AUSTRIA
Accordionist Festival, through March 24, Vienna. Classical, jazz, folk – such is the range of musical themes of the ninth Vienna Accordionist Festival. Every year, world-class stars take part in the festival. This year, audiences will see performances by Lerner & Moguilevsky from Argentina, the German duo Nu, and the Scottish group Lorraine Jordan band. Another feature of the festival is the so-called international mixed teams preparing concert performances specially for this festival: Luis Di Matteo & Arkady Shilkloper & Koehne Quartet & Tomasso Huber (Uruguay, Russia, Australia, Austria), Stefan Heckel's Dawn Chorus (Austria, Palestine, United Kingdom), Dobrek bistro (Poland, Russia, Brazil, Austria). In addition to 30 concerts, special silent film screenings with live musical accompaniment are expected, and on March 11 a Celtic music festival will take place. //www.akkordeonfestival.at
BELGIUM
Clown and Circus Arts Festival, March 6-16, Fantastic Film Festival, March 27 – April 8, Brussels. The Brussels Circus Arts Festival annually gathers artists unafraid of experiments. This festival features performances of various formats – from synthetic theater-circus shows to lyrical solo performances. The festival will take place at the Espace Catastrophe circus.
And at the end of March – beginning of April, the Fantastic Film Festival will take place in Brussels. Alongside the festival, there will be exhibitions of body art, new animation, fantasy literature, and a fashion show that fully corresponds to the festival's spirit: you will not see such fantastic outfits anywhere else. On the closing day, everyone is invited to the Vampire Ball. //www.bifff.org, //www.catastrophe.be
UNITED KINGDOM
Saint Patrick's Day, March 6-17, London. The Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in London begin 10 days before the main event – the parade. On March 6-7, folk concerts will take place at the Irish Cultural Centre. On March 8, a Celtic bard song festival will be held and an Irish book fair will open. On March 11, two art exhibitions of contemporary Irish art will open and musical evenings will take place, featuring popular Irish musicians. On March 13, a folk dance party will take place. From March 14 to 17, the Irish film festival will take place at the same Irish Cultural Centre.
At noon on March 16, a parade procession will go from Hyde Park to Whitehall, then the celebration will move to Trafalgar Square, where a festival of ancient and modern Irish music and dance will begin. At Leicester Square, there will be a real Ceili Mor, prepared by the Irish community, where everyone can try to dance in the ceili style. Irish food can be tasted (and bought) at the fair in Covent Garden. On this day, it is customary to drink only Guinness and dress in all green. //www.irishcentrehammersmith.co.uk
International Comedy Festival, March 6-23, Glasgow. Comic performances of all genres, styles, and directions will be presented at the Glasgow festival: from Hitchcock's comedy spy thriller '39 Steps' to the comedy show Watson's Wind Up. Daily, 10-20 concerts will take place on various stages in Glasgow. Some performances have free admission. //www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com
HUNGARY
Spring Festival, March 14-30, Budapest. The main cultural event in Hungary is the multicultural Budapest Spring Festival, which has been held since 1981. The program of this festival includes a wide variety of genres and directions: symphony and chamber music concerts, jazz concerts, musicals, a theatre festival, a film festival, art exhibitions, a contemporary dance festival.
Among the invited musicians this year are the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the folk ensemble Muzsikás, the José Limón Dance Company, the Monteverdi Choir, the gospel choir Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The public will be presented with Bizet's Carmen, Puccini's La Bohème, Wagner's Parsifal, a new version of Macbeth performed by the József Katona Theatre, the music program 'From Renaissance to Jazz', and many other interesting concerts and performances. //www.fesztivalvaros.hu
GERMANY
Contemporary Music Festival MaerzMusik, March 7-16, Berlin. The Berlin festival of contemporary experimental music MaerzMusik is positioned as an intercultural space, a contrastive dialogue between different musical movements and styles. This year, musicians from Australia, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay, Italy, and France will take part. About 30 new music projects will be presented at the festival this year – orchestral, chamber, solo concerts, and music theater performances.
The festival will open with the world premiere of Hommage a Klaus Nomi by Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth. No less interesting are promised to be the multimedia opera Itinerario do Sal, original flamenco compositions by Mauricio Sotelo, and a vocal performance by Spanish singer Fatima Miranda. //www.maerzmusik.de
IRELAND
Saint Patrick's Festival, March 13-17, Dublin and other Irish cities. The traditional festival in honor of Saint Patrick will open this year on March 13. The next day, at Merrion Square, a fair with rides and the famous Ferris wheel – the largest in Europe – will operate. Also on this day, you can see street theater performances and a laser music show, and attend a choral music concert at Christ Church Cathedral.
On March 15, the popular exciting game "Treasure Hunt" and the "New Irish Music" festival will take place; on March 16, the traditional multicultural show Denny Big Day Out, where everyone can choose their zone of interest: sports, music, fairy tale, art, theater, or dance. The main event of the festival, the large costume parade, will be held on March 17, followed by the traditional dance party Ceili Mor. //www.stpatricksday.ie
SPAIN
The Las Fallas festival, through March 20, Valencia. The main characters of Valencia's Las Fallas festival are wooden "ninots" – dolls from two to twenty meters tall, which are made in special workshops long before the holiday and depict celebrities. The history of these dolls is usually associated with the celebration of the spring equinox, during which wooden lamps were taken out of houses and burned. They gradually turned into dolls.
From March 1 to 14 in Valencia, you can view children's and adult "ninots," and in the evenings, you can buy fireworks and go to Plaza del Ayuntamiento to enjoy musical fireworks. On March 14 and 15, the solemn closing ceremonies of the doll exhibitions will take place; on March 16, a folklore parade will be held; on March 17 and 18, a flower festival; on March 19, the main "fire" parade, Cabalgata del Fuego. On the last day of the festival, all dolls will be burned: at 10 p.m., children's "ninots" are burned; at midnight, the large "ninots" are consumed by fire. This festival of fire and pyrotechnics is called Crema. //www.fallasfromvalencia.com
International Tango Festival, March 4-9, Granada; March 11-14, Almería. March is the traditional month for Spanish tango festivals. In Granada, this festival will be held for the 20th time and will open with two bright dance shows at Plaza Carmen. Then festival concerts will take place at indoor venues. Musicians, dance and ballet groups from Spain, Argentina, Italy, France, and Finland will participate. In Almería, the tango festival will be held for the 50th time, so a rich anniversary dance and music program is expected. //www.eltango.com
ITALY
Marathon, March 14-16, Rome. This year, the traditional March "Rome City Marathon" will take place on March 16. More than ten thousand people will participate in the 42-kilometer run from Via dei Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum. This sporting event looks organic and majestic in the heart of the ancient city. Anticipating the spectacle, Romans begin celebrating the approach of the marathon from March 14: live music concerts, fairs, street performances stoke sporting interest in the event. //www.maratonadiroma.it
FRANCE
Festival of Imagination, March 12 – April 18, Paris. This year, for the 12th time, the "Festival de l'Imaginaire" will be held at the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris, whose fundamental principle is the "spirit of freedom" – freedom of creative perception and self-expression, freedom of intellect, freedom of feelings. Some are attracted to this festival simply by its "geographical" exoticism, while others are drawn by a deep interest in understanding the variability of cultural space and the problem of isolation and interpenetration of cultures. This year, audiences will see a Japanese lyrical drama in the "Noh" genre performed by artists from Kurokawa (March 12, 13, and 14), a puppet theater from Sicily (March 15, 16, 17), a mask theater from Mali (March 24-27), and an enactment of "popular" Buddhist ceremonies by Korean artists (March 28-30). //www.mcm.asso.fr
Jazz Festival, March 11-30, Grenoble. More than 40 concerts in jazz clubs, theaters, and even city museums will be held as part of the Grenoble International Jazz Festival. The festival program, as always, is rich and stylistically diverse. This year, the festival will feature Magic Malik Orchestra, Tcheka, Johnny Staccato Band, Le Nouveau Trio Gitan, Radio String Quartet, and other musicians. //www.jazzgrenoble.com
SWITZERLAND
Caprices Festival, March 26-30, Crans-Montana. Caprices is a popular festival that takes place in Crans-Montana, one of the Swiss ski resorts. Visitors to the festival will encounter a whimsical mix of genres and styles. On March 26, for example, audiences will first see a performance by popular comedians, then hip-hop by A State of Mind, reggae by the Jamaican band Toots & The Maytals, and pop-folk by the band Morphologue. Each day of the festival will feature 20 concerts. //www.capricesfestival.ch