Hip happenings in all your favourite holiday destinations

Knight to remember

Falstaff

Sardinia harks back to merry old England this summer, as Cagliari Opera House puts on a production of Verdi’s Falstaff (30 May–8 June). The comic opera, Verdi’s final composition, draws from William Shakespeare’s Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor, adding melodic flourish to the corpulent knight’s tale. Lead roles come from Dutch bassbaritone Harry Peeters and Italian performer Michele Pertusi.

FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT WWW.TEATROLIRICODICAGLIARI.IT

Taking the mic

Smithwick’s Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, Kilkenny

Curiosity killed the cat – or was it corpsing? Anyway, on 29 May–2 June, Kilkenny in Ireland plays host to top comics from the Emerald Isle, Australia, the US and the UK. Dubbed the “best little comedy festival in the world”, top names include Tommy Tiernan, Ardal O’Hanlon, Josie Long and Rich Hall. Make sure to catch the comics’ annual footy match on the Sunday, and the press conference where managers and captains review the previous year’s debacle, before Ireland take on the Rest of the World in a celebrity comedy football death-match, with lots of fire, probably.

FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT WWW.THECATLAUGHS.COM

Rockin’ all over the world

WOMAD

An Uzbeki, a Brazilian and a Tibetan monk walk onto a stage in Wiltshire – no, it’s not a joke, it’s the WOMAD music festival. Started by Peter Gabriel in 1982, the event is all about bringing together different cultures and people through music. Taking place on 25–27 July in the UK, it promises acts from 36 countries, as well as big names like Lee “Scratch” Perry and Boy George.

FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT WWW.WOMAD.ORG

Picture this

Art Basel

Dubbed the “Olympics of the art world” by The New York Times, Switzerland’s annual contemporary art fair is the place to take in the latest modern works and, for richer patrons, to pick up a future masterpiece. The city’s Swiss Exhibition centre will see 300 of the world’s leading galleries mark out their pitch on 4–8 June. So why not capture the spirit of the age by heading down there too?

FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT WWW.ARTBASEL.COM

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 12:02 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.