More contemporary circus - Orit Nevo 22-24 February

If you're a fan of contemporary circus, if you're curious, if you saw Knitting Peace, or if you regret not having seen it, here is another event that you should not miss. It's called Somewhere and Nowhere and it's about immigration. This production is a collaboration between Marseille based Archaos and Orit Nevo, an Israeli circus performer. It's a combination of theatre, circus and dance. Highly recommended.

It's at CREAC at 8:30pm on 22nd and 23rd and 4pm on 24th and it costs 16€. You can book via the MP2013 website or take a chance and pay when you get there. If you're using public transport, there's a bus leaving outside CREAC ten minutes after the performance to take you back to Bougainville metro.

A night at the opera. Elektra 13 and 16 February

Spend an evening at Marseille's wonderful opera house and enjoy Strauss's Elektra performed by Marseille's opera company. Elektra is the daughter of Agamemnon and when her father is killed by her mother's lover Elektra quits the country swearing to avenge the death. It's a story of death and vengeance, perfect opera material, all in one act.

It's at 8pm on 13 and 16 February and seats cost between 13€ and 77€

More Modern Circus - take a circus tour 1 and 2 February

After seeing that marvellous performance about knitting peace you will no doubt be looking for some more circus. The theatre Le Merlan is offering a circus tour in central Marseille with three different forms of circus performance in three unexpected places.

The tour costs 25€ (for the three performances and soup or tea) and the itinerary goes like this:

• 5:30 - 6:00pm Saint Charles campus, a welcoming vin chaud
• 6:00 - 7:00pm The company l'Immediat will entertain and challenge you with "Jubilation"
• 7:00 - 8:00pm Guided walk (30 mins), with a stop off for soup or tea, to the next destination
• 8:00 - 8:30pm Opus Corpus by trapeze artist Chloé Moglia at the Protestant Temple in rue Grignan
• 8:30 - 9:30pm Guided walk (5mins) with a pause to enjoy food provided by La Boite a Sardine
• 9:30 - 10:30pm De l'autre côté by Cirquons Flex at Société Marseillais de Crédit, Estrangin

If you dont want to do the whole tour you can go to see the performances separately (prices between 5 and 20€).

GO! - Capital of Culture Opening Weekend 12/13 January

The moment you've been waiting for! If you can't make it to Aix for the Air Force Flying display, go into Marseille and take a look at work in progress on the new buildings. On 12 January you can go into the old Station Sanitaire and see what is planned for the new Regards de Provence gallery as well as admiring the work of Georges Rousse, Dominik Barbier and Anne Van Steen. There are also exhibitions in J1 in the docks area. You can download a programme from the site. On 13 January you can visit the MUCEM building, due to open in June.

J1 La joliette

If you're after sound and light go to the upper car park of the Grand Littoral at 5:30pm on 12th to see the start of the light parade the march of the machines, mechanical diggers and agricultural machinery as you have never seen them.

On your marks - Capital of Culture opening weekend 12/13 January

It's time to plan where you want to be for the grand opening of the Capital of Culture year. There are major events in Marseille, Aix and Arles and smaller ones in Aubagne and Gardanne. The Grande Clameur (the Big Noise) is at 7pm on Saturday in Marseille. There will be people performing music, dance and generally making a noise all over the city.  There's a Google Map of all the events.

Try a concert of bicycle bells by the bandstand at the top of the Canebière, organised by Vélos en Ville (No. 22 on map), or a concert in sign language on the Vieux Port, organised by the Collectif Langues des Signes et Culture Sourde Marseille Provence 2013 (No. 26 on map) .

The Clameur lasts five minutes. After that there are events until the early hours, in the streets and at various venues. Get out there and celebrate.

New Year Concert 6 January 2013

Looking for some entertainment before the big Capital of Culture opening weekend? This concert will offer a varied mixture of popular and classical music to start the new year. It's at the Basilica Sacré Coeur on the Prado (No 81, near metro Perier). It starts at 4pm and it costs 10€ (free for under 13s).

The performance includes extracts from Haydn's Creation, Tchaikovski's Nutcracker suite, Bach's Magnificat, The Merry Widow and West Side Story. The singers are Murielle Tomao and Jean Christophe Born, with Christophe Guida playing the organ.

Descent of the Shepherds 24 December

Allauch, always good for Christmas atmosphere, has a live performance of the revelation of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. It's entertaining even if you dont speak Provençal. It starts at 10:15 pm in the hills above the city and ends with the shepherds herding their sheep down the street to a living creche in the church for midnight mass that starts at 11pm. Just the ticket.

If you have young children aged 6-12 years, there are activities in the village on 24 December between 2 and 5pm.

Circus Performance by Cirque Eloize 8 December

The Montreal circus troupe Cirque Eloize has a a new production, Cirkoplis, which pays tribute to Bandes Desinées (cartoons). They promise to be as impressive as ever with their spectacular choreographed acrobatic performances.

They're at the Silo, an impressive venue for an impressive troupe, on Saturday 8 December at 8pm. Tickets are from 33€ to 44€, available on line from the Silo website.

Contemporary Dance 28 November to 1 December

Michel Kelemenis, the founder of KLAP-maison pour la danse in Marseille moves across to the Ballet National de Marseille to produce his work "le sixième pas", the sixth step. It will be performed by German dancer Katharina Christi and BNM's Japanese dancer Yasuuko Endo. The music is a composition by electroacoustics creator Christian Kanési.

The second performance is a piece by Yasuuko Endo himself: "Mayday, mayday this is...". he uses his experience of being in Tokyo during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to inspire this work.

You can eat before or after the performance with tapas and drinks provided by La Boite a Sardine.
Perfomances are:
Wednesday 3:30 and 8:30pm
Thursday 8:30pm
Friday 8:30pm
Tickets are  9€ and 12€. To book telephone 04 91 327 327.

Concert of Egyptian Music 26 October

The Archives and Library Gaston Defferre (18-20 rue Mirès) has exhibitions and events all about Egypt running from October to December. On 26 October there is a concert of classical and improvised Egyptian music, described as deep and meditative, with Oud and Flute. The perfomance is by Hazem Shaheen (Oud) and Naïssam Jalal (Flute).

It starts at 7pm and entry is free. If you miss it, the exhibition of photographs: Egypt, clear and obscure, continues until 22 December.

Photo from www.rencontresaverroes.net

Borderline Festival Saturday 1 September

Borderline is collective that produces events at venues with a difference, on London buses (in Marseille), on boats, on roofs and, on 1 September, at the Chateau de la Buzine (Marcel Pagnol's "chateau de ma mère"). From 5pm to midnight the music, food, drink, boules etc takes place outside the chateau and from midnight to 4am the music continues inside. That way they won't disturb the neighbours and wildlife. It features Dr Day, Zuzoom and DJ Moar (outside) and Venice Beach and Villanova (inside).

It costs 26.40€ for the whole thing, or 20.60€ for the outside event and 15€ for the indoor event. Tickets available on line from Digitick

Rare Concert at Notre Dame de la Garde 11 August

Concerts in Notre Dame de la Garde don't happen very often so make the most of it.

At 8pm on Saturday 11 August the Swiss bi-lingual boys' choir La Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs de Fribourg will be perfoming pieces by J S Bach, Gounod and Scarlatti. Entry is free.

Maîtrise de Fribourg

Opera by the sea, Madam Butterfly, 11 and 13 August

Go along to the Théâtre Silvain, an open air amphitheatre facing the sea, this weekend and watch a performance of Madam Butterfly. It's not the full blown opera, it's a perfomance with singers and piano. the singing will be the orginal Italian with a narration in French. It starts at 9pm but the gates open at 7:30 so you can take a picnic. There are two performances on 11 and 13 August.

You can get tickets (8€ and 10€) from Espace Culture. To get to the venue, take the 83 bus to Fausse Monnaie, or there's a ferry boat from the Vieux Port that costs 8€. To book the ferry send a mail to accueil@croisières-marseille-calanques.com,

Dancing in the Street, Sunday 29 July

Take advantage of the balmy evenings to go along to the bandstand at the top of the Canebière and take part in the last of the season's Rendez-vous du Kiosque with Bal Décalé. The band was born from a meeting of 4 musicians from Poum Tchack and features Marseillais singer Mr K and double bassist Abdenor Natouri, with "Pee Wee" (Jean-philippe Steverlynck), violin - Alex Morier, guitar - Olivier Dambezat, guitar  and Sam Bobin, drums. They offer a mixture of (among others) swing, rock and roll, New Orleans jazz and tango.

You can also listen and dance to music from the 80s provided by DJ K-RO.

It starts at 6pm and its free to all!

Recital at Saint Victor Abbey 15 July

An unusual concert with an unusual instrument, at Saint Victor Abbey. Valentin Tournet will perform variations on the theme of La Folia (songs and dances popular in Spain and Portugal in the middle ages). He plays the Viola da Gamba, a baroque musical instrument, not to be confused with a violin. The recital starts at 5pm and it's free. You can take the opportunity to admire the abbey at the same time.

Ahmad Compaore Trio 13 July

This is one of a series of events taking place at the Théâtre Silvain, an open air amphitheatre just above the Corniche (Anse de Fausse Monnaie - take the 83 bus to Fausse Monnaie and walk up the steps). Go along to see the drummer, percussionist and composer Ahmad Compaoré, performing with Jeff Kellner (guitar), Sylvain Terminiello (double bass)  and special guest Christophe LeLiol (bugle and trumpet).   It starts at 9pm and it's free.

Ahmad Compaoré

There is also a projection of the 1969 Egyptian film, by Shadi Abdel Salam, La Momie (The Mummy).

Roberto Alagna sings at Villeneuve-Bargemon 7 July

If you're near the Vieux Port this evening there's an operatic concert featuring Franco-Italian tenor Roberto Alagna and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Marseille. It's in the open air at Esplanade Villeneuve-Bargemon, next to the Hôtel de Ville. It starts around 8:30 and it's free.

Roberto Alagna

There is also, throughout July, an exhibition of calligraphy in the Espace Villeneuve-Bargemon supported by Marseille Esperance.

Fête de la Musique 21 June

This year the fête de la musique is celebrating 50 years of pop music. If you venture outdoors on the evening of 21 June you will come across music, in the street, in the cafés and bars and parks and on the beach.  There is too much going on the list it all. Dont worry it's not all pop music.

Here is a taster of what's on offer.

9pm at Théâtre Silvain (an open air amphitheatre above the Corniche, bus 83 to stop Fausse Monnaie)  Concert by the Orchestra of Avignon Provence playing Strauss, Brahms, Mozart, Messager and many more.

9pm at Le Poste à Galène (103 rue Ferrari 13005) 100% pop rock Marseillais: The Magnets, The Last and Bird in Shell. Entry free.

9pm at Palais Longchamp the group Big Band, 17 musicians from the orchestra of the national conservatoire will perform some jazz classics.

Contemporary Art (and music) in Spring Part 2, 20 May

As part of the Spring of Contemporary Art, the American Gallery is opening a new exhibition on Sunday 20 May.  It features the work of David Scher.  The opening is from 2 - 7pm with a performance at 3pm by American Composer and banjo player Paul Ellwood. The exhibition continues until July 7 so if you can't make it to the opening, ring and arrange a visit to what promises to be an interesting exhibition in a beautiful location.

Notes by David Scher

Paul Ellwood

Contemporary Art in Spring Part 1, 17-19 May

Heigh-Ho, Heigh Ho (on rentre au boulot!), Thierry Lagalia

The fourth Printemps de l'Art Contemporain (Spring of Contemporary Art) is called Sous le Sable, Beneath the Sand. It is organised by Marseille Expos and is a three day contemporary art festival with exhibitions all over the city.  It is organised around three art tours with openings, performances and lectures, featuring

Vieux Port/Panier to Belsunce on 17 May

 Longchamp/Belle de Mai on 18 May

La Plaine Cours Julien and Préfecture on 19 May. 

The galleries are open 3pm to 7pm with "nocturnes" up to 10pm on the featured day. Entry is free. You can download a plan showing the location of the galleries from the Marseille Expos website.