We Recommend
Lucy Dixon
Tue 16 May - Thu 24 Aug
Brasserie Zédel
Dixon has carved out an eclectic career in theatre, music, performance art and dance. Her latest project Lulu's Back In Town pays homage to the 30s and 40s, bringing her vocal and tap skills to the fore with the support of a Parisian Manouche trio.
Contemporary Music
Into the Unknown – A Journey Through Science Fiction
Tue 6 Jun - Fri 1 Sep
Barbican Centre
Into the Unknown is a festival-style exhibition bringing together artists, designers, filmmakers, SFX specialists, musicians and writers, all testing the boundaries of reality through some of the most experimental works of all time.
Films & TV, Talks, Visual Arts
A Handful of Dust
Wed 7 Jun - Sun 3 Sep
Whitechapel Gallery
A Handful of Dust is a speculative history of the 20th century, tracing a visual journey through the imagery of dust from aerial reconnaissance, wartime destruction and natural disasters to urban decay, domestic dirt and forensics.
Visual Arts
How to Get Rid of a Vampire by J.M. Erre
Wed 21 Jun - Mon 21 Aug
Alma Books
Zazie has just received a beautiful new notebook, and decides to keep a diary. She writes down her impressions of her new teacher, Mr Labat – who in her opinion looks like a vampire! She sets to save herself and her classmates by getting rid of Mr. Labat.
Books
European Portraits by Jimmy Robert
Thu 22 Jun - Sat 26 Aug
PEER UK
For PEER, Jimmy Robert presents a new performance work and gallery installation in response to issues that have emerged from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
Visual Arts
Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes
Wed 28 Jun - Mon 28 Aug
MacLehose Press
Vernon Subutex is left to beg in the street after his music shop in Bastille bankrupted. But he has in his possession the last filmed recordings of Alex Bleach, the famous musician who just died. A crowd of people are now on Vernon's trail.
Books
The Awkward Squad by Sophie Hénaff
Wed 5 Jul - Tue 5 Sep
MacLehose Press
Suspended from her job as a police officer for firing "one bullet too many", Anne Capestan is expecting the worst when she is summoned to H.Q. to learn her fate. She is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on cold cases.
Books
Josephine Baker by Catel and Bocquet
Wed 5 Jul - Tue 5 Sep
Self Made Hero
In Josephine Baker, José-Luis Bocquet and Catel Muller capture the remarkable life and glorious times of a spirited, principled and thoroughly modern woman – a star, an ally for the French Résistance and the adoptive mother of a 'rainbow family' of 12.
Books
Fibrils by Michel Leiris
Wed 12 Jul - Tue 12 Sep
Yale University Press
A major publishing event: the third volume of Michel Leiris’s renowned autobiography, The Rules of the Game, now available in English for the first time in a brilliant translation by Lydia Davis.
Books
Kihnu – The Isle of Women by Jeremie Jung
Tue 18 Jul - Fri 15 Sep
12 Star Gallery
French photographer Jeremie Jung shows the isle of Kihnu which has kept its own culture, thanks to women and despite globalisation. Preview on 18 July 6:30-8:30pm with live music performance from Kihnu musician Egert Pull. RSVP: comm-lon-exhibitions@ec.europa.eu
Visual Arts
Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State
Wed 19 Jul - Tue 19 Sep
Hurst
Into the debate about ISIS’ origins and future prospects, the renowned French sociologist, Olivier Roy, argues that while terrorism and jihadism are familiar phenomena, the deliberate pursuit of death has produced a new kind of radical violence.
Books
Vive le Fringe! – Lost in Translation: A Bilingual Journey
Fri 4 - Mon 28 Aug
Institut français d'Ecosse
What happens in the mind of a bilingual person? Lose yourself in a joyful and intimate journey celebrating languages, cliches and pop culture. Interactive and thought-provoking: pushing and questioning both theatrical and European frontiers.
Performing Arts
Vive le Fringe! – La Maladie de la Mort
Fri 4 - Mon 28 Aug
Institut français d'Ecosse
Every day the same ceremony is held: a hotel room, a man, a woman. A sea between them. He pays her, she gives in. Multimedia show between electro-theatrical performance and choreography under video surveillance. As part of Vive le Fringe!
Performing Arts
Oliver Emanuel on L’Assommoir – Reading Workshop
Tue 22 Aug
Edinburg International Book Festival
The playwright Oliver Emanuel explores L'Assommoir by French writer Emile Zola, part of its 20 volume series Les Rougon-Macquart, published in the 19th century. Come and talk about this masterpiece studying the effects of alcoholism and poverty.
Talks
The Jungle Trip by Compagnie Primitif
Sat 26 Aug
Southbank Centre
Compagnie Primitif come to Southbank Centre from Rennes, France, for Urban festival. Through the movement arts of dance and parkour, they seek to reclaim spaces and take back control of life’s direction.
Performing Arts
Michel Bussi & Arne Dahl at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Sat 26 Aug
Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre
Join French author Michel Bussi and Swedish author Arne Dahl for a feast of the finest European fiction at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Chaired by Jenny Brown.
Talks
Welcome to Barroux
Sat 26 Aug
Baillie Gifford Imagination Lab
The Edinburgh International Book Fest welcomes you to join author-illustrator Barroux in a workshop for ages 4-7 around his beautiful story of a polar bear and friends who are forced to search for a new home after their icy habitat disappears.
Talks
Welcome to Barroux – Second Workshop
Sun 27 Aug
Baillie Gifford Imagination Lab
Join author-illustrator Barroux at the Edinburgh International Book Fest. In this delightfully charming event, discover where Barroux gets the inspiration for the illustrations in his graphic novel Welcome and learn about climate and migration. For ages 4-7.
Talks
Isabelle Faust & Pablo Heras Casado at BBC Proms
Sun 3 Sep
Royal Albert Hall
French violinist Isabelle Faust with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra brings authentic period-instrument colour to three of Mendelssohn’s best-loved orchestral works in a Proms matinee directed by rising young conductor Pablo Heras-Casado.
Classical Music
Artificial Sensibility
Sat 9 Sep - Fri 27 Oct
Bonington Gallery
The first UK show of the French collective of artists It's Our Playground offers a reflection around Artificial Intelligence, when machines mimic human cognitive functions.
Visual Arts
French Design Trail
Sun 17 - Mon 25 Sep
Various venues in London
French designers are known around the world for their talent, their sophistication and above all for their creativity. This year, 15 French showrooms are offering an exclusive opportunity to explore the inspiration and creative genius brought to London.
Visual Arts
Jim Jarmusch Revisited
Wed 20 Sep
Barbican Centre
Artists including father of Ethio jazz Mulatu Astatke, Camille O'Sullivan, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and a French string section of cellist Gaspar Claus and violinist Carla Pallone (Mansfield TYA) pay tribute to Jarmusch's films and their soundtracks.
Contemporary Music
Solo Exhibition: Mimosa Echard
Thu 21 Sep - Sun 5 Nov
Cell Project Space
Cell Project Space presents the first UK solo exhibition by Paris-based artist Mimosa Echard, which stems across the artist’s personal history to the experiences and contradictory sensations of modern life.
Visual Arts
Oui Love #3
Thu 21 Sep
Birthdays
Oui Love returns with the best of music made in France. Warming up for Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, it focuses on France's thriving psych scene, with Aquaserge, the woozy pop of Marietta and young shoegazers Dead Sea.
Contemporary Music
Papooz
Mon 25 Sep
Moth Club
Based around the duo of Ulysse Cottin and Armand Penicaut, Papooz pair jangly guitars with brisk, danceable rhythms and an uncanny knack for memorable hooks. This year UK audiences have been catching on to the catchy likes of 'Anne Wants To Dance'.
Contemporary Music
Jane Birkin
Tue 26 Sep
Barbican Centre
Birkin is still finding ways of bringing new life to Serge Gainsbourg's classic songs. Latest album Birkin/Gainsbourg: Le Symphonique, features lush symphonic interpretations, which for this London date she'll be performing with the Heritage Orchestra.
Contemporary Music
Van Kuijk Quartet
Fri 29 Sep
Stratford on Avon Music Festival
Winners of the Wigmore Hall’s prestigious string quartet competition in 2015, the young French ensemble Quatuor Van Kuijk are currently BBC New Generation Artists. They will perform Mendelssohn's String Quartet Op.44 n°2 and Ravel's String Quartet in F major.
Classical Music
Bloomberg New Contemporaries
Fri 29 Sep - Sat 3 Mar
New Contemporaries
French artist Maïa Régis will showcase five pieces at Bloomberg New Contemporaries, the annual touring exhibition offering a compelling snapshot of new work being made by some of the most interesting artists emerging from UK fine art courses.
Visual Arts
Isabelle Faust & Alexander Melnikov play Mozart
Sat 7 - Sun 8 Oct
Wigmore Hall
Violinist Isabelle Faust launches her Wigmore Hall residency in company with her close artistic collaborator, Alexander Melnikov, offering a weekend of 3 concerts devoted to Mozart’s violin sonatas.
Classical Music
Origami by Satchie Noro & Silvain Ohl
Wed 11 - Sun 15 Oct
Various venues in London
Origami sees the unlikely pairing of a monumental shipping container and a gravity-defying dancer. The performance is a breath-holding spectacle where the container gently unfurls, creating a geometric performance space.
Performing Arts
Tordre by Rachid Ouramdane
Tue 17 Oct
ARTSDEPOT
After an epic opening of determinedly false starts a series of impassioned solos follows, but nothing is quite what it seems. Solid sculptures start to move, gentle spinning becomes a dangerous compulsion, and calm is interrupted.
Performing Arts
Trois Grandes Fugues by Lyon Opera Ballet
Thu 19 - Fri 20 Oct
Sadler's Wells
Three acclaimed choreographers create three inimitable dance works to the same piece of music, Beethoven’s Grande Fugue op. 133. Trois Grandes Fugues is a chance to see three personal and sophisticated responses to Beethoven’s impassioned score.
Performing Arts
Van Kuijk Quartet in Loughborough
Sat 21 Oct
Loughborough Town Hall
BBC New Generation artists Van Kuijk Quartet is one of today’s most promising quartets. The quatuor released its debut album Mozart (Alpha Classics) to critical acclaim last year and has since been regularly touring the UK.
Classical Music
Suzy Storck
Thu 26 Oct - Sat 18 Nov
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre presents the UK debut of stage director Jean-Pierre Baro, one of the most exciting new voices in French theatre, and the UK première of Magali Mougel's haunting play, Suzy Storck .
Performing Arts
La Fabrique des Humanités – A Translation Programme
Mon 4 Dec - Sat 20 Jan
Association pour la promotion de la Traduction Littéraire
ATLAS is launching a new programme of one-week workshops, specifically dedicated to fostering the flow of translations between English and French in Philosophy, the Humanities and Social Sciences. Apply now! Deadline for first workshop is October 15th, 2017.
Talks