The Hollywood Bowl – one of the premier outdoor music venues in the world and the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic – was honored at the 21st Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards in February 2010, as the Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue. This marks the sixth consecutive nomination and subsequent award representing an industry-wide acknowledgement of the Hollywood Bowl as an iconic venue, a leader in versatile and dynamic presentation, and a relevant destination for performers and audiences alike.

Renowned for its exquisite setting, the Hollywood Bowl plays host to a tremendous diversity of artists, from classical and pops to jazz, rock, pop and world music. “We are honored to be acknowledged by our peers,” said Arvind Manocha, Chief Operating Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. “The Hollywood Bowl is privileged to be recognized not only for our versatile presentation but also for the work we do to create a successful summer season.” Subscriptions for the Bowl’s 2010 season are on sale now, and single tickets will be available for purchase beginning May 2, 2010.

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London, England -- The Royal Collection, The National Trust, Lloyd’s of London, museums and private collectors have loaned important works to the first-ever exhibition devoted entirely to English neoclassical silver. The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840 will be held by Koopman
Rare Art Ltd, one of the world’s leading specialist silver dealers, at 53-64 Chancery Lane,
London WC2 from 3-25 June 2010.

This unique exhibition will be in support of Sir John Soane’s Museum which will lend silverware designs by Robert Adam, considered one of the greatest decorators of all time, from its extensive collection. Neo-classicism in silver, furniture and ceramics dates from the second half of the 18th century and was a new idea that took the world by storm. It was both a reaction against the excesses of the rococo and an enthusiastic revival of the use of shapes and decoration from Greek and Roman architecture. Neo-classicism in English silver is a much neglected area and the the exhibition catalogue by the curator Christopher Hartop will make an important scholarly
contribution to research into the subject.

The foreword will be written by Tim Knox, Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum, and proceeds from the sale of the catalogue will go to the museum. Koopman Rare Art and Sir John Soane’s Museum will also hold a one day conference on neo-classical metalwork in London on Saturday 19 June 2010. One of the finest pieces in the exhibition will be the Doncaster Cup, loaned from Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire by The National Trust.

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London, England -- This special summer display presents a rich selection of works of art acquired by the Courtauld Gallery since it moved to Somerset House twenty years ago. The Courtauld Gallery is sometimes described as a ‘collection of collections’ and has grown historically through the generosity of private individuals who have endowed it with the remarkable collections which they formed. This grand tradition of philanthropy, initiated at the Gallery by Samuel Courtauld in the 1930s, still survives and continues to extend and enhance The Courtauld Gallery’s world-famous collections.

The display will include watercolours by Turner, Constable and others from the collection bequeathed in 2007 by the late Dorothy Scharf. Other works to be shown include a portrait of Gian Lorenzo Bernini; a drawing by Ingres (once owned by Samuel Courtauld), fine Victorian watercolours by Frederick Walker; a rare 18th century pastel by John Russell showing one of the porters of the Royal Academy at Somerset House, sculptures by Degas and Rodin, and two oil sketches by Georges Seurat.. The display will also unveil Sir Joshua Reynolds’s late masterpiece Cupid and Psyche. Early work presented by sculptors Sir Anthony Caro, Phillip King and Richard Long extend the collections more fully into the second half of the twentieth century. Dates: June 17 to September 19, 2010

THE COURTAULD GALLERY, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
Use this link for further information . . . .

Los Angeles (February 16, 2010) – Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and President and CEO Deborah Borda today announced the 2010/11 season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dudamel and the LA Phil move into the second season of their partnership, one which allows for a greatly expanded presence for Dudamel in Los Angeles. The momentum and initiatives of Dudamel’s inaugural season continue with 12 new commissions, 9 world premieres, 5 U.S. premieres, 5 West Coast premieres, 2 composer-based festivals, a major European tour and a series of artistic partnerships. The vibrant season, which embraces innovation, excellence and commitment to community, is further embodied in the expansion of YOLA, along with a spectrum of imaginative presentations and the continuing tradition of introducing rising artists and composers.

“As Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I have been overwhelmed by the warm welcome I have received. The musicians of the LA Phil are my new family, and I love working with them and sharing our music making with you, our audience. As we continue to build and create many more beautiful memories together, I am looking forward to my second season with this wonderful orchestra,” said Gustavo Dudamel.

For further information, please follow this link . . .

Garsington, Oxford, England -- In 2011, Garsington Opera will move to a new home whose location is to be announced shortly. Before that, the 2010 season, the last at Garsington Manor, will reflect the qualities that have characterised Garsington Opera over the 21 years since it began.

While 2010 will see the return of talented conductors, directors and singers who have helped seal Garsington Opera’s reputation, the season will also, in true Garsington tradition, introduce exciting new artists, drawn from around the world, and encompass its policy of presenting gems from the repertoire that are rarely seen. Rossini’s wonderful and romantic opera Armida receives its first ever British production at Garsington this year.

The season opens and closes with the opera that launched Garsington Opera at Garsington Manor – Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro – in a revival by John Cox of his outstanding production which was a glorious highlight of the 2005 season. Douglas Boyd, whose Fidelio was a major success at Garsington in 2009, conducts a talented young cast.

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Vienna, Austria -- The Leopold Museum in Vienna presents 150 precious watercolours by artists such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, which are only seldom shown in public. 150 of the collection's watercolours, from Biedermeier to the 1980s can be seen in the exhibition, some for the first time . Amongst the exhibits are works of Viennese watercolour art of the 19th century (including by Rudolf von Alt) , the Art Nouveau period (including by Gustav Klimt ) and the early Expressionist period around 1910 (including by Egon Schiele ). The decades after 1918 are represented by artists such as Herbert Boeckl, Oskar Laske and Josef Dobrowsky .

This exhibition at the Leopold Museum in the MuseumsQuartier lifts the lid on 200 years of watercolor painting in Austria . Among the 5,700 works of art in the Leopold collection are thousands of watercolors so sensitive to light that they very rarely go on display. A selection of these treasures will be on display in 2010 to mark the 85th birthday of the museum's founder, Rudolf Leopold. Hidden Treasures of Austrian Watercolor Painting Runs to: May 24, 2010 at the
Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1 More info? Please follow this link . . .

Brussels, Belgium -- The Royal Greenhouses in Laeken cover six acres of neoclassical rotundas, domes and galleries. Twenty full time gardeners tend the giant ferns, fruit-bearing banana trees, grottoes, glades and grassy vistas. Highlights include the Azalea House, the rotunda, a colony of birds and the orange trees. Walkways are filled with climbing geraniums and fuchsias, whose blossoms form an overhead canopy. The visit ends with a short walk through the Royal Park.

Besides the greenhouses, the visit includes the Queen Elisabeth's workshop and the stables of the castle which were built in the beginning of the 20th century during the reign of King Leopold II and King Albert I. They are a masterpiece of the architects Girault and Flanneau. Dates: April 15 - May 9, 2010

New York, NY -- On Location Tours reports that Sex and the City Fans can enjoy a “sex”-filled day to celebrate the release of SATC2, the sequel to Sex and the City: The Movie. On Friday, May 28, On Location Tours will be offering a Sex and the City Movie Package that includes the famous Sex and the City Hotspots Tour, dinner, a ticket to SATC2, and admission to a nightclub, all for one low price. The nine-hour+ day will be led by actresses and stand-up comediennes who share inside industry information and will allow fans to follow in the footsteps of Carrie and Company.

The tour of Sex and the City Hotspots incorporates more than 40 locations from the movie and the TV show including the shop where Charlotte bought her "Rabbit,” the trendy Meatpacking District, and a stop to drink a cosmopolitan at the bar owned by Aidan. It’s the perfect mix of shopping, drinking, and sightseeing in the hip neighborhoods of New York City. There are also locations from Sex and the City: The Movie interspersed in the tour.

The package costs $179 per ticket and departs at 2pm in front of Pulitzer Fountain on Fifth Avenue. For more information or to purchase tickets follow this link . . . or call 212-209-3370.

On Location tours has launched Sex and the City girlfriend getaways and bachelorette packages that include the tour of Sex and the City Hotspots by limousine, dinner at a location used in the show, and entrance into one of the nightclubs where scenes from Sex and the City were filmed!

On Location Tours, Inc. is a bus tour company based in New York City, specializing in TV and movie location tours. On Location Tours also operates the tour of Sopranos Sites and Gossip Girl Sites, the New York TV and Movie Sites, Washington DC TV and Movie Sites, and the Central Park Movie Sites. The company was founded in 1999, by Georgette Blau, a 1996 graduate of Skidmore College.

Frankfurt, Germany -- The French Neo-Impressionist Georges Seurat (1859–1891) is considered to be one of the icons of nineteenth-century art and the most important exponent of Pointillism, a style of painting he developed. With about sixty paintings, oil studies, and drawings from public and private collections in London, Paris, Zurich, New York, San Francisco, a.o., the exhibition in the Schirn Kunsthalle offers a representative survey and, at the same time, focuses on a crucial aspect of Seurat’s oeuvre: the figure in space. No other pictorial subject tells more about Seurat’s art. Both his paintings and drawings testify to his great interest in the subject, which he dedicated himself to throughout his entire creative career. The artist initially looked to groups such as the École de Barbizon, to epochs like the Renaissance, or to fellow artists such as Puvis de Chavannes, but realized his subjects in a new painting technique and innovative compositions. Examining the
Impressionists’ pictorial solutions and the most recent scientific insights in the fields of physiology
and chromatics, Georges Seurat developed the method that went down in art history as Pointillism
and became an important source of inspiration for later artists. Runs to: May 9, 2010 at the Schirn Kunsthalle , Frankfurt Use this link for more information . . .

Zurich, Switzerland -- The Kunsthaus Zürich will host one of the world’s most important private collections – the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection until May 16th, 2010. The collection’s main focus is on French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, including other 19th-century French painters. Since it fell victim to a robbery in 2008, the collection's museum in Zürich has been accessible only with restrictions. For the Kunsthaus Zürich, whose success in the past century has been closely intertwined with private collectors and sponsors, the show constitutes a kind of dress rehearsal, since the about 180 paintings and sculptures in the current exhibition are intended to take up their permanent place in the Kunsthaus extension when it opens in 2015. More information