries of art.
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Ben Hur Live!

Fifty years after the first screening of the legendary film starring Charles Heston, Ben Hur dazzles the audiences once again with a breathtaking combination of light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects in a show performed in the round, like an ancient arena. Ben Hur Live, the major arena extravaganza continues its European tour with thirty-five shows in the UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, France, Spain and Belgium selling out fast. Check out when and where the show performs until the end of January 2010 and book in advance.
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Placebo Battle for the Sun

With 38 gigs in 34 cities and 14 countries in Europe from October to the end of December, the legendary alternative rock band of Placebo completes their Euro-tour for 2009. The London-based trio of Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest was founded back in 1994. Six studio albums, six EPs and 27 singles later, they gained a considerable amount of international recognition, and sold over ten million albums worldwide (one million in the UK alone). The promotion of their latest work Battle for the Sun brings them now to France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, UK and Ireland.
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Diana Krall’s Quiet Nights in Europe

With a Canadian and US tour now behind her, international jazz superstar Diana Krall is focusing on her remaining European trek behind her latest album, the Brazilian bossa nova-flavored Quiet Nights. The remaining part of her European leg in October and November 2009 is a hectic 37-date tour that spans 33 cities in 19 countries: France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, FYRoM, Serbia, Romania, Czech Rep. and Russia. If you’re anywhere close where she performs do not miss the opportunity.
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Deep Purple tour dates in Europe

More than 40 years after Deep Purple first started touring and making records, their multifaceted musical heritage not only lives on, it is continually evolving through projects featuring other musicians, and some of them are very young. In 2009 audiences across the world are still experiencing Deep Purple in their current formation as they are preparing to sow more musicals seeds on a November-December trek in 22 cities across the UK and another eight countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, France and Italy).
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Dancing with the Dutch

The Nederlands Dans Theater has been a cultural ambassador of the Dutch since 1959, when it was founded. Giving sold-out performances all around the world, this is one of the leading dance companies worldwide. If you go to the Netherlands any time after November 2009 and until the end of May 2010, do not miss the opportunity to go to one of he NDT shows given in 24 cities around the country. But even if you cannot make it to the Dutch country, you might be lucky: the NDT may come to you! This season's European tour for the NDT runs until July 2010 and stops to France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg and Norway.
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Depeche Mode touring the Universe

The English electronic band Depeche Mode returns to Europe to continue the Tour of the Universe 2009, after a long leg in the Americas. The trek is in support of the group's 12th studio album -Sounds of the Universe, released in April 2009- and takes them to 36 cities in 17 countries (Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, UK, Hungary, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia, Poland, Croatia) from October 31, 2009 to February 27, 2010.
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Who needs men?

For the first time in the world, a museum is displaying the feminine side of its own collections. This new presentation of the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris is entirely given over to the women artists from the 20th century to the present day. The show titled elles@centrepompidou is the third thematic exhibition of the collections of the National Modern Art Museum, following Big Bang in 2005 and the Mouvement des Images in 2006-2007. You can visit it until May 24, 2010.
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Breguet at the Louvre

A retrospective of the works of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), the Swiss manufacturer of the watches that became status symbol of the rich and famous, is this summer’s treat at the Louvre in Paris. Running through September 7 at the Sully Wing, salle de la Chapelle, the Breguet and the Louvre: An Apogee of European Watchmaking exhibition assembles exceptional loans –watches, clocks and measuring instruments– alongside portraits, archival documents and patents that span Breguet’s entire career.
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Paris Photo focus on Iran and the Arab world

This November, Paris Photo, the world's leading photography fair, brings together 101 exhibitors (88 galleries and 13 publishers) from 23 countries and presents a panoramic overview of photographic expression spanning the 19th century to the present day. Paris Photo focus for 2009 is Arab and Iranian Photography. With a third of the exhibitors participating for the first time and seven new countries in the list (Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Russia, Tunisia, UAE), the event proves it is on a constant move.
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Snapshots of Europe’s West Coast

A very interesting photo exhibition for the lovers of travel and the sea is on show at the seaside French town of Leffrinckoucke, six km off the historic city of Dunkirk, which had been the theater of one of the most significant battles between the Allied Forces and the Germans in WWII. It is in that place, at the Fort des Dunes, that visitors can see Jens Fink-Jensen’s traveling photo show, titled The West Coast of Europe – a photographic journey from Skagen to Gibraltar. The exhibition can be visited from Friday to Sunday afternoon, until the end of August.
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The ultimate Picasso experience

Aix-en-Provence, the charming French region of Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur, is an area which has often been a source of inspiration for many great artists. So, why not take advantage of a long weekend and combine high culture with the beautiful Provençal landscapes and views of the Côte d’Azur? You have good enough reason to do it this year that the region can give you the ultimate Picasso experience, through the Picasso Cézanne exhibition and a number of events that run throughout the year.
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Meet Tarzan in Paris

Who doesn’t know Tarzan? The hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, when the very first book was published became a literary phenomenon of the 20th century having appeared in comic strips, radio programs, television series and films. The character, who features in many media such as posters, figurines, CDs and even games, continues to fascinate and fuel our vision of an imaginary, fantasy Africa. See how and why in the exhibition Tarzan! or Rousseau and the Waziri at Paris’ Musée du Quai Branly, until September 27.
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Monet and Japan: the time of Water Lilies

The lush blues, greens, pinks and purples of Claude Monet's Water Lilies series are at the heart of a Milan exhibition which explores the French impressionist's relationship with Japanese art. With 20 large paintings by the father of French Impressionism from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, 56 Japanese prints from the Musée Guimet also in Paris as well as a selection of 19th-century photographs of Japanese gardens, the exhibition Monet and Japan, the Time of Water Lilies at Milan’s most prestigious venue, the Palazzo Reale, runs until September 27, 2009.
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