Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin The Canteen Restaurant, at Southbank Centre Square
From New York to Madrid to Tokyo, T+L spotlights eight culture capitals and maps easy itineraries that allow you to get your dose of art, architecture, theater, music, dance, and much more this fall. Plus, our picks of the best of the new season.
London "Louise Bourgeois," at Tate Modern (Oct. 10–Jan. 20; tate.org.uk). Surrealist, Expressionist, and conceptual artist Bourgeois is still going strong in her nineties. This show, which spans seven decades of drawings, sculpture, and installations, reflects the synthesis of the major movements of the 20th century in her highly personal art. "An American's Passion for British Art: Paul Mellon's Legacy," at the Royal Academy of Arts (Oct. 20–Jan. 27; royal academy.org.uk). "It took an American collector to make the English look again at their own paintings," a noted London art dealer once remarked of Paul Mellon. Some 150 treasures from the philanthropist's collection (which now belongs to the Yale Center for British Art) will cross the pond for an exhibition celebrating the centennial of his birth.
Paris "Alberto Giacometti's Studio," at the Centre Pompidou (Oct. 17–Feb. 11; centrepompidou.fr). Giacometti's attenuated sculptures seldom travel, because of their extreme fragility. This exhibition offers a wide selection of them, along with paintings, drawings, writings, and a complete re-creation of his atelier. Plus, the Pompidou marks its 30th anniversary this year with a rehanging of its holdings—Europe's largest— of Modern and contemporary art.
Vienna "Late Titian and the Sensuality of Painting," at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Oct. 18–Jan. 6; khm.at). Does the loose brushwork of Titian's late style represent unfinished painterly business, or a new direction heralding the next generation?This and other questions will be explored in a show that includes the museum's recently restored Titian, Nymph and Shepherd, as well as works by Tintoretto and Bassano.
New York "Impressed by Light: British Photography from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Sept. 25–Dec. 31; metmuseum.org). Calotypes—early photographs made from paper negatives— were well suited for travel photography. The more than 100 rare images displayed here include mementos of the Grand Tour and colonial India. This fall also brings the reopening of the Wrightsman Galleries for 18th-Century French Decorative Arts (Oct. 30), and the reinstallation of the Met's stellar collection of Oceanic art (Nov. 14). "Zhang Huan: Altered States," at the Asia Society (through Jan. 20; asiasociety.org). The performance artist who sat covered in honey and fish oil in a Beijing latrine to attract flies and protest political repression gets his first retrospective. Included are photographs and recent sculptures informed by China, New York, and his travels.
Washington, D.C. "J.M.W. Turner," at the National Gallery of Art (Oct. 1–Jan. 6; nga.gov). The most comprehensive U.S. survey of this quintessentially modern painter, whose studies of the sublime effects of light and shadow on land and sea made him an Expressionist avant la lettre.
Miami "Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami," at the Bass Museum of Art (Dec. 5–Feb. 24; bassmuseum.org). Sketches, photographs, and furniture illustrate the exuberant style of the architects and designers—Alfred Browning Parker, George Farkas, Morris Lapidus—who shaped the look of houses and hotels in southern Florida. The show features a reconstruction of the dining room in the Miami Beach residence of Lapidus, for whom "too much was nowhere near enough."
Fort Worth "Declaring Space: Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko," at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Sept. 30–Jan. 6; mamfw.org). This exploration of postwar abstraction through the work of four of its pioneers includes rare ensemble groupings of Rothko's work and an all-white Fontana installation.
San Francisco "Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson," at SFMoMA (through Feb. 24; sfmoma.org). The exhibition is the first U.S. survey of this Danish artist. Eliasson's installations have brought the effects of passing clouds, rainbows, and other phenomena indoors, posing questions about perception and experience.
Newport Beach, California "Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury," at the Orange County Museum of Art (Oct. 7–Jan. 6; ocma.net). Taking its title from Miles Davis's seminal recordings for Capitol Records, this ambitious exhibition explores the cultural ferment surrounding painting, architecture, furniture design, film, and music in California in the fifties and sixties.
Beijing " '85 New Wave Movement: The Birth of Chinese Contemporary Art," at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Nov. 4–Feb. 28; ullens-center.org). The inaugural show examines the mid 1980's and 30 of the artists who brought Chinese art to world attention. The new venue houses a collection of more than 1,500 works—paintings to video. — Leslie Camhi
Why Go Now October 30, 2007, will be remembered as the day when Madrid's nearly 200-year-old Prado Museum entered a new era. After more than a decade of planning and construction, and an outlay of $210 million, Spain's most revered cultural icon will unveil its 237,000-square-foot expansion, designed by Rafael Moneo. Once the purview of Spanish kings, who bought directly from Titian, Velázquez, Rubens, and Goya, the Prado has a collection long ranked among the world's finest. Moneo's extension adds galleries, an auditorium, restaurants, and a bookstore, and also embraces another Madrid landmark, the 17th-century cloister of the Jerónimo Church. Prado director Miguel Zugaza, who has overseen the transformation, notes enthusiastically: "It's time for Spain's principal cultural institution to face the future—and we're ready." Paseo del Prado; 34/90-210-7077; museodelprado.es.—Andrew Ferren
Stay Check in to the classic 167-room Hotel Ritz (5 Plaza de la Lealtad; 800/223-6800 or 34/91-701-6767; ritzmadrid.com; doubles from $665), the Prado's elegant neighbor. Its wood-paneled Velázquez bar is the ideal spot for a post-museum cocktail.
Eat Rub elbows with art-world insiders at Loft 39 (39 Velázquez; 34/91-432-4386; dinner for two $150), in an interior designed by Pascua Ortega. Try the tuna tartare with chive-flecked guacamole.
Don't Miss Zugaza suggests a Goya-centered tour: "Only in Madrid can you go from our masterpieces to those in the Real Academia de San Fernando, the Palacio Real, and the Church of San Antonio de la Florida, where the artist is buried." Book a tour through Made for Spain (34/91-310-7070; madeforspain.com).
Why Go Now London's Royal Festival Hall has never looked—or sounded—better. The home of the London Philharmonic, built in 1951 for the Festival of Britain, has reopened this June after a two-year, $184 million overhaul that's part of the revitalization of the Southbank Centre, which also includes Queen Elizabeth Hall. British architects Allies and Morrison re-created the original carpet patterns, uncovered the 1950's Bauhaus-inspired paint scheme, and added sleek new glass elevators. American acousticians Kirkegaard Associates enriched the hall's dry acoustics, which should now do justice to the world's leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Oct. 5–6) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Nov. 30). Belvedere Rd.; 44-20/871-663-2501; southbankcentre.co.uk.
Stay With more than 350 sculptures and paintings, the fashionable One Aldwych (One Aldwych; 44-20/7300-0500; onealdwych.com; doubles from $726) feels more like a Modern art gallery than a hotel. Rooms 118, 218, 318, and 418 have views of the Lyceum Theatre and Covent Garden.
Eat The new 250-seat Canteen (Royal Festival Hall; Belvedere Rd.; 44-84/5686-1122; dinner for two $90) serves revamped British classics such as braised lamb and potted duck with piccalilli. Request booth 1 or 21: both overlook the lively Southbank Centre Square.
Don't Miss "The Painting of Modern Life," at Southbank's Hayward Gallery (Oct.4–Dec. 30; hayward gallery.org.uk). The exhibition considers photographic images as a stimulus for Modern and contemporary painting through the work of more than 20 artists, from Warhol to Hockney to Richter.—Raul Barreneche
Why Go Now Launched last year, the Rome Film Fest is fueled by fresh energy—and by the fact that Rome is, after all, the capital of Italian filmmaking. Although most screenings take place at the Parco della Musica concert hall complex, just north of the Borghese Gardens, the Piazza del Popolo and the legendary Via Veneto are also venues. Rome showcases titles overlooked by Cannes and Venice and secures buzzworthy end-of-year premieres. The festival opens with The Golden Age, starring Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen. Also on the program: Youth Without Youth, a World War II drama set in Romania that is director Francis Ford Coppola's first film in a decade. Parco della Musica, 30 Viale Pietro de Coubertin; 39-06/4546-83900; romacinemafest.org; Oct. 18–27.—Darrell Hartman
Stay Halfway between the Spanish Steps and the Piazza del Popolo sits the Hotel Piranesi (196 Via del Babuino; 39-06/328-041; hotelpiranesi.com; doubles from $440). The 32 rooms—favored by artists and writers—are refined and unassuming, and the city's best antiques and art galleries are right next door.
Eat Film execs and fanatics can't go wrong at Dal Bolognese (1–2 Piazza del Popolo; 39-06/361-1426; dinner for two $80). The menu is full of classic crowd-pleasers: lasagne verde and tagliatelle alla bolognese. And the people-watching at the piazza is equally good.
Don't Miss "Actors and Directors," an exhibition of photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders at the Museo Carlo Bilotti (Viale Fiorello LaGuardia; 39-06/8205-9127; museocarlobilotti.it), which brings to life luminaries of contemporary film—including Steven Spielberg, Helen Mirren, and Rachel Weisz—in 50 large-scale portraits.
Why Go Now In December, Disney's musical The Little Mermaid, based on the feature-length animated film (itself drawn from Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale), splashes onto Broadway. The adaptation features Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's winning music and lyrics from the movie, plus 11 new songs by Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. Director Francesca Zambello, known for her innovative opera stagings, and set designer George Tsypin and costumer Tatiana Noginova (both have created productions for the Met and the Mariinsky Theatre) form an ideal team to conjure up the magical kingdom beneath the sea and the human realm above. The cast includes stage veterans Norm Lewis (King Triton) and Sherie Rene Scott (Ursula, the sea witch), and Sierra Boggess, making her Broadway debut in the starring role. Lunt-Fontanne Theatre; 212/307-4747; disneyonbroadway.com; opens Dec. 6.—Bill Rosenfield
Stay New York's Royalton (44 W. 44th St.; 212/869-4400; royaltonhotel.com; doubles from $590) reopens this month with a new look, thanks to former Hollywood production designers Roman & Williams. With 20 films under their belt, the two know drama: bronze fireplaces, rosewood furniture, and leather upholstery are their trademarks.
Eat Opened by Craft veteran Marco Canora, Insieme (777 Seventh Ave.; 212/582-1310; dinner for two $170) has a mix of modern and traditional cuisine, offering two menus—one classic Italian, the other contemporary.
Don't Miss Midtown is home to Broadway, but downtown remains a lab for creativity. The Crown Point Festival (crownpointfestival.org; Oct. 27–Nov. 17), on the Lower East Side, celebrates new theater and indie films.
Why Go Now The ballet company led by Suzanne Farrell, the most memorable of all George Balanchine's muses, alights again at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with two programs of works by the ballerina's mentor. Most intriguing of the six works being shown is Pithoprakta (above center). Set to an intricate score by Iannis Xenakis, the ballet, unseen anywhere for about 40 years, features a duet made vivid by Farrell in 1968 with her hair flying like the fringes of her bikini costume. Her partner was the electrifying Arthur Mitchell. Suzanne Farrell Ballet 2700 F St. NW; 800/444-1324; kennedy-center.org; Nov. 20–25.—Robert Greskovic
Stay The Hotel Palomar (2121 P St. NW; 877/866-3070; hotel-palomar-dc.com; doubles from $350) attracts sophisticated, creative types rather than buttoned-up politicos. This fall, take advantage of the Ballet Package (through January 2), which includes two tickets to the Washington Ballet and a backstage tour.
Eat Before 7 p.m., the stylish trattoria Notti Bianche (824 New Hampshire Ave. NW; 202/298-8085; $64 for two) has a top-notch pretheater menu. Dishes such as red chard–and–chicken liver crostini and diver scallops with chestnut purée and red-wine sauce are unbeatable.
Don't Miss Spend an afternoon undercover at the International Spy Museum (800 F Street NW; 866/799-6873; spymuseum.org). You'll be given a secret mission based on an actual case from U.S. intelligence and learn to encrypt audio data, crack a safe, and conduct a polygraph test. To bypass lines (and avoid having your cover blown), book advance reservations on ticketmaster.com.
Why Go Now Throughout its 84-year history, the San Francisco Opera has presented world premieres, innovative productions, and dazzling singers. This month, Appomattox, Philip Glass's 22nd opera, the highlight of the United States' 2007–08 music season, caps celebrations of Glass's 70th-birthday year. Commissioned by general director David Gockley, long a champion of new American works, Glass's Civil War saga has a libretto by Christopher Hampton and stars baritones Dwayne Croft and Andrew Shore squaring off as Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. San Francisco Opera, War Memorial Opera House; 415/864-3330; sfopera.com; October 5–24.—Anne Midgette
Stay The Galleria Park Hotel (191 Sutter St.; 415/781-3060; galleriaparkhotel.com; doubles from $219), decorated in a cool palette of blues and greens, with vintage-style furniture, evokes true retro chic.
Eat Spago-trained Anne Gingrass serves traditional Peruvian basics for her new 12-table restaurant, Essencia (401 Gough St.; 415/552-8485; dinner for two $80). Try the lomo saltado (steak with yucca fries).
Don't Miss The Glass premiere alone is worth a trip, but don't skip the San Francisco Jazz Festival (sfjazz.com; through Nov. 30), a who's who of jazz and world music.
Why Go Now Chile's capital has never been more spirited—or stylish. A downtown revival anchored by the Centro Cultural Palacio de la Moneda, neighborhoods like Barrio Bellas Artes, and projects tied to the country's bicentennial in 2010 are changing the city's look. And now there's the Museo de la Moda, Latin America's first fashion museum. The state-of-the-art facility, bankrolled by textile scion Jorge Yarur Bascuñán, features an 8,000-piece collection spanning four centuries. Its first show, "Dressing the Time," running through December, is a survey ranging from 18th-century French finery to 1970's English punk. 4562 Avda. Vitacura, 56-2/219-3623; museodelamoda.cl.—Connie McCabe
Stay After a $10 million renovation, the Grand Hyatt Santiago (4601 Avda. Kennedy; 56-2/950-1234; doubles from $388; santiago.grand.hyatt.coml) has a Japanese restaurant, a three-story Ako spa, and 310 refurbished rooms—those on floors 16 through 18 have breathtaking views of the Andes.
Eat Crispy Chilean-sausage egg rolls and tender Wagyu beef draw meat lovers to Ox (3960 Nueva Costanera; 56-2/799-0260; dinner for two $42), the city's newest—and best—parilla fina, or fine-dining steak house.
Don't Miss The Avenida Alonso de Córdova has the best shopping. Besides Armani and Hermès, you'll find Chilean boutiques like Zapatera (3834 Avda. Alonso de Córdova; 56-2/206-6585; zapatera.cl), where designer Javiera Munizaga's shoes (zebra-patterned flats, alligator stilettos) are favorites of the well-heeled.
Why Go Now Over the past five years, redevelopment projects have changed Roppongi, once known for its hostess bars and nightclubs. Now, with the establishment of "Art Triangle Roppongi," the district is set to become one of the city's cultural epicenters. A trio of museums, all within walking distance of one another, together span more than 12 centuries of Japanese and international art. Start with the Suntory Museum of Art (9-7-4 Akasaka, Minato-ku; 81-3/3479-8600; suntory.com/culture-sports/sma), which has relocated its collection of Japanese treasures (from kimonos to ceramics) to the Tokyo Midtown complex. A few minutes' walk south is the Mori Art Museum (6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku; 81-3/5777-8600; mori.art.museum), where you'll find works by contemporary Japanese artists. The new National Art Center, Tokyo (7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku; 81-3/5777-8600; nact.jp), a bold structure of undulating glass walls designed by Kisho Kurokawa, is Tokyo's largest art venue. This fall, NACT presents "Vermeer and Dutch Genre Painting" (through Dec. 17).—jennifer flowers
Stay Roppongi Hills has stellar sky-scraping hotels, but the new, 248-room Ritz-Carlton (9-7-1 Akasaka; 81-3/3423-8000; ritzcarlton.com) is the standout, literally: it occupies part of the city's tallest tower, the Tokyo Midtown. Highlights include a 200-year-old teahouse in the Hinokizaka restaurant and a concierge whose black book has the best restaurants, shops, and entertainment in town.
Eat Modern, red-and-black-walled Fukuzushi (5-7-8 Roppongi, Minato-ku; 81-3/3402-4116; lunch for two $60) has the freshest sushi in Tokyo.
Don't Miss The retro-minimalist shop Souvenir from Tokyo, in the National Art Center, Tokyo, is pure eye candy. Stock up on fine Japanese stationery, manga comics, and wooden kokeshi dolls.
Paris "Gustave Courbet," at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (rmn.fr/galeriesnationalesdugrandpalais; Oct. 13–Jan. 28). Courbet's vast ambitions are perfectly matched by the cavernous spaces of the Grand Palais, where the revolutionary Realist, whose monumental canvas A Burial at Ornans effectively buried Romanticism, receives his first Parisian retrospective in three decades.
"Arcimboldo," at the Musée du Luxembourg (museeduluxembourg.fr; through Jan. 13). The first-ever retrospective devoted to the 16th-century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, painter at the Hapsburg court in Vienna, whose wildly inventive heads composed of fruits and flowers were celebrated by the Surrealists as precursors of modernity.
Lisbon Museu Calouste Gulbenkian (museu.gulbenkian.pt). One of Europe's greatest treasure troves, including Egyptian artifacts, European art from the 11th through the 20th centuries, and jewels and glass of René Lalique, is celebrating its 50th anniversary throughout 2007. Through January 6, the museum presents "Religion in Ancient Greece," devoted to the Olympic Gods depicted on ancient coins, which complements the visiting exhibition "The Greeks: Art Treasures from the Benaki Museum, Athens."
New York "Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org; Oct. 17–Jan. 6). Forty tapestries drawn from collections in more than 10 countries will be presented in a 130-year survey of the spectacular medium for which leading artists, including Peter Paul Rubens, Charles Le Brun, and Pietro da Cortona, furnished designs. A sequel to the Met's 2002 acclaimed exhibition of Renaissance tapestries, the show includes drawings, engravings, and oil sketches that served as cartoons for the weavers.
"Painted with Words: Vincent van Gogh's Letters to émile Bernard," at the Morgan Library and Museum (themorgan.org; Sep. 28-Jan. 6). Rare letters (never before exhibited) from van Gogh and his younger colleague outline the close relationship, professional and personal, during the period from 1887 to 1889. The show includes more than 20 sketches, paintings, and watercolors by both artists.
"Gustav Klimt: The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections," at the Neue Galerie (neuegalerie.org; Oct. 18-June 30). The sale of Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer to Neue Galerie cofounder Ronald Lauder last spring—at the time the highest price ever paid for a painting at auction—sent tremors through the art world. It is one of the more than 150 works here, offering a rare opportunity to reassess the career of an artist long considered a minor Modernist.
"Richard Prince: Spiritual America," at the Guggenheim Museum (guggenheim.org; through Jan. 9). Cowboys, girlfriends, tawdry jokes, and magazine advertisements: with these exhausted icons, Richard Prince created a collective portrait of fin-de-siècle America; now the king of appropriation art is appropriating the Guggenheim for a major survey of his work.
"Piranesi as Designer," at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (cooperhewitt.org; through Jan. 20). This ambitious exhibition celebrates 18th-century Italian artist Giovanni Piranesi, prolific printmaker and architect, and also a revolutionary designer of interiors and furnishings, whose sumptuous style—seen in his intricate chimneypieces, Egyptian-style settee, and gilt-and-marble tables—continues to inform the works of architects and designers.
"The Geometry of Hope," at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University (nyu.edu/greyart; through Dec. 8). In the 20th century, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Rio, and Caracas emerged as vibrant centers of Modernism, yet the art and artists of these urban centers are, for the most part, little known today compared with the Mexican Muralists. Drawn from the superlative Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, the show documents the development and significance of geometric abstraction from the 1930's to the 1970's in South America.
Minneapolis "Frida Kahlo," at the Walker Art Center (walkerart.org; Oct. 27–Jan. 20) The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center team up for this exhibition of 50 paintings spanning the whole of the Mexican artist's career. Arresting, seductive, and iconic self-portraits will be displayed along with snapshots of Kahlo; many taken by family and friends. These portraits, in tandem with her surrealist paintings, elucidate the life and work of an artist whose subject was often herself.
Kansas City "Rising Dragon: Ancient Treasures from China," at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (nelson-atkins.org; Oct. 6–Feb. 10). In the heart of the heartland and with a stunning expansion that opened this summer, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has some of the country's exceptional Chinese art. On view this fall, many for the first time, 21 works masterfully crafted in bronze, stone, or jade that span over seven centuries, complemented by more than 20 funerary objects.
Atlanta "The Louvre and the Ancient World," at the High Museum of Art (high.org; Oct. 16-Sept. 7). More than 70 pieces from the Louvre's Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Greco-Roman antiquities collections come to Atlanta as part of a three-year partnership with the French institution for a show that traces the rise of the world's most iconic museum, beginning with the Napoleonic era. Opening concurrently, "The Eye of Josephine" (Oct. 16–May 18) reunites—for the first time—a collection of Greco-Roman and Egyptian frescoes, bronzes, marbles, and vases that secured the reputation of Napoleon's wife, Josephine, as one of the most prominent art collectors of her era. Don't miss "The Tiber," a marble statue dedicated to the Egyptian god Serapis and restored by the Louvre.
Houston "Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection," at the Houston Museum of Fine Art (through Jan. 21) proves that jewelry can transcend mere decoration to become artisanship with global impact. The exhibition includes 275 pieces, along with artists' drawings and sculptures which tie international jewelry-makers to larger artistic movements of the past 40 years.
"The David Whitney Bequest," at the Menil Collection (menil.org; through Oct. 28). This year marks the 20th anniversary of the art assembled by John and Dominique de Menil, housed in the luminous galleries designed by Renzo Piano. The Menil Collection campus includes the Rothko Chapel and Cy Twombly Gallery, both spaces for contemplation, but its heart remains the museum, where through the end of the month, the generous 2006 gift of collector and curator David Whitney—works by Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, among others, and 17 drawings by Jasper Johns—is on view.
Germany American architect Richard Meier's latest project is an expansion of the Arp Museum in Remagen, Germany (between Cologne and Coblenz). Filled with sculpture, textiles, paintings, and drawings by Dada artist Hans Arp, his wife, Sophie Traeuber-Arp, and their collaborators, the museum occupies a former railway station on the Rhine. A striking 13-story cone-shaped elevator tower, rising above the river on a steep wooded escarpment, connects the repurposed building with the new structure.
Philadelphia For the Philadelphia Museum of Art's new Perelman Building (philamuseum.org), which opened last month, Gluckman Mayner Architects renovated and expanded a 1927 Art Deco limestone landmark, formerly an insurance company headquarters, into a light-filled annex across the street. Inside is a series of new galleries—the museum's first in 30 years—for photography, costumes, and textiles, and Modern and contemporary design. Highlights of the inaugural exhibitions: 50 exceptional photographs by Alfred Steiglitz from the museum's collection of 600, and works by homegrown fashion designers James Galanos, Gustave Tassell, and Ralph Rucci.
Akron, Ohio The first U.S. building by avant-garde Viennese architects Coop Himmelb(l)au is an addition to the Akron Art Museum (akronartmuseum.org). An audacious glass wing cozies up to the museum's existing red-brick building, a former post office, while a 327-foot-long steel cantilever hovers above both buildings. Opening the wing is an exhibition devoted to the work of the quintessential American illustrator, Norman Rockwell (Nov. 10-Feb 3.), whose imaginative eye was cast both on scenes of quotidian life to images that document the American civil rights movement.
New York New York Film Festival (filmlinc.com; through Oct. 14). Now in its 45th year, the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual event has made previews of Academy Awards contenders and top-notch foreign films its stock-in-trade. Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, set in present-day India, kicks things off on September 28; No Country for Old Men, a thriller directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones, also jostles for the spotlight.
Cancun Cancún International Film Festival (cancunfilmfest.com.mx; Nov. 5-11). Cancún's white sands play host to a new kind of scene. This Latino-focused "ultimate Fest for the Americas" includes runway shows, a beach blanket drive-in, and international film premieres. Mexican Alejandro Lozano is featured opening night with his much-anticipated Sultans del Sur. Also slated to appear, either on-screen or at the beach: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, and Gabriel García Bernal.
Bahamas Bahamas International Film Festival (bintlfilmfest.com; Dec. 6-13). Not that twilight screenings on the beach aren't enough, but the four-year-old Cinema in Paradise, which unspools at the blockbuster-scaled Atlantis resort, has more than location going for it, including a lineup of global offerings and a special category reserved for films with a Caribbean connection. (Special effects–driven pirate movies need not apply).
London Parade Donmar Warehouse (44-870/060-6624; donmarwarehouse.com; through Nov. 24). Known for its vivid productions of classic and contemporary theater, the Donmar presents the U.K. premiere of a musical by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown based on the infamous Leo Frank case. Choreographer Rob Ashford makes his directorial debut. Next up: Michael Grandage stages a starry Othello (Nov. 29-Feb. 23) featuring Chiwetel Ejiofar in the title role, Kelly Reilly as Desdemona, and Ewan McGregor as Iago.
Misuse Liable to Prosecution, Brooklyn Academy of Music (718/636-4100; bam.org; Oct. 31-Nov. 3). Dance maker John Jasperse addresses 21st-century materials and materialism for a riff on poverty. Known for the spare set design of his productions and unusual costumes, the postmodernist works this dance onto a stage filled with things found, borrowed, or stolen.
Pichet Klunchun and Myself, Dance Theater Workshop (212/924-0077; dtw.org; Nov. 7-10). One of the most compelling, if low key–seeming stars of Performa07, a New York City–wide display of brand-new performance and visual art, is Jerome Bel. This Frenchman with an uncanny gift for odd and oddly riveting concoctions works opposite Thai dancer Pichet Klunchen for the first time.
Boston Paul Taylor Dance Company, Citi Shubert Theatre (800/447-7400; citicenter.org; Nov. 30-Dec. 2). As a beacon of modern dance, septuagenarian master choreographer Paul Taylor tours his company and reminds us how his weighted and weighty art can be expressive, entertaining, and disturbing. These bills include his lofty Aureole, his exhilarating Esplanade, and his shadowy Lines of Loss.
Los Angeles Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal (310/825-2101; uclalive.org; Nov. 8-9). UCLA Live, a leading presenter in Southern California of national and international productions, gives the North American premiere of Ten Chi, a choreographic travelogue based on Japan by the German iconoclast Pina Bausch.
Paris Jörg Widmann Chamber Concerts "Festival d'Automne" (33-1/53-45-17-17; festival-automne.com; Nov. 16-25). Cutting-edge, sprawling, extending from Merce Cunningham to Anselm Kiefer, and from the Théâtre Châtelet to the Centre Pompidou, the Autumn Festival casts one of its spotlights on the acclaimed German composer and clarinetist Jörg Widmann with three chamber concerts (in the Louvre and at the Opéra Bastille) of his works and other clarinet pieces from such disparate sources as Mozart, the 20th-century iconoclast Varèse, and the contemporary German composer Matthias Pintscher.
Boston Boston Symphony Orchestra (888/266-1200; bostonsymphony.org). James Levine's renaissance as an orchestral conductor continues this season with a focus on his preferred composers: Berg's violin concerto with Christian Tetzlaff (Nov. 8-10); a new horn concerto by Elliott Carter (Nov. 15-20); and the U.S. premiere of Dutilleux's orchestral work Le Temps l'Horloge on a program with Renée Fleming singing Duparc (Nov. 29-Dec. 1).
New York Vanessa New York City Opera (212/721-6500; nycopera.com; Nov. 4-17). Samuel Barber's opera is counted as an American classic, a plum for a singing actress, and too seldom performed (in part because of Gian Carlo Menotti's somewhat overwrought libretto). City Opera is redressing this neglect by setting Lauren Flanigan in the title role; Anne Manson conducts the performances, making her company debut.
Throughout the fall, the World Music Institute presents leading performers and ensembles from throughout the world at 5 venues, uptown and downtown. A sample: "Argentine Nights: Celebrating Tango" (worldmusicinstitute.org; Oct. 4-7) brings performances of the legendary "forbidden dance" and an introduction to Argentine chamamé, a blend of European music traditions and indigenous idioms. "Masters of Indian Music" (Oct.-April 2008) offers a sense of India's vast musical heritage with three concerts, including shows by sitarist Shugaat Husain Khan, the seventh in a prominent family of musicians, and Subhra Guha, the country's leading female raga singer. Seventeen of Central Asia's finest performers demonstrate the rich tradition of vocal and instrumental music from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, among others, in the program "Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia: Nomads, Mystics, and Troubadours" (Oct. 27). "Whirling Dervishes of Turkey" (Nov. 3) re-creates the absorbing dance of spiritual rebirth to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Rumi, the great Sufi poet and original sema twirler.
Dallas Emerson String Quartet at Dallas Chamber Music (972/392-3267; dallaschambermusic.org). This past summer, the superb Emerson String Quartet capped off its 30th anniversary with a series of concerts at Carnegie Hall. This fall they tour with programs of Beethoven and Shostakovich, composers whose repertoire they have championed. DCM presents the Emerson at the intimately scaled Caruth Auditorium on the SMU campus (Oct. 8); a performance by the Eroica Trio follows on November 19; soprano Heidi Grant Murphy on December 10.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (214/692-0203; dallassymphony.com; Oct. 18-Dec. 18) performs all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in a festival devoted to the composer; the orchestra's new music director designate, Jaap van Zweden, leads the concerts November 1–4 and 8–11.
The Dallas Opera (214/443-1000; dallasopera.org) opens its 51st season on November 9 with Verdi's Macbeth (through Nov. 16). Bernard Uzan directs Italian baritone Alberto Gazale in the title role and Russian soprano Tatiana Serjan as Lady Macbeth.
New York "Crossing the Line: FIAF Fall Festival" at the French Institute Alliance Française (fiaf.org; through Oct. 30) tests the boundaries between the Arts and artists, New York and France, performance and spectatorship. Visual artist Cécile Pitois invites hands-on contact with her FIAF Gallery installation; the installation pieces double as springboards for the works of modern dance choreographers Kota Yamazaki, Myriam Gourfink, and Daniel Larrieu. Paris's Compagnie Käfig steps, stomps and springs through scenic renderings of society's abandoned spaces in Wasteland, a hip-hop dance that takes its cues from North Africa, Andalusia, and the ambient light of a stand-alone street lamp. Even the woods and the wolf take on new light for Little Red Riding Hood in Joël Pommerat's riff on this classic children's tale, appropriate for young and old.
