RCS Haven E-Bulletin May 2011 (No. 19)

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Hello and welcome to the RCS E-Bulletin for May 2011.
 
We whole-heartedly congratulate the veterans of the Second World War and the members of RCS Haven on the occasion of the Victory Day!
 
This newsletter contains a round-up of recent Russian stories in the news, the latest job vacancies from our website and a preview of Russian events happening across Scotland and the rest of the UK in the coming month.
We would like to take this opportunity to update you about the progress of the campaign to save the Slavonic languages departments at the University of Glasgow, which have been threatened with closure as part of a radical programme of cost-cutting measures. The period of public/specialist consultation is now over, but the University Court has recently decided to delay approving the proposed cuts for one month, in order to see if the Scottish Elections on May 5th lead to changes in higher-education funding. The final decision will now be taken in June; however, you can still join the campaign and make your voice heard – sign this petition (set up by department staff) to register your opposition to the closures: http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/save-slavonic-languages-at-the-university-of-glasgow/2431
Meanwhile, here at RCS Haven our language and cultural classes for children and adults will continue in throughout May. We are also able to offer a wide range of other services for our members: a well-stocked book and DVD library, translation and interpretation services from our sister organisation RCS Lingua, and specialist individual legal, financial and employment advice. For more information about any of these things, email us at [email protected]  or visit our website.
And don’t forget that you can now keep up to date with all the latest news from our centre by following us on Facebook and Twitter as well!
 
Contents:
-         Jobs
-         Jobs in Scotland
-         Russian-speaking Jobs
-         News
-         May Events Calendar
-         Regular events in Scotland
-         Events in Glasgow
-         Events in Edinburgh
-         Contact Us
 
Notices

The Russian school at RCS Haven are introducing new classes and, as a result of this, are seeking a qualified Russian language and literature teacher. Candidates will have experience of teaching Russian in an English-speaking environment. A degree in the Russian language and certificates for teaching Russian as a second language would be an advantage. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to complete practical training in the teaching programmes developed by the school. The salary is subject to negotiation based on the qualifications of the candidate. Please send CVs and letters of recommendation. [email protected]  

Jobs
 The job search facility on the RCS Haven website collects vacancies from Scottish, British and Russian employers, and makes them searchable by keyword. It can be accessed by clicking here, but below is a selection of some of the wide range of jobs currently being advertised through the website:
 
Jobs in Scotland:
1. HSE Advisor - Contract - Angus
My client is a leading contractor within the Civil, Construction and Power Industries. Having been awarded a number of contracts with a key client they are now looking to recruit a number of HSE Advisors for site based roles in Scotland. The Role - more...
2. Project Manager
One of Europe 39 s largest privately owned renewable energy companies is expanding its presence within the UK and specifically Scotland The requirement is for a Project Manager preferably with previous wind farm experience to identify and drive more...
3. 5 x Structural Designers Rosyth near Fife S
Experienced Structural Design Draughtsman with marine expereience capable of developing structural engineered solutions utilising 2D 3D CAD packages required for global engineering company to be based in Rosyth near Dunfermline Fife Scotland for a 6 more...
4. Nursing Home Manager - Elderly & Dementia
Job Title: Nursing Home Manager ?? Elderly & Dementia Salary: £32 - £40k per annum in line with experience Ref no: PNRSB112 Location: Scotland, Near PerthshireThis is a fantastic opportunity for a focused individual to take a leading role more...
5. Assistant Store Manager with Apple knowledge/Passion!
Title : Assistant Store Manager with Mac Knowledge/Passion! Salary: £16k OTE £22500k immediate start! Location: Dundee, Scotland Keywords: Store Manager, Electrical Retail Manager, Apple Products, Macintosh Computer, Apple Mac, Assistant more...
 
Russian-speaking Jobs:
1. Russian Speaking FX Specialist
High calibre individual with fluent Russian language skills and extensive FX Markets knowledge and experience gained from a bank or electronic trading vendor environment sought by this leading global house. Superior FX knowledge will be more...
2. Russian Or Polish Spkg Relationship Manager - Hnwi
Job Title: RUSSIAN OR POLISH spkg Relationship Manager - HNWI Skills: Fluency in RUSSIAN OR POLISH a strong background in wealth management or banking / mortgage related sales, IMC, CeFA, FSA qualifications or equivalent Salary: £35-55k basic + more...
3. Russian Speaking Application Support Analyst Bracknell - £30k
Russian Speaking Application Support Analyst Bracknell - £30k Russian Speaking Application Support Analyst Bracknell - £25k - £30k Russian speaking Application Support Analyst required to join a leading Software Company in Bracknell. You more...
4. Bi-Lingual service desk Analyst Russian
Bi-lingual Russian service desk analyst required to support users in Russian and English for city based client. Experience Required: Fluent Russian (Written and verbal) At least 1 year experience in a Service Desk environment, providing 1 level more...
5. Web Developer (Russian Speaking)
An experienced Russian speaking Front End Developer is required for this prestigious new media agency. You will be required to come in and work in a permanent capacity developing a wide range of websites using hand coded HTML, CSS, Javascript and more...
 
 
 Please also note that RCS Haven is always looking for volunteers to work at the centre and qualified staff to run language and cultural courses for children and adults. If interested, please email your CV to [email protected]  
 
 

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has assured there will be no delays in the implementation of a program for building 200 new Orthodox churches in Moscow, Interfax-Religion reports. "There will be no problems or delays. Now it's necessary to switch to the practical phase in designing and building churches," Sobyanin said at a meeting of the board of trustees of the Church Construction Support Fund in Moscow on Friday.
 
Nearly 20 years after the collapse of the atheistic Soviet Union, a recent poll found that 82 percent of Russians classify themselves as religious believers. But far fewer subscribe to organized religion.
 
The famous Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov has completed his 8-year-long work on his epic film “Burnt By the Sun -2”. The final film of his epic series, “The Citadel”, made its way to the Russian screens on May 5th – ahead of V-Day, marking the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
 
Reclusive Russian math genius Grigory Perelman finally explained his rejection of a $1 million prize for solving a problem that has puzzled scientists for over a century.
"Emptiness is everywhere and it can be calculated, which gives us a great opportunity ... I know how to control the universe. So tell me, why should I run for a million?"
 
For sale: one Scottish island. Sitting tenants: several seal families, 40,000 gannets and thousands more kittiwakes, puffins, razorbills, herring gulls and guillemots.
And the price? £2.5-2.75 million.
That seems pretty steep for a mere 219.69 acres of remote island in the outer Firth of Clyde, nine miles off shore from the old fishing port of Girvan.
 
One thing you can say about the novelist Vladimir Sorokin: He has the hair of an honest-to-God, old-school Russian sage. It radiates in luxuriant white waves around his unlined face, suggesting that he has emerged — half-monk, half-lion — from the sun-dappled glades where Tolstoy once walked.
 
The record industry is doomed, they say. So why is Len Blavatnik trying to buy two huge labels?
Pop is about to get a new paymaster. He is a Ukrainian-born American citizen who made a fortune in Russia and now lives like a king in London, and it looks like he is about to get his hands on one of the biggest record companies in the world.
 
Henri Cartier-Bresson visited Moscow in 1954 to document daily life under communism.
He sought to capture with his camera what he called decisive moments, coincidentally graceful arrangements of people or objects that other observers would have overlooked.
 
While there is currently no undisputed claimant to the defunct Romanov throne, Mr Baunov points out that Harry has plenty of royal Russian blood coursing through his veins.
He continued: 'His great great grandmother was the great duchess Olga Konstantinovna Romanov.
'Moreover, King George V [who ruled from 1910-36] was a cousin of our Tsar Nicholas II, so the British princes are his distant nephews.'
 
Researchers from Britain came to the conclusion that the liar can be determined by the person who tells PsicologiaSalute. Scientists have conducted research and led some regularities between a person's appearance and the level of honesty from a study of those types of politicians (mostly – men) from different countries and different historical periods.
 
May Events Calendar
 Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun
             1
 
 Theatre, ‘Little Eagles’ (until Sat 7thà)
 
Opera, ‘The Tsar’s Bride’ (until Sat 2ndà)
 
Exhibition, ‘Several’ (until Sat 21stà)

 

      
 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
 Bank Holiday      Conference, ‘Nabokov and Morality’ Symposium (until Fri 6thà)
 
Business Event, RBCC ‘Breakfast Discussion on Visas’
 
Exhibition, Russia’s Cities: War and Poetry’ (until 4th June à)
 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
   Theatre, ‘The Cherry Orchard’ (until 28th July à)

 

 
Talk, ‘Rock Music, State and Religion in Post-Soviet Russia’
 
 
 
Concert, LSO Gergiev’s Tchaikovsky – ‘Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.3’

 

 
Exhibition, ‘Russian Atlantis’ (until Fri 27thà)		    Concert, LSO Gergiev’s Tchaikovsky – ‘Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.3’
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
       Concert, BBC SSO ‘Afternoon Performance V’  Talk, ‘Gomel: A Belarusian Town at War’  Concert, The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra (Edinburgh)

 Concert, The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra (Perth)
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
 Theatre, ‘Anna Karenina’ (until 11th June à)            
30 31          
 Bank Holiday            

 

Regular Events in Scotland:
Orthodox Church Services:
 The following Scottish churches hold regular/semi-regular Orthodox services (all welcome):
·         Glasgow: The Parish of St. Kentigern (Russian Orthodox). Services held in Govan Old Church, 866 Govan Road, Glasgow, G51 3UU.
·         Edinburgh: Orthodox Community of St. Andrew (a mixture of Orthodox faiths). Services held in the Chapel of St. Andrew, 2 Meadow Lane, Edinburgh, EH8 9NR.
 
 Every Sunday night Cafe Cossachok hosts a live concert featuring a mixture of Russian and Eastern European folk-songs and works by Russian classical composers. Booking essential.
-         Cafe Cossachok, 10 King Street, Glasgow, G1 5QP
 
·         Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre
 Sharmanka are a unique and award-winning theatre group whose performances are ‘acted’ by carved wooden figures and ingenious moving mechanical contraptions. Booking essential.
-         Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, 103 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HD
 
 
Events in Glasgow:
·         Thursday 5th – Friday 6th May: Conference, ‘Nabokov and Morality’ Symposium
 At the beginning of May the University Strathclyde in Glasgow welcomes leading experts from all over the world for a conference to discuss the work of Vladimir Nabokov, possibly the greatest, and certainly the most controversial, Russian writer of the twentieth century. The keynote speaker will be Professor Michael Wood of Princeton University, and during the course of the two-day event there will be presentations on a wide range of subjects connected with Nabokov’s understanding and representation of virtue, morality and ethics in his fiction. Each day will also close with an open round-table discussion.
-         Graham Hills Building, The University of Strathclyde, 50 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1QE
-         Thursday 5th May: 9.15am-4.45pm/Friday 6th May: 9.00am-4.45pm
-         Cost: £25.00 (both days)/£12.50 (one day only)
-         For further details about the conference or to register to attend, please contact Michael Rodgers (conference organiser) by email at [email protected]
-         More information: http://www.strath.ac.uk/events/campuscalendar/may2011/  
 
·             Friday 6th - Saturday 7th May: Theatre, ‘White Rose’/‘Stars in the Morning Sky’
 This month the Tron Theatre will be the main venue for Glasgow’s second annual ‘Mayfesto’, a new and provocative theatre festival that celebrates the power of the spoken word and explores the intersection between drama and global political issues. During the festival ‘The Visitors’ theatre group, led by Nicola McCartney, will be showcasing informal readings of two Russian/Russia-set plays. On Friday 6th May, they will perform Peter Arnett’s ‘White Rose’, which uses the story of the Second World War Soviet fighter pilot Lydia Litvak, one of the only women ever to hold such a position, to discuss themes of war and empire. On Saturday 7th May, meanwhile, there will be a performance of Alexander Galin’s play ‘Stars in the Morning Sky’, which is based on the true story of the USSR’s attempts to ‘show it’s best face to the world’ when staging the Moscow Olympics in 1980, by purging the city’s streets of people they considered ‘undesirable’. The plot follows five prostitutes who are arrested and detained in a mental asylum of the edge of the city prior to the Games.
-      The Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HB
-                   8.30pm
-                   Tickets: £2.50
-                   To book, call 0141 552 4267 or click here
-                   More information:
-         ‘White Rose’: http://www.tron.co.uk/event/white_rose/
-         ‘Stars in the Morning Sky’: http://www.tron.co.uk/event/stars_in_the_morning_sky/
-         Mayfesto: http://www.tron.co.uk/mayfesto/  
 
·         Thursday 12th May: Concert, Scottish Symphony Orchestra ‘Flights of Inspiration 4’
 The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra bring their 2010-’11 season to a close in spectacular fashion with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s triumphant ‘5th Symphony’ . When the piece was first performed in 1888 it was not received well and even the composer himself considered it a failure, but it has gone on to become one of his most popular and enduring works. At this concert the SSO will also be performing Beethoven’s ‘5th (Emperor) Piano Concerto’, with the help of internationally-acclaimed Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire.
-      City Halls (Grand Hall), Candleriggs, Glasgow, G1 1NQ
-                   7.30pm
-                   Tickets: £10.00-23.00
-                   To book, call 0141 353 8000 or click here
 
·         Thursday 12th – Friday 13th May: Conference, ‘Fourth CRCEES Research Forum’
 The Centre for Russian, Central and Eastern European Studies (CRCEES) is a multi-institutional Centre of Excellence for research in a wider number of fields connected to Russia and Eastern Europe. Each May Glasgow University hosts its annual ‘research forum’, at which lecturers and post-graduate students are invited to give papers and take part in panels, workshops and plenary sessions on specific topics relating to one or more of CRCEES’ main areas of research interest – identity and culture, economic and social transformation, politics and international relations, literary, cinematic and cultural developments, and the politics of language.
-         Gilmorehill Centre, The University of Glasgow, 9-11 University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8NW
-         Thursday 12th May: 9.30am-6.00pm/Friday 13th May: 9.30am-3.00pm
 This year the main programme of events at the forum will also be supplemented by two more informal events curated by the Creative Practice/Research Group at the University of the West of Scotland, and which will aim to critically explore the different ways in which Russian and Eastern European cultures are translated, constructed and narrated within the context of Russian and Eastern European area studies.
-      Thursday 12th May:
-         Roundtable, 2.30-6.30pm
-         Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, G1 3AH
-      Friday 13th May:
-         Symposium ‘Mashing Up: Curating Practice’ 2.00-700pm
-         Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD
-      For further details about any of the events at the conference or to register to attend, please contact Mrs Ann Mulholland (CRCEES Administrator) on 0141 330 8539, or by email at [email protected]
 
·         Thursday 19th May: Concert, Scottish Symphony Orchestra ‘Afternoon Performance V’
 The BBC SSO’s short season of afternoon concerts concludes with a sparkling musical programme, the highlight of which will undoubtedly be a performance of Prokofiev’s witty ‘1st (Classical) Symphony’.Also being played at this event will be other well-loved pieces by composers including Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Handel and Mozart.
-      City Halls (Grand Hall), Candleriggs, Glasgow, G1 1NQ
-                   2.00pm
-                   Tickets: £7.00
-                   To book, call 0141 353 8000 or click here
 
·         Sunday  22th May: Tribute to veterans and survivors of WWII   
      Cafe Cossachok presents
2.00pm: Tea, blinis and memories. Talks and reminiscences of veterans and war survivors.      
           Kid’s workshop – Paper and straw doll making based on Russian Fairy Tales.
3.00pm:   Film “The Star” (2002). A film based on the book by E.Kazakevich.
5.00pm:   Concert, World renowned musicians Lev Atlas (violin), Oleg Ponomarev (violin) and Nigel Clark (guitar) of KOSHKA, make music that ranges in high style through klezmer, gypsy, Eastern European folk. Featuring Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannissyan, Russian baritone Misha Pavlov and Glasgow’s one and  only Maria Atlas (soprano).
- Cafe Cossachok, 10 King Street, Glasgow, G1 5QP
      - To book, call 0141 553 0733
 
·             Friday 29th April – Thursday 5th May: Film, ‘L’Affaire Farewell’  
 ‘L’Affaire Farewell’, byFrench director Christian Carion, is a nuanced Cold War thriller based on an extraordinary true story. In 1981 Pierre Fromont, a French businessman working in Moscow, forms an unlikely bond with Grigoriev, a disenchanted KGB officer. Suddenly Grigoriev begins to pass on information to Fromont about Soviet spies in the US, and a dangerous race between the Western and Eastern security services to find the source of the leaked intelligence begins, with the unlucky Fromont caught in the middle. Languages: French, English and Russian (with English subtitles).
-         Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
-         Film Times:
-      Fri 29th/Sat 30th April: 1.00/3.30/6.10/8.30pm
-      Sun 1st May: 1.00/6.10/8.45pm
-      Mon 2nd – Thurs 5th May: 2.30/6.00/8.30pm
-         Tickets: £7.50 (£5.50 concessions)
-         To book, call 0131 228 2688 or visit the cinema website
 
·             Saturday 7th May – Saturday 4th June: Exhibition, Janet Quintrell Treloar ‘Russia’s Cities: War and Poetry’
 Janet Quintrell Treloar is a painter originally from West Cornwall in England, and who is currently vice-president of the Royal Watercolour Society. The SRI is hosting an exhibition of some examples of her recent work, which can be grouped in to two broad themes – the wartime heroism of the Russian people and the life and work of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. The paintings were inspired by the artist’s visits to three Soviet ‘hero cities’ - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Volgograd, and chart her attempts to record the lasting impressions left by the war on the cities’ landscapes and populations. Whilst in St. Petersburg she also sought out Anna Akhmatova’s former home and created a series of paintings of the building, its interiors, and of other significant locations from Akhmatova’s life and poetry throughout the city. Previously, the exhibition has been displayed at the Russian Embassy and Pushkin House in London, and at the Galitzin Library in St. Petersburg.
-         Scotland Russia Institute, 9 South College Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AA
-         Tuesday – Friday, 11.00am-4.00pm; Saturday, 1.30-4.00pm
-         FREE
-         More information: http://www.scotlandrussiaforum.org/exhibitions.html
 
·         Friday 13th May: Talk, Professor Peter France ‘Anna Akhmatova, Poet of St. Petersburg’
 Talk to coincide with the Russia’s Cities: War and Poetry’ exhibition of paintings by Janet Quintrell Treloar, on show at the SRI from Sat 7th May – Sat 4th June (see above). In this lecture Professor Peter France, who has translated and written extensively on the subject of Russian poetry, will offer an overview of Anna Akmatova’s life and work, focusing on a selection of memorable poems that evoke the city of St Petersburg and its tragic destiny in the twentieth century.
-         Scotland Russia Institute, 9 South College Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AA
-         7.30pm
-         Tickets: £2(SRF members)/£5.00(non-members). Admission payable on the door, but prior booking is essential for this event as places are very limited.
-         To book, contact the SRF on 0131 668 3635 or email [email protected]
-         More information: http://www.scotlandrussiaforum.org/events.html
 
·         Friday 20th May: Talk, Jesper Ericsson ‘Gomel: A Belarusian Town at War’
 Talk to coincide with the Russia’s Cities: War and Poetry’ exhibition of paintings by Janet Quintrell Treloar (Sat 7th May – Sat 4th June), and with the ‘Gomel: A Belarusian Town at War’ exhibition at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen (Weds 2nd Feb – Thurs 30th June). In 2010, Aberdeen and the Belarusian town of Gomel celebrated two decades of being twinned. Today, Gomel is a thriving, bustling city, but during the Second World War the city was devastated, both by fighting and by a brutal Nazi occupation that lasted from 1941 to ’43. In this lecture Jesper Ericsson, the curator of the Gordon Highlanders Museum, will talk in detail about what happened to Gomel and its people during the war years, and about the unique collection of artefacts on loan from the Gomel Museum of Military Glory that are currently on display at his museum.
-         Scotland Russia Institute, 9 South College Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AA
-         7.30pm
-         Tickets: £2(SRF members)/£5.00(non-members). Admission payable on the door, but prior booking is essential for this event as places are very limited.
-         To book, contact the SRF on 0131 668 3635 or email [email protected]
-         More information: http://www.scotlandrussiaforum.org/events.html
 
·             Saturday 21st May: Concert, The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra
 The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, formed at the behest of Catherine the Great in 1776, is the oldest in Russia, and with over 300 members is now one of the largest Symphony Orchestras in the entire world. At this concert the Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Lazerev, will perform the following classic pieces from Russian opera and ballet scores: Tchaikovsky Extracts from ‘Eugene Onegin’, Polinaise ‘Tatiana’s Letter scene – Onegin’s aria’, and Prokofiev Suite from ‘Cinderella’. (This concert will also be held in Perth on Sunday 22nd May – please see Rest of Scotland listings for further details.)
-         Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EA
-         7.30pm
-         Tickets: £10.00-30.00
-         To book, call 0131 228 1155 or visit the Usher Hall website
 
The Rest of Scotland:
·             Wednesday 2nd February – Thursday 30th June: Exhibition, ‘Gomel: A Belarusian Town at War’, Aberdeen
(A talk to accompany this exhibition is being held at the Scotland Russia Institute in Edinburgh on Friday 20th May (see above). In 2010, Aberdeen and the Belarusian town of Gomel celebrated two decades of being twinned. Today, Gomel is a thriving, bustling city, but during the Second World War the city was devastated, both by fighting and by a brutal Nazi occupation that lasted from 1941 to ’43. This exhibition commemorates these dark years in the city’s history and contains a selection of unique items on loan from the Gomel Museum of Military Glory, as well as contemporary Red Army uniforms, equipment and weapons. When viewing these objects visitors are forced to consider the great sacrifice of the Belarusian people in the war (one third of the country’s population died in WWII), alongside recurring themes of resistance, the Holocaust and the role of women during the conflict.
-      The Gordon Highlanders Museum, St. Luke’s, Viewfield Road, Aberdeen, AB15 7XH
-      Tues-Sat, 10.00am-4.00pm
-      Tickets: £5.00/£3.00 (concessions)/£2.00 (children)
-      More information: http://www.gordonhighlanders.com/exhibits/
 
·         Sunday 22nd May: Concert, The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, Perth
 The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, formed at the behest of Catherine the Great in 1776, is the oldest in Russia, and with over 300 members is now one of the largest Symphony Orchestras in the entire world. At this concert the Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Lazerev, will perform the following classic pieces from Russian opera and ballet scores: Tchaikovsky Extracts from ‘Eugene Onegin’, Polinaise ‘Tatiana’s Letter scene – Onegin’s aria’, and Prokofiev Suite from ‘Cinderella’. (This concert will also be held in Edinburgh on Saturday 21st May – please see Edinburgh listings for further details.)
-         Perth Concert Hall, 185 High Street, Perth, PH1 5UW
-         7.30pm
-         Tickets: £22.00-32.00
-         To book, call 01738 621031 or visit the concert hall website
 
·         Monday 23rd May – Saturday 11th June: Theatre, ‘Anna Karenina’, Dundee
 The Dundee Repertory Ensemble presents Jo Clifford’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic novel ‘Anna Karenina’ – a tragic tale of love, duty, sex, marriage and moral regeneration, set against the background of a rapidly changing Imperial Russia. The plot centres around the lives and choices of two very different characters – Anna, a respectable and well-to-do wife and mother, but one who feels utterly trapped by the cold and passionless life she is forced to lead as a member of polite society; and Levin, who has turned his back on the aristocracy and moved to the countryside, to live among the peasants and search for simpler, kinder and more honest way of living. This production also features set- and costume-designs from the award-winning team of Jemima Levick and Alex Lowde, who have promised to create a visually-stunning backdrop that will be the equal of the rich drama occurring on stage.
-      Dundee Repertory Theatre, Tay Square, Dundee, DD1 1PB
-      7.30pm (Matinees: 2.30pm – 2nd/4th/11th June ONLY)
-      Tickets: £12.00-19.00
-      To book, call 01382 223530 or visit the theatre website
 
The Rest of the UK:
·         Wednesday 23rd March – Sunday 29th May: Exhibition, ‘Practice for Everyday Life: Young Artists from Russia’, London
 Calvert-22 is the UK’s only not-for-profit foundation dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art and culture from Russia and Eastern Europe. In Practice for Everyday Life, a joint exhibition with the Institute for Contemporary Art in Moscow, they are proud to present new work in a variety of media by selection of artists from across Russia. It is hoped that the exhibition will both convey a vivid sense of current artistic practice in Russiaand introduce a new generation of artists to the UK. The artists whose work will be featured at the exhibition are: Tanya Akhmetgalieva, Olga Bozhko, Alexander Ditmarov, Yulia Ivashkina, Sergey Ogurtsov, Taus Makhacheva, Anya Titova and Arseniy Zhilyaev.
-      Calvert-22 Foundation, 22 Calvert Avenue, London, E2 7JP
-      Wednesday – Saturday: 10.00am-6.00pm/Sunday: 11.00am-5.00pm
-      FREE
 
·             Friday 1st April – Saturday 21st May: Exhibition, Victor Alimpiev ‘Several’,London
 Russian artist Victor Alimpiev is an accomplished painter, choreographer and filmmaker, whose work combines these disciplines in moving visual explorations of inter-human relationships. The title ‘Several’ refers to the characters in the video installations that form the centre-piece of this, his latest exhibition – groups of people sharing the ‘awkward intimacy’ of taking part in communal rituals. Through expressive gestures and sparse language reminiscent of avant-garde theatre, the performers alternate between existing as a group of ‘uncomfortable individuals’, and an ‘intimate collective’, and between states of ‘fragile humanity’ and ‘graceful alienness’.
-      Regina Gallery, 22 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8DE
-      Tuesday – Saturday: 10.00am-6.00pm
-      FREE
 
·         Thursday 14th April – Monday 2nd May: Opera, ‘The Tsar’s Bride’ (Russian-language), London
    Paul Curran directs Rimsky-Korsakov’s masterpiece ‘The Tsar’s Bride’ in its first-ever performance by the prestigious Royal Opera House. Rimsky-Korsakov’s story takes real Russian historical figures and uses them to weave a gripping fictional tale of betrayal and corruption. The opera begins with Tsar Ivan the Terrible choosing Marfa, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, as his new bride, a decision that unleashes a storm of romantic and political jealousy that spells death and disaster for Marfa and everyone around her. The opera’s message – that those in power can control, and ultimately ruin, the lives of almost anyone they choose – is still extremely relevant today, and this, combined with the quality of the performances, makes ‘The Tsar’s Bride’ a completely unmissable piece of theatre. (In Russian, with English surtitles.)
-      Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
-      Performance dates: April – 14th/18th/20th/23rd/27th/29th; May – 2nd
-      Performance time: 7.00pm (all dates)
-      Tickets: £36.00
-      To book, phone 0207 304 4000 or go online here
 
·             Saturday 16th April – Saturday 7th May: Theatre, ‘Little Eagles’, London
 In another event to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first orbit around the Earth, the Royal Shakespeare Company are staging an exciting new play by acclaimed writer Rona Munro. ‘Little Eagles’ tells the fascinating story of Sergei Korolyov, the chief designer and unsung hero of the Soviet space programme in the 1950s and ‘60s. Korolyov was a brilliant engineer with a passion for space flight, but who faced numerous professional and personal battles throughout his career - both in balancing his own scientific aims with the military demands of his political masters, and in coping with the knowledge that his quest to build bigger and better rockets forced him to put the lives of his pilots, his beloved ‘little eagles’, at greater and greater risk.
-      Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 3EU
-      Performance Times:
-         Monday-Saturday: 7.30pm
-         Matinees: Wednesday and Saturday ONLY, 2.30pm
-      Tickets: £18.00-29.00 (£12.00 concessions)
-      To book, phone 0207 722 9301, or go online here
-      More information: http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/little-eagles/
 
·         Wednesday 20th April – Saturday 14th May: Theatre, ‘Chekhov in Hell’, London
 Performed by the Drum Theatre Group, based in Plymouth. Dan Rebellato’s hilarious and surreal new production poses the fascinating question: what on earth would Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright and chronicler of society, make of 21st-century Britain?! The play begins with Chekhov awaking from a hundred-year-long sleep in an NHS hospital and follows him as he encounters Twitter, MTV, metrosexuals, ‘unexpected items in the bagging area’ and more, in a whirlwind tour of all the absurdities of modern life.
-      Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London, W1D 3NE
-      Performance Dates: 20th-23rd, 25th-30th April; 2nd-7th, 9th-14th May
-         7.30pm (all dates)
-         Matinees: Saturday 30th April, 7th + 14th May ONLY, 3.00pm
-      Tickets: £10.00-20.00
-      To book, phone 020 7478 0100, or visit the theatre website
-       More information: http://www.sohotheatre.com/pl2038.html
 
·         Friday 6th May: Business Event, RBCC ‘Breakfast Discussion on Visas’, London
For this morning event, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) has invited two special guests – Barbara Woodward and Andy McFarlin – to discuss and answer questions on issues relating to visas for business travellers to and from Russia. Barbara Woodward is International Director of the UK Border Agency and has previously worked for the Foreign Office, when she spent long periods of time in Russia. Andy McFarlin, meanwhile, is the current Head of the Visa Section at the British Embassy in Moscow.
-      Willis Ltd Offices, The Willis Building, 51 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7DQ
-      8.30-10.00am (refreshments will be provided)
-      Tickets: £30.00 (RBCC members)/£42.00 (non-members)
-      To register your place at the event, phone 020 7931 6455, or email [email protected]
 
·              Tuesday 10th May – Thursday 28th July: Theatre, ‘The Cherry Orchard’, London
 The latest production at London’s legendary National Theatre is Australian playwright Andrew Upton’s adaptation of ‘The Cherry Orchard’, Chekhov’s poignant, tragi-comic account of the decline of the Russian ruling classes at the turn of the twentieth-century. Zoe Wanamaker stars as the glamorous dowager Ranyevskaya, who returns from Paris to her family estate in the Russian provinces just as it, and her beloved cherry orchard, are about to meet the developer’s axe. Her daughters and the rest of her extended family living on the estate all seem more inclined to luxuriate in memories of the past than act to secure their future, but then peasant-entrepreneur Lopakhin appears and proposes a clever scheme to save the estate, but at a price... This play is part of the National Theatre ongoing ‘NT Live!’ initiative, meaning that certain performances will also be screened live in cinemas across the UK during June 2011.
-      National Theatre (Olivier Theatre), South Bank, London, SE1 9PX
-      Performance Dates: 10th-31st May, 17th-29th June, 8th-28th July
-         Monday – Saturday: 7.30pm
-         Matinees (certain dates only): 2.00pm/2.30pm
-      Tickets: £12.00-30.00
-      To book tickets, phone 020 7452 3000, or visit the theatre website
 
·               Wednesday 11th May: Business Event, RBCC – Just Networking,London
 The Russo-British Chamber of Commerce are holding their latest ‘Just Networking’ event at the Bentley Hotel in Central London on Wednesday 11th May. These events are designed to provide an opportunity for both Russian business representatives and UK companies working in Russia to meet and make new contacts in what is hopefully a relaxed and informal setting.
-      The Bentley Hotel (A Waldorf Astoria Hotel), 27-33 Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, London, SW7 4JX
-      6.30-9.00pm
-      Cost: FREE to RBCC Members, £36.00 for non-members
-      This event is open to all but places are limited, so early booking is essential. Please contact the RBCC on 020 7931 6455, or by email at [email protected]. When registering participants are also asked to include a short note of their business interests, as this helps to make the evening more constructive and relevant.
 
·         Wednesday 11th May: Lecture, Yugvar Steinholt and Ivan Gololobov ‘Rock Music, State and Religion in Post-Soviet Russia’, London
 Part of the ‘Underground Russia: Art, Politics and Style’ lecture series. In the West, rock music is traditionally seen as a rebellious movement, and one that has an often antagonistic relationship with official institutions such as church and state. In this talk, however, Yugvar Steinholt (University of Tromso) and Ivan Gololobov (University of Warwick) will argue that during the last decade in Russia there has been an interesting fusion of rock with government politics and religion. On the one hand bands like Alisa and Kalinov Most seem to react positively to the Putin-esque ideal of a strong state, and use nationalistic and religious rhetoric in their lyrics; but, equally, artists such as Pyotr Mamonov and Yuri Shevchuk borrow ideas and imagery from the Orthodox Church to confront what they see as undemocratic state policies and the evils of consumer capitalism.
-      Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1A 2TA
-      7.30pm.
-      Tickets: £7.00/£5.00 (concessions)/FREE for ‘Friends of Pushkin House’
-      To book, phone 020 7269 9770, or email [email protected].
 
·         Thursday 12th May: Lecture, Bob Dammett ‘Napoleon’s Downfall, 1813-1815: Tsar Alexander I of Russia’s Major Role’, London
   As part of the National Army Museum’s ongoing series of lunchtime lectures, Bob Dammett will talk about the vital part played by Russian ruler Tsar Alexander I in the eventual demise of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, whose armies had previously run riot across the whole of the Europe in the early nineteenth-century.
-      National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 4HT
-      12.30pm
-      FREE
-      Booking not required
 
·              Thursday 12th/Sunday 15th May: Concert, London Symphony Orchestra presents Gergiev’s Tchaikovsky – ‘Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.3’, London
 Valery Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director, who also holds the position of principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. At these concerts he will conclude his cycle of Tchaikovsky symphonies with the composer’s third, written in 1875 and known as the ‘Polish Symphony’ because of the traditional Polish dance rhythms used in the final movement. Also being performed by the LSO at this concert will be Shostakovich’s lively and ‘maddeningly catchy’ ‘First...’ and ‘Second Piano Concertos’.
-      The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
-      7.30pm (both dates).
-      Tickets: £8.00-32.00
-      To book, phone 020 7638 8891, or visit the Barbican website
 
·         Friday 13th – Friday 27th May: Exhibition, ‘Russian Atlantis’, London
 In the early twentieth century, and while Russia herself was in the grip of revolution and civil war, there were huge numbers of Russian artists living and working in Europe, mostly in Paris. Many of them were well-known in the West, achieving recognition as innovative painters, set- and costume designers for theatre and ballet productions, and even illustrators of classic children’s books. But it was only the most famous of these, however – the likes of Larionov, Goncharova, and Chagall – who were able to achieve any level of recognition in their mother country. The rest were largely forgotten by Russia, and their work has existed as a kind of lost ‘Atlantis’ of Russian culture until now, when it is finally receiving attention from art historians and museum curators. This exhibition features pieces by some of these ‘rediscovered’ artists, including Andrei Lanskoy, Kostya Terechkovich, Maria Vassilieva and Alexander Yakovlev.
-      Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1A 2TA
-      Monday-Friday, 4.00-7.00pm
-      FREE
 
 Thank you for taking the time to read this bulletin, we hope that you have found it interesting, useful and enjoyable. If you have any news or events that you would like us to mention in future editions, please let us know at the addresses below.
 
-         11 Duke Street, Glasgow, G4 0UL
-         0141 552 2144
-         [email protected]
 
 
 
Events listings compiled by: Jenny Gazzard